Lorenz Kruger

Lorenz Krüger (born October 3, 1932 in Marburg , † September 29, 1994 in Göttingen ) was a German science historian and philosopher of science .

Life

Lorenz Krüger studied physics, mathematics and astronomy and did a doctorate in theoretical physics. Then he turned to philosophy. He researched Kant and Leibniz. In 1971 he completed his habilitation with a thesis on the concept of empiricism with John Locke . He then held chairs at the universities of Bielefeld (from 1973), FU Berlin (from 1981) and finally from 1986 at the University of Göttingen . The focus of his research and teaching was on epistemology and theory of science; in addition, he published on the history of philosophy and on questions of ethics and decision theory.

"Essential for his interest in the history of science," writes his student Friedrich Steinle , "was the debate about the rationality or relativism of the sciences triggered by Kuhn and Feyerabend, in which he participated with great interest." Through research stays in Berkeley, Princeton and Pittsburgh he got to know personally many of those involved in this debate. From 1982 to 1983 he headed an international working group on the “probabilistic revolution” in Bielefeld. During his time in Göttingen, he played a key role in founding the new Institute for the History of Science at the University of Göttingen in 1990.

In the last years of his life he was mainly interested in Galileo and in an (unfinished) project about "Truth and Time". His last lecture course in 1993 was an Introduction to Modern Philosophy , a course that covered Kepler, Galileo, Bacon and Descartes. In Berlin, after 1990, he was head of the research focus on the history of science and the theory of science , where he endeavored to integrate scientists from East and West. As a result, he was appointed one of the founding directors of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. Due to illness, he could no longer take up this position. He left his library to the MPI for the History of Science. In 1987 he was elected a full member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

Work as an editor

Krüger was co-editor of the journals Philosophia naturalis , Perspectives on Science and the NTM

Publications (selection)

• Krüger, Lorenz: The concept of empiricism. Epistemological studies using the example of John Locke . Berlin 1973.
• with Thomas S. Kuhn : The emergence of the new, studies on the structure of the history of science. Frankfurt am Main 1977.
• Krüger, Lorenz, L. Daston , M. Heidelberger, G. Gigerenzer & MS Morgan (eds.): The Probabilistic Revolution . 2 vols. Cambridge / MA, 1987.
• Krüger, Lorenz, G. Gigerenzer et al .: The Empire of Chance . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
• Krüger, Lorenz, Bettina Schöne-Seifert (Ed.): Human Genetics - Ethical Problems of Counseling, Diagnostics and Research (= Medical Ethics 4). Stuttgart, 1993.
• Krüger, Lorenz (ed.): Universal genius Helmholtz: Looking back after 100 years. Berlin, 1994.
• Krüger, Lorenz: Why Does History Matter to Philosophy and the Sciences? Ed. by Thomas Sturm, Wolfgang Carl, and Lorraine Daston. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2005. Contains a selection of essays on the history of philosophy, epistemology and the theory of science and their interrelationships, as well as a complete list of publications.

literature

• Friedrich Steinle : Lorenz Krüger: October 3, 1932 - September 29, 1994 , in: NTM NS 3 (1995)

Web links

• Literature by and about Lorenz Krüger in the catalog of the German National Library
• Speeches at the opening of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 140.