Max Bense

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Max Bense, San Francisco 1969

Max Bense (born February 7, 1910 in Strasbourg ; † April 29, 1990 in Stuttgart ) was a German philosopher , writer and publicist and has emerged from his work on the theory of science , logic , aesthetics and semiotics . His thinking combines natural sciences , art and philosophy under a common perspective and pursues a definition of rationality which, as existential rationalism , seeks to abolish the separation between humanities and scientific thinking.

Life

Max Bense spent his early childhood in Strasbourg and was expelled from Alsace-Lorraine with his family in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War . From 1920 he attended a grammar school in Cologne and after 1930 studied physics, chemistry, mathematics and geology, as well as philosophy, at the University of Bonn . His literary interest was shown in articles for newspapers, magazines and radio, for which he also wrote radio plays . In 1937 he was given a doctorate by Oskar Becker with a dissertation on " Quantum Mechanics and Relativity of Existence ". phil. nat. PhD. Bense belonged to the Rheinische Gruppe in the 1930s .

He used the term relativity of existence , taken over from Max Scheler , to explain that new theories do not have to contradict classical science at the same time . Bense, a declared opponent of National Socialism , consciously opposed the German physics of the Nazi state, which rejected the theory of relativity because of Albert Einstein's Jewish origins . He was therefore denied a habilitation . His reverence for the völkisch Zeitgeist doesn't change that either.

From 1938 onwards, Bense first worked as a physicist for Bayer AG in Leverkusen , and during World War II he was a soldier, first as a meteorologist , then as a medical technician in Berlin and Georgenthal , where he briefly became mayor after the end of the war. In 1945 the University of Jena appointed him curator (university chancellor) and made it possible for him to do the (probably) cumulative habilitation at the Faculty of Social Education , which was followed in 1946 by an appointment as extraordinary professor for philosophical and scientific propaedeutics .

Bense fled to Boppard in 1948 before the political development of the Soviet Zone and was appointed visiting professor in 1949 and associate professor at the Technical University of Stuttgart (since 1967: University of Stuttgart) for philosophy and philosophy of science. In 1955, Bense sparked a controversy about mythologizing tendencies in German post-war culture. He then became the target of public polemics . This delayed his appointment as full professor until 1963. In 1978 he retired and died in 1990 as an internationally recognized scientist.

In addition, Bense worked from 1953 to 1958 at the Ulm Adult Education Center and at the University of Design there, and from 1958 to 1960 and 1966/1967 held visiting professorships at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts . In 1965 he ran unsuccessfully for the German Peace Union for the German Bundestag .

Max Bense was married three times and has a total of five children. His last wife (married in 1988) was Elisabeth Walther-Bense , his student, doctor's daughter, assistant, colleague and collaborator in all things from the start. She also managed his estate and continued the work and contacts that were in part jointly carried out until recently.

philosophy

"Space and I", Bense's first publication (Berlin 1934)

Mathematics in Art and Language

In his first publication “Raum und Ich” (1934), Bense already combined theoretical philosophy with mathematics, semiotics and aesthetics; this remained his thematic focus. For the first time he formulated a rational aesthetic that  defines the language material - words, syllables, phonemes - as a statistical language repertoire and opposes a literature based on meaning. In reverse, Bense also dealt with the concept of style, which he applied to mathematics after Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 's Mathesis Universalis , a universal language of description. “Mathematics in Art” (1949) was his starting point for researching mathematical form principles in art history. From this, Bense developed a perspective to see the mathematical spirit in works of art of language, especially in metrics and rhythms. Bense's considerations were based on the connection between a mathematical and a linguistic consciousness, which emerged together and grew into complementary forms of thought. He saw the atomistic structures of the two forms of language as equivalent, which made possible a meaningful, informative and stylistically formed language from non-interpretable basic elements (signs) and rules or operators ; He viewed aesthetic and semantic information as generally separate and only defined through their use. This also represented the first German reception of Ludwig Wittgenstein in aesthetics.

Some of his findings are based on the studies of the American mathematician George David Birkhoff . Some terms are e.g. B. to equate “redundancy” and “entropy” with “measure of order” and “material consumption” from Birkhoff's aesthetic research.

During his guest professorship in Hamburg, he found a like-minded representative of concrete constructivism in the visual artist Joachim Albrecht , who also taught there .

Technology and ethics

Bense saw the destruction of the social and intellectual bourgeois world since the beginning of the 20th century as a parallel to the destruction of the conception of being ( ontology ) in philosophy; he saw the natural world replaced by an artificial one. As a forerunner of the computer age at that time, Bense also thought through the technical counterparts of human existence; Unlike some of his contemporaries, he saw the machine as a pure product of human intelligence with algorithms as a basis, but he asked ethical questions early on, which were only discussed in the technical ethics of the following decades. His pragmatic view of technology, influenced by Walter Benjamin , without belief or rejection of progress earned him Adorno's criticism - and with it again the role of the opposition.

Structural analysis of language

Inspired by early computer science and the preoccupation with electronic computing systems, but also by the semiotics of Peirce and Wittgenstein's concept of the language game , Bense tried to relativize or expand the traditional view of literary texts. In it he was one of the first cultural philosophers who included the technical possibilities of the computer in their thinking and explored them in an interdisciplinary manner. He analyzed linguistic phenomena statistically and topologically , subjected them to questions of the theory of symbols, information and communication, and made use of structuralist approaches. This made Bense the first theoretician of Concrete Poetry , which Eugen Gomringer began in 1953 and B. Helmut Heißenbüttel , Claus Bremer , Reinhard Döhl , Ludwig Harig and Franz Mon encouraged further experiments and which also had an effect on Ernst Jandl's language decompositions (see also Stuttgart group / school ).

Discussion with writers

In his preoccupation with literature and literary language, Bense was not content with just theoretical considerations; he was in close contact with authors such as Alfred Andersch , Gottfried Benn and Arno Schmidt . His analogies to the fine arts contributed significantly to the understanding of Cubism and Dadaism .

Understanding of science

As a science theorist, Bense represented the synthetic concept of education , in which classical humanism and modern technology complement each other constructively. From this scientific conception he hoped to obtain progressive knowledge that must always be ethically questioned, as well as the avoidance of regression. Bense spoke out in favor of the Enlightenment and placed himself in this tradition .

After 1964, Max Bense transferred his theories of visual art to screen media. This means that the early media science considerations on the Internet , especially the concept of online literature , can be traced back to him.

Quotes

“Bense explicitly acknowledged being a rationalist and an atheist ; he designed an aesthetic of information that was designed to make its judgments statistically and to justify them empirically. He loved to be open to discussion on radio and television, to point out rhetorically boldly and also to address a broader public in essayistic terms. He was one of the leading figures in the literature and art scene of the 'experimental' avant-garde of those years, organized exhibitions and readings and wrote 'experimental texts' himself. CDU politicians in Stuttgart felt so provoked by him that they granted the TH Stuttgart a second professorship in philosophy, on condition that it be filled with a Christian-oriented philosopher. (This is how Robert Spaemann came to Stuttgart, who admittedly only too soon was successfully offered a larger sphere of activity by the University of Munich). "

- Helmut Kreuzer

radio play

In collaboration with the writer Ludwig Harig (* 1927) Max Bense developed the radio play Der Monolog der Terry Jo , which was realized by Klaus Schöning . It consists of a monologue and statements relating to a criminal case. "The monologue is a girl's self-talk that begins in unconsciousness and ends in full consciousness. The statements are testimonies from people who begin with the full clarity of the case in question and in The lack of clarity of contradictions end. Both monologues and statements, taken together, convey the unambiguous representation of a crime. "

exhibition

Honors

The Max-Bense-Forum , an event room of the Stuttgart City Library , is named after Max Bense.

Works

  • Space and me. A philosophy about space . Luken & Luken, Berlin 1934
  • Uprising of the spirit. A defense of knowledge . German publishing company, Stuttgart 1935
  • Anti-Klages or On Human Dignity . Resistance Publishing House (Anna Niekisch), Berlin 1937
  • Kierkegaard Breviary . Insel, Leipzig 1937
  • Quantum Mechanics and Relativity of Existence. An investigation into the principles of quantum mechanics and their relationship to Scheler's theory of the relativity of the existence of object types . Welzel, Cologne 1938
  • On the essence of German thinkers or between criticism and imperative . Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin 1938
  • The Occidental Passion or To the Critique of Existence. Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin 1938
  • Spirit of math. Sections from the philosophy of arithmetic and geometry . Oldenbourg, Munich / Berlin 1939
  • From the philosophy of the present . Staufen, Cologne 1940
  • Introduction to philosophy. An exercise in the mind . Oldenbourg, Munich 1941
  • Soeren Kierkegaard. Life in spirit . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1942
  • Physical world puzzle. A book of atoms, nuclei, rays and cells . Staufen, Cologne 1942
  • Letters from great naturalists and mathematicians . Staufen, Cologne 1943
  • The life of the mathematician. Images from the intellectual history of mathematics . Staufen, Cologne 1944
  • About Leibniz. Leibniz and his ideology. The spiritual person and technology . Rauch, Jena 1946
  • Contours of an intellectual history of mathematics. Mathematics and the sciences . (2 volumes) Claassen & Goverts, Hamburg 1946–1949
  • Philosophy as research . Staufen, Cologne 1947
  • Dealing with philosophers. Essays . Staufen, Cologne 1947
  • Hegel and Kierkegaard. A principal investigation . Staufen, Cologne 1948
  • From the hiddenness of the mind . Habel, Berlin 1948
  • What is existential philosophy? . Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1949
  • Modern natural philosophy . Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1949
  • Technical existence. Essays . German publishing company, Stuttgart 1949
  • History of Science in Tables . Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1949
  • Literary metaphysics. The writer in the technical world . German publishing company, Stuttgart 1950
  • Ptolemies and Mauritanians or The Theological Emigration of German Literature . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne / Berlin 1950
  • What is electricity? Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1950
  • The philosophy . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / Main 1951
  • Poster world. Four essays . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1952
  • Kafka's theory . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne / Berlin 1952
  • The concept of natural philosophy. German publishing company, Stuttgart 1953
  • Aesthetica (I). Metaphysical observations on the beautiful . German publishing house, Stuttgart 1954
  • Descartes and the Consequences (I). A recent treatise . Agis, Krefeld / Baden-Baden 1955
  • Aesthetica (II). Aesthetic information . Agis, Baden-Baden 1956
  • Rationalism and sensitivity. Presentations . (With Elisabeth Walther) Agis, Krefeld / Baden-Baden 1956
  • Aesthetica (III). Aesthetics and Civilization. Theory of Aesthetic Civilization . Agis, Krefeld / Baden-Baden 1958
  • Art and intelligence as a modern problem . Cultural Office, Dortmund 1959
  • Aesthetica (IV). Programming the beautiful. General text theory and text aesthetics . Agis, Krefeld / Baden-Baden 1960
  • Grignan series. Description of a landscape . The moment, Stuttgart 1960
  • Descartes and the Consequences (II). A noise in the street . Agis, Krefeld / Baden-Baden 1960
  • The idea of ​​politics in the technical world . Cultural Office, Dortmund 1960
  • aprèsfiche for us here and for others by Max Bense. Advertisement for "Rheinlandschaft" . Burkhardt, Stuttgart 1961
  • Components of the past. Thin sections mixed texts montages . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1961
  • Rose rubble place . (With Clytus Gottwald ) Mayer, Stuttgart 1961
  • Remains of a face . (With Karl-Georg Pfahler). Mayer, Stuttgart 1961
  • Draft of a Rhine landscape . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne / Berlin 1962
  • theory of texts. An introduction to newer conceptions and methods . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1962
  • Theory of Texts. An introduction to newer conceptions and methods. New edition of the text from 1962, with a foreword by Anja Ohmer. (Aspects of the Avantgarde, Volume 7) Berlin: Weidler-Verlag, ISBN 3-89693-435-X (02/2006)
  • The precise pleasure. Trials and models . Limes, Wiesbaden 1964
  • Aesthetica. Introduction to the new aesthetics . Agis, Baden-Baden 1965
  • Random word events . Mayer, Stuttgart 1965
  • Brazilian intelligence. A Cartesian reflection . Limes, Wiesbaden 1965
  • now . Mayer, Stuttgart 1965
  • valleyless mountains . Mayer, Stuttgart 1965
  • Disobedience to ideas. Final treatise on intelligence and the technical world . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne / Berlin 1965
  • comprehensive foundation of modern aesthetics . gallery press, St. Gallen 1966
  • Epic study of an Epicurean double game . Hake, Cologne 1967
  • Destroying thirst with water. Random text event in a love story . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1967
  • Semiotics. General theory of signs . Agis, Baden-Baden 1967
  • small abstract aesthetic . edition rot, Stuttgart 1969
  • Introduction to information-theoretical aesthetics. Foundation and application in text theory . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1969
  • Artistry and commitment. Presentation of aesthetic objects . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1970
  • Announcement of existence from San Francisco . Hake, Cologne 1970
  • only glass is like glass. advertising copy . Fietkau, Berlin 1970
  • The reality of literature. Authors and their texts . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1971
  • Characters and design. Semiotic aesthetics . Agis, Baden-Baden 1971
  • Dictionary of Semiotics . (With Elisabeth Walther) Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1973
  • Semiotic processes and systems in philosophy of science and design, aesthetics and mathematics. Semiotics from a higher point of view . Agis, Baden-Baden 1975
  • Mediation of realities. Semiotic Epistemology . Agis, Baden-Baden 1976
  • The Eye of Epicurus. Indirect about painting . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1979
  • The improbability of the aesthetic and the semiotic conception of art . Agis, Baden-Baden 1979
  • Axiomatics and semiotics in mathematics and knowledge of nature . Agis, Baden-Baden 1981
  • Central and occasional items. Poetic remarks . Edition Künstlerhaus, Stuttgart 1981
  • The universe of signs. Essays on the Expansions of Semiotics . Agis, Baden-Baden 1983
  • The gray red of poetry. Poems . Agis, Baden-Baden 1983
  • Cosmos Atheos. Poems . Agis, Baden-Baden 1985
  • Representation and foundation of realities. Conclusion of semiotic perspectives . Agis, Baden-Baden 1986
  • Night Euclidean hideouts. Poetic texts . Agis, Baden-Baden 1988
  • Poetic abstractions. Poems and aphorisms . Manus Presse, Stuttgart 1990
  • The man I am thinking of. A fragment . (From the estate, edited by Elisabeth Walther) edition rot, Stuttgart 1991
  • The intrinsic reality of the signs . (From the estate, edited by Elisabeth Walther) Agis, Baden-Baden 1992
  • Selected writings in four volumes. Edited by Elisabeth Walther. Vol. 1: Philosophy. Vol. 2: Philosophy of Mathematics, Natural Science and Technology. 3: Aesthetics and Text Theory. Vol. 4: Poetic Texts. Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart 1997/98

literature

  • Andrea Albrecht, Masetto Bonitz, Alexandra Skowronski, Claus Zittel (eds.): Max Bense: Work - Context - Effect, Stuttgart: Metzler 2019, ISBN 978-3-476-04753-3
  • Michael Eckardt: In Jena for Stuttgart. Max Bense's early academic years at the University of Jena 1945-1948 and their consequences ; in: Uhl / Zittel 2018, pp. 11–26.
  • Elke Uhl / Claus Zittel (eds.): Max Bense . Weltprogrammierung , Stuttgart: Metzler 2018, ISBN 978-3-476-04702-1 .
  • Jonnie Döbele "Max Bense December 6th, 1976, 6.15pm - 7.20pm. Recordings from the lecture hall seat." With an essay by Harry Walter . Photo book, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2015 ISBN 978-3-86335-756-6
  • Joachim Jacob The Beauty of Literature: On the History of a Problem from Gorgias to Max Bense . Tübingen 2007, ISBN 3-484-18183-4 .
  • Hans-Christian von Herrmann: A topography of possible words and sentences. Max Benses "Design of a Rhine Landscape" . In: Archive for Media History 2007, pp. 154–159.
  • Michael Eckardt: “… being able to introduce oneself to the scientific world in the best possible way.” Max Bense, Walter Wolf and Georg Klaus between cooperation and conflict at the University of Jena in 1945–1949 . In: U. Hossfeld, T. Kaiser, H. Mestrup (Eds.): University in Socialism . Studies at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (1945–1990). Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, pp. 1929–1970.
  • Michael Eckardt: Max Bense in Thuringia . In: Palmbaum 14 (2006) 1, 104–111.
  • Michael Eckardt: Benses Kierkegaard in Jena . In: FAZ , January 31, 2006, p. 8.
  • Christoph Ernst: Max Bense: The essay between poetry and prose . In: ders., Essayistic media reflection. Transcript, Bielefeld 2005, 135-144, ISBN 3-89942-376-3
  • Horst Thomé: Unity of knowledge in the sign of "technical existence" - Max Bense . In: Norbert Becker, Franz Quarthal (Ed.): The University of Stuttgart after 1945: History - Developments - Personalities . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7995-0145-2 , pp. 345-348
  • Michael Eckardt: Comments on the letter from Georg Klaus to Max Bense . In: Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski, Siegfried Piotrowski (Hrsg.): Cybernetics and interdisciplinarity in the sciences . Trafo-Verlag, Berlin 2004, pp. 391–392.
  • Barbara Büscher, Hans-Christian von Herrmann, Christoph Hoffmann (eds.): Aesthetics as a program: Max Bense. Dates and spreads. Vice Versa, Berlin 2004, 307 pages, ISBN 3-00-014180-4
  • Michael Eckardt: Applied science revision - overlaps and parallels in the work of Max Bense and Georg Klaus . In: Basic studies from cybernetics and humanities / human cybernetics, 43 (2002) 4, 143–152.
  • Michael Eckardt: Philosophy and Philosophers in Jena: Max Bense and Georg Klaus . In: M. Weißbecker (Hrsg.): Gewalten, Gestalten, memories . Contributions to the history of the FSU Jena in the first years after 1945. Thuringian Forum for Education and Science, Jena 2002, ISBN 3-935850-12-3 , pp. 51–69
  • Michael Eckardt, Lorenz Engell (Ed.): The program of the beautiful. Selected contributions by the Stuttgart School on the semiotics of the arts and the media. VDG Verlag and database for humanities, Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-89739-315-8 , 334 S., Ill., Graph. Darst.
  • Elisabeth Walther: Max Bense's turn to semiotics. In: S - European Journal for Semiotic Studies - Revue Européenne d'Etudes Sémiotiques - European Journal for Semiotic Studies, special issue: Logical Semiotics. Vienna / Barcelona / Budapest / Perpignan, vol. 3-4, 1991, pp. 575-586.
  • Elisabeth Walther: Max Bense and cybernetics . In: "Computer Art Faszination", 1999, p. 360
  • Elisabeth Walther, Udo Bayer (ed.): Sign by sign for sign. Festschrift for Max Bense. Agis, Baden-Baden 1990, ISBN 978-3-87007-036-6
  • Elisabeth Walther: Bibliography Max Bense. Agis, Baden-Baden 1999, ISBN 978-3-87007-040-3
  • Harry Walter: Max Bense in Stuttgart . Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach 1994, ISBN 3-929146-25-8 , 16 pages, 11 figs.
  • Irma Emmrich: Comments on the information-theoretical aspect of the work of art: The position of irrationalism in Max Bense's information theory . In: Scientific journal of the Technical University of Dresden 15 (1966), pp. 826–827.
  • Jürgen Becker and Wolf Vostell : Phases . Foreword by Max Bense, Galerie Der Spiegel , Cologne 1960.

Web links

Commons : Max Bense  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography Max Bense ( Memento from December 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Max Bense: On the essence of German thinkers , Verlag R. Oldenbourg, Munich a. Berlin 1938
  3. ↑ Bense, Max, Prof. Dr. In: Martin Schumacher (Ed.): MdB - The People's Representation 1946–1972. - [Baack to Bychel] (=  KGParl online publications ). Commission for the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties e. V., Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-020703-7 , pp. 85 , urn : nbn: de: 101: 1-2014070812574 ( kgparl.de [PDF; 568 kB ; accessed on June 19, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Max Bense on joachim-albrecht.com: Pictures and Sculptures (accessed on May 31, 2015)
  5. ↑ Helmut Kreuzer. ( Memento from September 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ documenta 8 catalog: Volume 1: Essays; Volume 2: Catalog page 328; Volume 3: artist book; Kassel 1987, ISBN 3-925272-13-5
  7. ↑ Der Spiegel, 32/1969 Warte Vögelein , accessed on June 12, 2015.
  8. ↑ on1.zkm.de
  9. ^ Website Die Kabinette and their namesake of the Stuttgart City Library
personal data
SURNAME Bense, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher, writer and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1990
Place of death Stuttgart