Michael Wittmann (ethicist)

Michael Wittmann (born June 13, 1870 in Berg near Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate ; † September 30, 1948 in Eichstätt ) was a Catholic religious philosopher , ethicist and historian of philosophy .

Life and scientific activity

After studying at the Episcopal Lyceum in Eichstätt, he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1895 and initially worked in pastoral care for three years. This was followed by philosophical studies with Georg von Hertling in Munich and with Clemens Baeumker in Breslau. In 1899 he was appointed lecturer and in 1901 full professor of philosophy at the Episcopal Lyceum in Eichstätt.

Wittmann developed a rich literary output in the areas of religious philosophy and ethics as well as the history of philosophy. In the doctoral thesis he dealt with the position of Thomas Aquinas to the Jewish philosopher Avencebrol . He also examined the ethics of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas in their philosophical and historical development, dealt with Max Scheler as an ethicist and analyzed modern ethics of values . Wittmann stands out among the representatives of neo-scholasticism , like his colleague Martin Grabmann , in that he saw the historical-critical investigation of the development of teaching among the various thinkers as essential for a deeper insight into the factual truth of things. For him, ethics remains grounded in being; The rational human nature in its ideal essence is ethically authoritative (i.e. normative). Wittmann was in lively exchange with contemporary thinkers, which his contributions in the Philosophical Yearbook attest.

In November 1933 he and all his colleagues in Eichstatt signed the German professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler .

Works (selection)

• About the position of St. Thomas Aquinas at Avencebrol . 1900
• On the position of Avencebrol (Ibn Gebirol's) in the course of development of Arabic philosophy . 1905. Reprint 2009. ISBN 978-1-11768595-3
• The basic questions of ethics . Collection Kösel. Kempten 1909.
• The ethics of Aristotle is examined in its systematic unity and historical position . Regensburg 1920.
• Aristotle and Free Will, 1921
• Max Scheler as an ethicist. A contribution to the history of modern ethics . 1923.
• Ethics . Kempten 1923.
• The ethics of St. Thomas Aquinas, presented in their systematic structure and researched in their historical, especially in the ancient sources . Regensburg 1920. Reprint Frankfurt / Main 1962. ISBN 978-3-86598-202-5
• The modern ethics of values. Historically examined and critically examined. A contribution to the history and appreciation of German philosophy since Kant. (Eichstätter Studies. Vol. 5). Munster 1940.

Appreciations

• Festschrift of the Philosophical Yearbook for his 70th birthday on June 13, 1940
• Johannes Hirschberger : Michael Wittmann in memory. In: Philosophisches Jahrbuch 59 (1949), pp. 401–405