Private scholar
A private scholar is usually an academically educated person whose research is privately motivated and financed . Private scholars do not work at a university or other research institution. Your scientific results are not necessarily published , but often simply recorded in the form of private records ( notes , diary , correspondence , etc.).
Not to be confused with the private scholar is the private lecturer , a qualified scientist who teaches at a university without holding a professorship .
Reasons and characteristics
There are many possible reasons for working as a private scholar. Characteristic are:
- Methodological and content independence from public clients .
- Lack of academic qualification for a proper teaching position at a scientific university ( Venia legendi ).
- Missing cathedra ( chair , professor , lecturer ) despite academic qualification for a proper teaching, for example due to points deficiency , low publication activity u. Ä.
- Missing cathedra despite academic qualification, for example due to political , ideological , religious , ethnic , gender or other disadvantage or political persecution .
A prerequisite for a private scholar's livelihood is financial independence or a part- time income.
state of research
Although there were scientists in ancient times who did not secure their livelihood through academic activities, it was not until the 19th century that certain researchers and thinkers were referred to as private scholars, e. B. Arthur Schopenhauer , Søren Kierkegaard , Charles Darwin and Walter Benjamin . Since then, the careers in science have changed significantly, many scientists work at scientific universities and research institutions and the prerequisites for some research areas have become very extensive, so that scientists who can come up with relevant research results without institutional support stand out in their achievements.
Due to the diverse reasons and manifestations of an activity as a private scholar, there has so far been no systematic research into the overall phenomenon. As far as researched, the investigations extend to individual cases. The research is mostly subject-related, rarely interdisciplinary .
See also
literature
- Erich Camenzind: Radical devotion. The private scholar Dr. Edgar Schorer. Freiburg (Switzerland) 1988, ISBN 385764267X
- Henrik Franke: Moritz Traube (1826-1894). From wine merchant to academician. The extraordinary path of the Jewish private scholar and pioneer of physiological chemistry. Studies and sources on the history of chemistry 9, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3929134217
- Rolf Italiaander (ed.): Hans-Hasso von Veltheim -Ostrau. Private scholar and citizen of the world. Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3770007395
- Theo Rasehorn : The end of the private legal scholar. To the scientific community in jurisprudence. In: Journal for Legal Policy 1986, pp. 191–194
- George Windholz et al .: Vagaries of science, priority, independent discovery, and the quest for recognition (The case of Otto Kalischer , a German 'Privatgelehrter'). In: The Psychological record, 1993, vol. 43, n. 3, p. 339-350, ISSN 0033-2933
