Julius Bahle

Julius Bahle (1968)

Julius Bahle (born January 9, 1903 in Tettnang , Württemberg ; † September 3, 1986 in Gaienhofen ) was a German psychologist , musicologist and psychotherapist .

Life

Bahle studied from 1922 at the Graduate School in Munich , 1924 in Mannheim , where he 1926 Commercial diploma examination and 1927 the diploma commercial teacher exam took off. He then studied psychology and philosophy for three semesters in Heidelberg , then worked for Professor Otto Selz at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences at the Institute for Psychology and Education . He married Irmgard Scherr in 1930 and received his doctorate in the same year with the dissertation “On the psychology of musical design. An investigation into composing on an experimental and historical basis " with the Würzburg psychology professor Karl Marbe with" Magna cum laude "for Dr. phil. One of the reviewers for the dissertation was Otto Selz.

In 1933 Otto Selz was dismissed as head of the institute in Mannheim because of his Jewish origins. 1933-34 the municipal commercial college in Mannheim was dissolved. Until then, Bahle was in a scheduled assistant position at Otto Selz's institute.

Habilitation

A research grant from the “ Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaft ” allowed Bahle to work on his habilitation thesis, which he submitted on January 30, 1935 to the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena . He owed the research grant to the advocacy of Otto Selz, Karl Jaspers (Heidelberg) and Wolfgang Köhler (Berlin). After the contract in Mannheim expired, Bahle went to the Psychological Institute at the University of Jena, where he worked for Professor Friedrich Sander . On June 12, 1935 he was awarded the degree “Dr. phil. habil "awarded. The habilitation thesis remained true to the musicological topic of the dissertation and was entitled "The musical creative process: Psychology of creative forms of experience and drive" .

In Jena, Bahle - according to his own statements - was later offered a professorship, albeit on the condition that he participated in a "Nazi training camp". He declined to participate and left the university in the fall of 1935. This made his living conditions very difficult.

time of the nationalsocialism

In a controversy with the composer Hans Pfitzner , who was influential as the Nazi cultural senator at the time, a precarious situation arose for Bahle, who criticized Nazi culture and Pfitzner's views on creative experience. Bahle, who joined the SPD as a student , feared possible persecution and emigrated to Switzerland . From there he returned in 1938, was drafted into the Wehrmacht and worked as an army psychologist in Stuttgart from 1941–42 .

Bahle kept in touch with Otto Selz as long as possible. In 1935 he wrote to Selz: “I hope that you will not be disturbed either. Our house is available to you in any case and at any time, you know that. ”A visit from Selz to Bahle on Lake Constance is even recorded at Whitsun 1939. Over 100 letters from Selz to Bahle have survived. Bahle tried in vain to persuade Selz to emigrate overseas and to accept an offer to the Republic of China .

post war period

After the war, Bahle founded a cultural psychological working group in Gaienhofen on Lake Constance and in 1963 a cultural psychological publishing house. A chair for psychology at the University of Mainz , newly founded in 1946 , which Bahle had hoped for, was given to the psychologist Albert Wellek to his great disappointment . In 1950, Bahle completed his habilitation in psychology in Marburg and taught as a private lecturer until 1957. Through post- hypnotic examinations, Bahle in Marburg was able to show that symptoms of so-called bipolar psychoses ( depression and mania ) can be generated and eliminated psychologically. He then developed a psychotherapeutic method, which he called "creative psychosynthesis". The year of publication 1957 of his work on the creation and healing of depression is also the year in which Bahle retired to his house on Lake Constance, where from 1952 he apparently successfully practiced his therapy method for over twenty years. However, he had to fend off a criminal complaint for violating the Heilpraktikergesetz . Expert opinions from Professors Karlfried Graf Dürckheim and Adolf Martin Däumling enabled further therapeutic work. In addition, Bahle performed various activities as an expert and speaker, for example for industry and the employment office in Constance .

In his publishing house he published a number of writings that were primarily aimed at the further development of his cultural psychology and creative typology. His work "The creative law of development in Goethe's life" should be emphasized . In Goethe's life and work, Bahle saw a correspondence with the development and creative laws that he had previously found in composers.

Julius Bahle became a pioneer in mortality research . As early as 1963 he published his experiences (including numerous near-death experiences) with over 4,200 deaths. In 1972, Bahle reported on a notable form of anxiety therapy in the publication “Fear and Overcoming” . It was not until almost 30 years after his death that the scientific history sifting through and appreciation of Bahle's work began. He was undoubtedly the only significant student of Otto Selz. Bahle continued his work and developed it independently. The extraordinary achievements of the versatile psychologist Julius Bahle have been somewhat forgotten, but undoubtedly deserve more attention.

Music psychology

Julius Bahle's first work primarily served to empirically confirm the creative theory (“laws of productive activities”) of his teacher Otto Selz, himself a student of Oswald Külpe , Würzburg . The method of investigation of the creative process developed by Bahle was completely new and has remained unique to this day. Bahle described his approach as historical and experimental. This means: he examined historical testimonies of composers , for example on musical ideas and productivity. In addition, he worked experimentally. As part of his doctoral thesis, he asked 13 composers individually into the test room in Mannheim and gave them a. a. the task of expressing pain musically (as one of eight basic moods) and then specifying exactly what prompted her to certain feelings and design intentions. Another task was to musically represent a curmudgeon (as one of three representation tasks ). For Bahle, the realism of the research method was very important. For his larger study, which also served for his habilitation, he won 32 contemporary composers, including Carl Orff , Arthur Honegger , Arnold Schönberg and Ernst Krenek , as test subjects for his research into the musical creative process.

Richard Strauss made himself available as an interview partner, while Hans Pfitzner had declined to participate in the research project. The composers received various poems from Bahle with the request to set one of them to music. The subjects were instructed precisely to observe themselves choosing and setting poems and to record their observations.

In his work Inspiration and Action in Musical Creation (1939), Bahle summarized his results. His publications received consistently positive reviews in Germany and abroad. He received criticism primarily from Hans Pfitzner , who considered the investigation of artistic inspiration through empirical psychology to be impossible. A politically colored controversy arose, which was carried out in essays and finally in the form of a book by Pfitzner and a reply in book form by Bahle.

In his last work before his deportation, Selz quoted Bahle's research results frequently and almost enthusiastically. His theory was confirmed by his research results.

Julius Bahle received recognition from contemporaries such as Thomas Mann , Hermann Hesse and Theodor W. Adorno for his critical analysis of Hans Pfitzner.

Bahle later expanded his approach to analyzing creative thinking to include poets and thinkers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Franz Grillparzer . He came to two typical "creative forms of life", the "work type" and the "inspiration type". In a lecture on inspiration that the Viennese composer Ernst Krenek gave in the USA in 1942, he described the effects of Bahle's experiment, in which he himself had participated:

“I ... became so interested in the work that I later continued to make observations for myself [...] The real thoughts come when the composer adjusts his mind to a certain thing. This fact, which is usually overlooked, includes some very distinctive psychic processes that precede and prepare for inspiration. These processes can be of different character, depending on the different stages of development that B. has established "

psychotherapy

At the age of 60, Julius Bahle described his “research path as a psychologist”. In this unpublished work, his research personality becomes clear. He writes: "Love of truth and a loving questioning of reality are inseparable in research." A central experience of values, conveyed by Beethoven's last string quartets , determined his research life. As a student, Bahle asks himself, “Can music of such grandeur…. Is it the work of man or is it a direct revelation of the divine through the artist's medium? "

Through his research he tried to find an answer. The preoccupation with the “psychographies” of Grillparzer, Hebbel and Goethe strengthened his view that “creative humanity” and mental health belong together as well as mental illness and mental unproductivity. To empirically substantiate this view, Bahle carried out post-hypnotic experiments. He briefly summarizes his research results:

"This provided the experimental-psychological proof that the degradation of the value life results in unproductivity or depression and through the increase in the value life a pseudo productivity or mania."

In his psychological practice, Bahle checked his value psychological theory of depression and manias in around 60 cases. He called his treatment method "creative psychosynthesis". He presented these in 1955 in the “Yearbook for Psychology and Psychotherapy” and then in book form in 1957. Julius Bahle saw loss of value and value violation as the cause of mental suffering , fears and neuroses . He gave a short description of his method: "Make people productive within the framework of their interests and values ​​and they will and will remain mentally healthy."

The preoccupation with the essence of fear, which - as Bahle saw it - “always relates to possible losses in value”, finally led him to the psychology of dying. Bahle recognized four stages of development and four stages of degradation in human life. He called the highest level of consciousness “value consciousness”. This last stage is also the first to be dismantled in the process of dying.

Bahle was convinced of the importance of his clinical research and saw the truth on his side. But he clearly sensed that his value psychological theory of mental disorders was not spreading. In part, this was also due to the fact that after 1957 he no longer taught at universities. It was not until years after the publication that humanistic psychology , which had emerged in the USA through Abraham Maslow and others, should emphasize the importance of values ​​for psychological well-being.

The publishing house founded by Bahle no longer exists, the practice was continued by his son Manfred Bahle, also a psychologist. Like his teacher and friend Otto Selz, Julius Bahle remained true to his convictions until the end.

He died in the Hemmenhofen district of the Gaienhofen community.

Writings (selection) and radio lectures

• The airship Zeppelin group Friedrichshafen and its workforce. A socio-geographical, demographic & socio-political study. Thesis. Business college, Mannheim 1926.
• On the psychology of musical creation. An investigation into composing on an experimental and historical basis. In: Archives for the whole of psychology. 74 (3/4), 1930, pp. 289-390. (Also separately: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig)
• The transfer of form in the vocal work of contemporary composers. In: O. Klemm (Ed.): Report on the XIII. Congress of the German Society for Psychology in Leipzig from 16.-19. October 1933. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1934, pp. 112–114. ( Archives for the whole of psychology. 91, 1934, pp. 444–451)
• Personality and work of art. Lecture at the 14th Congress of the Dt. Society for Psychology in Tübingen. In: Journal of Psychology. Volume 135, 1934, pp. 131-155.
• Idea and inspiration in musical creation. In: Archives for the whole of psychology. 90, 1934, pp. 495-503.
• How is it composed? In: Frankfurter Zeitung. September 18, 1935.
• Feeling and will in musical creation. In: O. Klemm (Ed.): Feeling and Will. Report on the XV. Congress of the Dt. Society for Psychology in Jena from 5.-8. July 1936. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1936, pp. 194–196.
• The musical creation process. Psychology of creative forms of experience and drive. S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1936. (2nd Verb. Edition. Christiani, Konstanz 1947)
• Pfitzner and the Psychology of Musical Creation. In: Frankfurter Zeitung. February 4, 1936.
• On the psychology of ideas and inspiration in musical creation. In: Acta Psychologica. 1, 1936, pp. 7-29.
• The part-whole problem in the artistic creation process. Lecture at the 11th International Congress of Psychologists in Paris. In: Archives for the whole of psychology. 99, 1937, pp. 209-212.
• Type of work and type of inspiration in the work of the composer. In: Journal of Psychology. 142, 1938, pp. 313-322.
• Inspiration and action in musical creation. A contribution to the psychology of the laws of development and creation of creative people. Hirzel, Leipzig. (Revised and abridged reprint: Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Hemmenhofen 1982)
• Hans Pfitzner and the brilliant person. A psychological criticism of culture. Weller, Konstanz 1948. (Reprinted under the title Der geniale Mensch and Hans Pfitzner. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Hemmenhofen 1974)
• Psychological standards for judging contemporary artists. In: Studium Generale. 5 (9), 1952, pp. 560-567.
• Creative humanity and mental health. A psychological critique of the genius-madness doctrine. In: Psychological Contributions. 1 (1), 1953, pp. 29-39.
• Creative psychosynthesis as psychotherapy. In: Yearbook for Psychology and Psychotherapy. 3 (4), 1955, pp. 358-370. (Reprinted in Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung. 202, (11), 1955, pp. 497-511)
• Psychological creation and healing of depression and manias. On the nature of mental and emotional illness and its healing through psychosynthetic treatment. Viking. (Reprint: Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen / Munich 1976)
• Psychological problems in medical practice. In: General Homeopathic Newspaper for Scientific and Practical Homeopathy. 206, (2), 1961, pp. 84-95.
• Don't be afraid of dying. On the psychology of fearless and beautiful dying. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Hemmenhofen 1963.
• Fears and how to overcome them. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Hemmenhofen 1972.
• Psychological sleep concept. Spoken by the author on record. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Hemmenhofen 1973.
• The creative law of development in the life of Goethe. A legal psychography. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Hemmenhofen 1974. (The treatise was written in 1950)
• Franz Grillparzer as an inspiration type. Career, way of creating, humanity. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1975. (Created in 1945, also served as a lecture in Marburg, published for the first time)
• Friedrich Hebbel as a type of work. Career, way of creating, humanity. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1975. (Reported as early as 1950, first published)
• Psychological treatment of people. Advice to managers. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1975
• with Ernst Bacmeister: The Origin of the Tragedy "Andreas and the Queen". Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1976.
• Productivity and mental health. Creative psychosynthesis as psychotherapy. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1978.

Radio lectures

• The creative process of Arnold Schönberg. Lecture at Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, around 1950.
• Conscious or unconscious making music. Lecture at Südwestfunk Baden-Baden, around 1950.

literature

• Manfred Bahle: A psychological refutation of the genius-insanity doctrine using the example of Jean Jacques Rousseau. In: Productivity and Mental Health. Creative psychosynthesis as psychotherapy. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1978, pp. 88-101.
• Ernst Krenek: About inspiration. In: Productivity and Mental Health. Creative psychosynthesis as psychotherapy. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1978, pp. 30-36.
• Helmut E. Lück , Theo Herrmann: Albert Wellek and Julius Bahle: Two post-war psychologists in a dispute over a professorship at the University of Mainz. In: W. Mack, HE Lück, K.-H. Renner, U. Wolfradt (Ed.): Behaviorism and epistemology in a psychological-historical context. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2014, pp. 163–185.
• Mathilde von Lüninck: Living creatively. Interviews with Julius Bahle from d. J. 1977. Manuscript. 1978.
• Barbara Post: Aspects of the life and work of the (music) psychologist Julius Bahle. Diploma thesis in the music teacher course at the State University for Music in Karlsruhe. 2001.
• RA Rasch: Julius Bahle's psychology of musical creation. In: NH Frijda, AD deGroot (Ed.): Otto Selz: His contribution to psychology. Mouton, Den Haag 1981, pp. 164-191.
• Otto Selz: Building up perception and thinking process. Selected Writings. Edited by Alexandre Métraux and Theo Herrmann. Hans Huber, Bern 1991, ISBN 3-456-81941-2 .

Another source

Julius Bahle's estate in the Research Archive for the History of Psychology (PGFA) at the Distance University in Hagen

Individual evidence

1. ^ Helmut E. Lück: Bahle, Julius. In: U. Wolfradt, E. Billmann-Mahecha, A. Stock (Eds.): German-speaking psychologists. 1933-1945. A dictionary of persons. supplemented by a text by Erich Stern. Springer, Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 19-20.
2. ↑ Estate of Otto Selz University Library Mannheim , historical holdings. Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ HE Lück, T. Herrmann: Albert Wellek and Julius Bahle: Two post-war psychologists in a dispute over a professorship at the University of Mainz. In: W. Mack, HE Lück, K.-H. Renner, U. Wolfradt (Ed.): Behaviorism and epistemology in a psychological-historical context. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2014, pp. 163–185.
4. ^ Bahle, 1930.
5. ^ ^{A b} Mathilde von Lüninck: Living creatively . Interviews with Julius Bahle from d. J. 1977. Manuscript. 1978.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Don't be afraid of dying. 1963.
7. ↑ H. Pfitzner: About musical inspiration . Adolph Fürstner, Berlin-Grunewald 1940.
8. ^ J. Bahle: Hans Pfitzner and the genius man. A psychological criticism of culture. Weller, Constance 1949.
9. ↑ E. Krenek: About inspiration . In J. Bahle (Ed.): Productivity and Mental Health. Creative psychosynthesis as psychotherapy. Kulturpsychologischer Verlag, Gaienhofen 1978, pp. 30-36.
10. ↑ Julius Bahle: My research path as a psychologist . Unpublished Manuscript. 1963. Research archive of the history of psychology at the FernUniversität in Hagen, Julius Bahle estate.