Herbert Witzenmann

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Herbert Witzenmann (born February 16, 1905 in Pforzheim ; † September 24, 1988 in Heidelberg ) was a German entrepreneur, anthroposophist and writer . In his main works he mainly deals with questions of epistemology and aesthetics .

Life

Herbert Witzenmann grew up with his younger brother Walter as the son of a Pforzheim factory owner. He was unable to realize his wish to become a pianist because of a weak tendon. In 1924 he met Rudolf Steiner through the mediation of Walter Johannes Stein in Stuttgart , from whom he received trend-setting impulses for his life. In 1928 Witzenmann published his first poems; In 1930 he married the poet Maria Wozak. In the 1930s he studied philosophy with Karl Jaspers at the University of Heidelberg . From 1938 to 1966 he worked in the management of the family company - a manufacturer of metal hoses, bellows and expansion joints.

In addition to and after his professional activity, he was involved in the General Anthroposophical Society . From 1948 to 1951 he headed the magazine Die Drei , in 1963 Albert Steffen appointed him to the board of the General Anthroposophical Society. As part of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum in Dornach , he took over the management of the “Section for the Spiritual Striving of Young People” and the “Section for Social Science”. Due to a “boycott” by Herbert Witzenmann - a decision of the board of directors of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum from 1966/68, which he did not support, to offer editions of the Rudolf Steiner Legacy Association freely for sale again in the Goetheanum - he conducted his work “in the interests of his Conception “of the tasks of the School of Spiritual Science until his death in 1988 within the seminar for free youth work, art and social organics founded by him in 1973 .

In many of his works, especially in the structural phenomenology published in 1983 - he called his epistemology " structural phenomenology " - he investigates the relationship between consciousness and reality . Following Rudolf Steiner's main work The Philosophy of Freedom , Herbert Witzenmann describes the human cognitive process as a process that takes place through the union of perception and concept and does not depict a given reality, but creatively generates truth.

literature

  • Klaus Hartmann : Herbert Witzenmann 1905–1988. Part I: 1905-1961 . Spicker, Dornach 2010, ISBN 978-3-85704-198-3 .
  • Reto Andrea Savoldelli: Herbert Witzenmann's activity on the board of the Goetheanum (Switzerland), SeminarVerlag / Basel, 3 vol. Basel 2017

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ RA Savoldelli: On Herbert Witzenmann's work on the board of directors at the Goetheanum 1963-1988. Accessed January 2, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Witzenmann, Herbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Udeis, Paul (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anthroposophist, philosopher and writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Pforzheim
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1988
Place of death Heidelberg