Hermann Swoboda (psychologist)

Hermann Swoboda (born November 23, 1873 in Vienna ; † June 18, 1963 ibid) was an Austrian psychologist and lecturer at the University of Vienna .

Photo by Ludwig Schwab (1930s)

Life

The pharmacist's son Swoboda attended the Abbey High School in Melk , where he graduated from high school in 1892. He then studied law and philosophy at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in law in 1897 and in philosophy in 1901 . In 1905 he completed his habilitation and became a private lecturer in " Psychology and its history". Swoboda took part in the First World War as a first lieutenant in the artillery, but only temporarily at the front. In 1915 he was awarded the Austrian Military Merit Medal in bronze. In 1919/20 he resumed teaching at the university. In 1925 he was appointed associate professor . However, this professorship was limited to the honorary title; it was not associated with a corresponding salary. In 1928 Swoboda took up a position as extraordinary assistant at the Institute for Anthropology at the University of Vienna. In 1935 he moved to Munich because of financial problems leaving his family behind and devoted himself to research work financed by grants. In 1938 he got a job at the criminal biological collection point in Munich. At the age of 67, as a result of a voluntary report, he was drafted as a captain in the Wehrmacht , where he worked as an interpreter for French and Modern Greek and was promoted to major . After the end of the war, Swoboda continued to work scientifically, took part in congresses and published. He also worked as a translator and gave lectures at the Urania in Vienna and on the radio.

Swoboda and National Socialism

With regard to National Socialism , Swoboda showed “enthusiasm for the idea with a closed, forward-looking ideological program, without the ability to recognize the practical danger of this ideology .” And although Swoboda was concerned with concepts of genetic research and eugenics, these were “far removed from those of practical National Socialism, which not only referred to 'unworthy life' as such (as Swoboda did), but also put a lot of effort into destroying it. "

Svoboda's theory of periods

Swoboda is considered to be the founder of the "period theory" of biorhythm. At the same time as the Berlin doctor and biologist Wilhelm Fließ , he discovered, according to his own statements, without knowing about him, both the physical and the mental biorhythm , but published his findings in 1904 only after Fliess. In The Periods he describes the spontaneous periodic recurrence of thoughts after 18 hours, 23 hours and after 23 days. He devotes an extensive chapter to the work of Fliess, but did not mention the underlying findings from Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams from 1900. These works all contradict Wilhelm Wundt's associative psychology. In 1917 he added the repetition every seven years to his period thesis. Freud dedicates himself to Swoboda's theory of periods in a revised edition of The Interpretation of Dreams .

Swoboda and Otto Weininger

Swoboda was close friends with Otto Weininger , who was studying psychology at the same time as himself . Through Swoboda, who was treated by Sigmund Freud for a few months in 1900 and reported the results to Weininger, he got to know the concept of human bisexuality in 1901 . Through a lively exchange of information about the knowledge gained, Swoboda supported his friend in the years 1899 to 1902 significantly in the creation of his publication Sex and Character , which was published in 1903. On Swoboda's advice, Weininger previously visited Sigmund Freud in vain in August 1901 in search of a publisher for his manuscript on gender and character , who, however, saw gaps in content and did not support publication. A few years after Weiniger's suicide, Swoboda wrote his work Otto Weininger's Death , published in 1911, about him .

Swoboda and Fliess

Fliess accused Swoboda of mental theft of his biorhythmic period theory, which led to a copyright dispute. Fliess also suspected Weininger that he too had merely stolen his knowledge about bisexuality, since he knew that they were based on Svoboda's insights that emerged in the sessions with Freud. Swoboda responded to the allegations by publishing The Charitable Research and The Self-interested Researcher in 1906.

Fonts

• Understanding and comprehension (dissertation), Vienna 1901.
• The periods of the human organism in their psychological and biological significance. Leipzig, Vienna 1904.
• Studies on the foundation of psychology. Leipzig, Vienna 1905.
• The non-profit research and the self-serving researcher. Answer to the allegations made by Wilhelm Fliess against Otto Weininger and myself. Leipzig, Vienna 1906.
• Harmonia animae. Leipzig, Vienna 1907.
• The critical days of man and their calculation with the period caliper. Leipzig, Vienna 1909.
• Otto Weininger's death. Vienna, Leipzig 1911.
• The seven year. Investigations into the temporal regularity of human life. Volume I: Inheritance. Leipzig, Vienna 1917.
• Contemplative life. Vienna 1961.
• Arminius Libertus [d. i. Hermann Swoboda]: Epigrams. Innsbruck, Vienna 1962.

References

1. ↑ Luehrs-Kaiser, Summer: "Wings and Extreme". Aspects of the intellectual development of Heimito von Doderers. , P. 49
2. ↑ Sommer, Gerald & Treml, Reinhold (1999). “Venerabilis Magister! - Dilecte Doctor! The world of ideas of the psychologist Hermann Swoboda and their reception by Heimito von Doderer ”. In: Luehrs-Kaiser, Kai & Sommer, Gerald (eds.). 'Wings and Extremes'. Aspects of the intellectual development of Heimito von Doderers . Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann. P. 55f.
3. ↑ Ibid.
4. ^ H. Swoboda: The periods of the human organism , Vienna, 1904
5. ↑ Guido Ehm: Bioryhythm, the story - the discovery - the further development
6. ↑ H. Swoboda: Das Siebenjahr: Investigations over d. temporal regularity d. Human life , Vienna, 1917
7. ^ Psychoanalysis information: Hermann Swoboda , engl., 2005
8. ↑ Ursula Homann: Weininger on guilt and punishment

literature

• Heimito von Doderer, Hermann Swoboda: Correspondence 1936 - 1963. Published a. commented by Gerald Sommer. In: Kai Luehrs-Kaiser, Gerald Sommer (Ed.): "Wings and Extreme". Aspects of the intellectual development of Heimito von Doderers. Writings of the Heimito von Doderer Society. Vol. 1. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1999, pp. 11–47. ISBN 3-8260-1514-2 .
• Reinhold Treml. “Venerabilis Magister! - Dilecte Doctor! The world of ideas of the psychologist Hermann Swoboda and their reception by Heimito von Doderer ”. In: Luehrs-Kaiser, Kai & Sommer, Gerald (eds.). 'Wings and Extremes'. Aspects of the intellectual development of Heimito von Doderers. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann. Pp. 48-85. In: Kai Luehrs-Kaiser, Gerald Sommer (Ed.): "Wings and Extreme". Aspects of the intellectual development of Heimito von Doderers. Writings of the Heimito von Doderer Society. Vol. 1. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1999, pp. 48-85. ISBN 3-8260-1514-2 .
• Gerald Sommer, Reinhold Treml: Bibliography Hermann Swoboda. In: Kai Luehrs-Kaiser, Gerald Sommer (Ed.): "Wings and Extreme". Aspects of the intellectual development of Heimito von Doderers. Writings of the Heimito von Doderer Society. Vol. 1. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1999, pp. 86-91. ISBN 3-8260-1514-2 .
• Michael Schröter, Hermann Swoboda: Formerly a Freud student and critic of the "Interpretation of Dreams". In: Lucifer-Amor. Journal of the History of Psychoanalysis. Tübingen 12.1999, no. 24, 49-64. ISSN  0933-3347
• Christfried Tögel, Michael Schröter: Sigmund Freud and Hermann Swoboda, unpublished correspondence. In: Psyche. Journal of Psychoanalysis and Its Applications. Stuttgart 56.2002, H. 4 (April), pp. 313-337. ISSN  0033-2623
• Michael Schröter: "Flow vs. Weininger, Swoboda and Freud. The plagiarism dispute of 1906 in the light of the documents ”. In: Psyche. Journal of Psychoanalysis and Its Applications. Stuttgart 56.2002, H. 4 (April), pp. 338-368. ISSN  0033-2623
• Kai Luehrs-Kaiser: "Lace-up associations". Doderer as a pupil of Freud, Bühler and Swoboda. In: Gerald Sommer (Ed.): Alleys and Landscapes, Heimito von Doderer's “Demons” viewed from the center and from the edge. Writings of the Heimito von Doderer Society. Vol. 3. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, pp. 279–292. ISBN 3-8260-2921-6 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Swoboda in the catalog of the German National Library