Philosophy in the GDR
Up until 1990 about 30 university professors taught philosophy in the GDR . It is estimated that, together with the assistants, there were around 150 people who worked as academic teachers of philosophy in the GDR , most of them at the Central Institute for Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR .
There were historians of philosophy for antiquity, the Middle Ages, the modern age and modernity, with modernity being treated under the heading “bourgeois philosophy” and contemporary western philosophy under the heading “late bourgeois philosophy”.
The well-known philosophical disciplines were represented across the board. Depending on the interests of the chair holders, the focus was on epistemology or philosophy of science as well as ethical or social issues. At some universities there was the phenomenon of "schools" being formed around individual chairs.
Marxism-Leninism as a state ideology
In the GDR, Marxism-Leninism was a state ideology . Since in Marxism-Leninism there are fixed views on a large number of basic philosophical questions (e.g. determinism instead of free will , materialism instead of idealism ), all teachers in GDR philosophy moved within a fixed framework. The guidelines of the state provided that every GDR philosopher had to see himself as a Marxist-Leninist, and philosophical research had to be based on the given guidelines.
East-West Exchange of Philosophers
Before 1990 there was very little exchange between philosophers from the Federal Republic and the GDR. There was a feeling of not speaking the same language, and the fact that only particularly privileged GDR academics were given the opportunity to attend conferences in the West acted as an additional obstacle. In the west there was mostly little interest in the philosophers of the GDR. However, there were some philosophers of science and philosophy historians among the GDR philosophers who also became known in the West.
Achievements of the GDR philosophy
In the GDR, editions of works on the texts of Aristotle , Leibniz , Feuerbach , Hess and the Marx-Engels complete edition were published. Among the other works that were created within the framework of the GDR philosophy, these are usually particularly emphasized:
- Ernst Bloch : The Principle of Hope (written in US exile between 1938 and 1947, published in the GDR in the 1950s)
- Works by Georg Klaus
- Rudolf Bahro : The alternative
- Peter Ruben : Work on the relationship between science and philosophy
- Helmut Seidel : Books and articles on the history of philosophy
- Martina Thom : Books and articles on the history of philosophy, in particular on Immanuel Kant and Moses Mendelssohn
- Gerd Irrlitz : Studies on the origin of morality and on the pantheistic line in the history of philosophy
- Wolfgang Heise's late work on Hölderlin and the aesthetics of German idealism
- Wolfgang Harich : Critique of the Nietzsche reception
Handling of the GDR philosophy
On the basis of the Unification Treaty , the institutions of the GDR philosophy were rebuilt or abolished between 1990 and 1993. The state governments were responsible for the renovation. Evaluation, founding and appointment commissions were set up in which West German professors had a majority. There were also honorary and personnel commissions that were exclusively made up of former GDR citizens. The result of the deliberations was that almost everyone who had previously identified the GDR philosophy lost their jobs.
Gerd Irrlitz , philosophy professor from Berlin , received a position that corresponded to his previous position. The same was true of some logicians. The Berlin Central Institute for Philosophy was completely dissolved.
literature
- Georg Klaus , Manfred Buhr (Hrsg.): Philosophical dictionary . 1st edition, Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut 1964 (1 vol.), 10th new edit. and exp. Ed., Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut 1974 (2 vol.), 11th edition, Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut 1975 (2 vol.); also as a Marxist-Leninist dictionary of philosophy . 1st edition, Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1972 (3 vol.), [5. Ed.]. rework. u. exp. Edition, Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1975 (3 vol.)
- Volker Caysa , Petra Caysa , Elke Uhl , Klaus-Dieter Eichler : Hope can be disappointed. Ernst Bloch in Leipzig. ; Verlag Hain, Berlin 1992, ISBN 9783445085733
- Volker Gerhardt , Hans-Christoph Rauh (Hrsg.): Beginnings of the GDR philosophy 1945-1958. Claims, powerlessness, failure. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-86153-225-5 .
- Hans-Christoph Rauh, Peter Ruben (Ed.): Attempts to think. GDR philosophy in the 1960s. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-86153-359-6 .
- Hans-Martin Gerlach , Hans-Christoph Rauh (Ed.): Exits. On the GDR philosophy in the 70s and 80s. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-557-7 .
- Alfred Kosing : Inside views as evidence of the times - philosophy and politics in the GDR. Memories and reflections. Verlag am Park, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89793-178-7 .
- Hans-Christoph Rauh; Philosophy from a closed world. On the history of the GDR philosophy and its institutions. (With contributions by Camilla Warnke and Peer Pasternack ), Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86153-882-0 .
- Hans-Christoph Rauh, Alexander Amberger, Andreas Heyer, Michael Eckardt: Beginning and End of East German Philosophy. Studies on the work of Ernst Bloch, Wolfgang Harich, Georg Klaus and other philosophers in the GDR. Helle Panke eV, "Philosophical Conversations", Issue 47, Berlin 2017.