Richard Kroner

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Richard Kroner (born March 8, 1884 in Breslau , † November 2, 1974 in Mammern ) was a German philosopher and theologian . Kroner was close to the Southwest German School of Neo-Kantianism , but also made important contributions to Neo-Hegelianism , especially with his work From Kant to Hegel .

Life

The father, Traugott Kroner (1854–1899), son of a rabbi from Glatz , was a doctor and private lecturer in Breslau, the mother Margarete Kroner, nee. Heymann, came from a wealthy industrial family. Kroner had a younger brother Kurt Kroner . Richard Kroner attended the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau from 1895 , which he left with the Abitur in 1902. He was baptized while he was still at school. Alice Kauffmann, his future wife, also came from a family of industrialists in Breslau and was the cousin of Max Born . He met both of them during dance lessons in Alice's mother's house.

He studied philosophy and literature in Breslau with Jakob Freudenthal , Matthias Baumgartner (1865–1933) and psychology with Hermann Ebbinghaus . In the winter semester of 1902/02 he heard in Berlin with Wilhelm Dilthey and Georg Simmel , then in the summer of 1903 in Heidelberg with Kuno Fischer and Wilhelm Windelband . Here he met Paul Hensel , Emil Lask , Julius Ebbinghaus , Fedor Stepun and Heinz Heimsoeth . Heimsoeth reports about the time:

“In the seminar on the Critique of Pure Reason, Richard Kroner, who was four semesters older and later became a leading figure in the renewal of Hegelianism still accepted by the old master, shone as a role model. In the systematic, a formative force also emanated from Emil Lask, who had just completed his habilitation, and in whose inner circle Fichte's criticism of his age was discussed. "

Kroner went back to Breslau twice during his studies, where he did military service with an artillery regiment from October 1905 to October 1906. He then continued his studies on the advice of Windelband because of his epistemological interest in Freiburg . There he received his doctorate in 1908 under Heinrich Rickert with the thesis on logical and aesthetic generality . The voluntary disclosure about the work in the Kant studies states:

“The work is on critical ground. Its main purpose is to examine the relationship between the general validity of the aesthetic judgment and the transcendental-logical general validity, as presented by Kant in his Critique of Judgment . "

At the same time, the work was one of the first discussions about Husserl's phenomenology . On May 12, 1908, he married his childhood friend Alice in Breslau. In 1909 they had their only daughter Gerda, who later became a linguistics lecturer in Ann Arbor after changing positions . In 1910, Kroner was a co-founder of the magazine Logos , the publication of which was discussed and decided among others in the Rickerts house with Stepun, Georg Mehlis , Sergius Hessen (1887–1950) and Nikolai von Bubnoff (1880–1962). The editor of the first volume was Mehlis. From the third volume onwards, Kroner became co-editor and, after the war, sole editor. The concept of the magazine was international and interdisciplinary. The aim was not only to develop theoretical positions, but also to directly influence current issues of culture.

In the first volume of the logo, Kroner published an essay in which Bergson's philosophy was presented in German for the first time . After Bergson had expressed himself positively about this work, this became the starting point for Kroner 's Habilitation, presented in 1912, on the subject of Purpose and Law in Biology . On March 1, 1912, Kroner became a private lecturer in philosophy in Freiburg. After four years of participation in the First World War , from which Kroner returned as a captain and awarded the Iron Cross second and first class, he continued his studies with Rickert and then with Husserl. On March 14, 1919 he became a non-civil servant. Appointed professor. In 1920 he received a three-year paid teaching position on the philosophy of German idealism , which for the first time enabled him to earn his own living and that of his family. This resulted in the two-volume work “From Kant to Hegel”, with which he also received international attention and recognition.

In 1922, an appointment to an extraordinary position in Marburg, where Martin Heidegger was preferred, failed . In 1924, with the support of Viktor Klemperer , he was appointed to the chair for “theoretical pedagogy and philosophy” at the Technical University of Dresden , where he prevailed in the Paul Luchtenberg competition . In Dresden, Kroner met Alfred Baeumler , with whom he initially worked on friendly terms, but kept his distance from him when, from 1926, Bäumler vehemently opposed idealism and the philosophy of values. From 1925 Paul Tillich came to Dresden, with whom Kroner became friends. Also in 1925 he succeeded in getting a position as associate for his friend Fedor Stepun. Enforce professor of sociology. In addition to their work at the university, Kroner and his wife ensured a variety of socializing in their large villa on the Elbe: “A large part of the intellectual and artistic Dresden met there for lectures, tea hours, discussions, theater plays, but also at summer festivals under lanterns . "

In 1928, Kroner accepted a professorship at the University of Kiel as the successor to Heinrich Scholz to a professorship in philosophy. From the summer semester of 1929 onwards, he was able to concentrate more on his special topic, German idealism . At the 1st International Hegel Congress in The Hague , as a leading German Hegelian, he was elected 1st chairman of the newly founded International Hegel League. He held the chair until 1934.

In addition to his commitment to Hegel, Kroner published the text "Kulturphilosophische Grundführung der Politik" in 1931. In this he criticizes the idea of ​​the "absolute state" aimed at by both fascism and Bolshevism . The conservative, but democratic political attitude expressed here may have been one of the reasons that after the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists there were considerable disruptions in his lectures, although he was officially a participant in the First World War under the " frontline fighter privilege " was not yet affected by the law for the restoration of the civil service . This was followed by a forced transfer to the University of Frankfurt in 1934 . There he was urgently advised to voluntarily retire in order to avoid further personal damage. Kroner followed this and went to his sister-in-law Cläre Kauffmann (1897–1942), who had also studied with Rickert, in Berlin in 1935. In 1938 he finally decided to emigrate to England, where he was able to teach in Oxford for three years. In 1940 he finally moved to the USA, where he taught the philosophy of religion at the Union Theological Seminary in New York from 1941 until his retirement in 1952 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Heimsoeth, in: Philosophy in Self-Representations, 1977, quoted from Asmus, 21.
  2. ↑ Quoted from Asmus, 22.
  3. ↑ The journalist Leonie Dotzing in Volume 13 of the Paul Tillich Complete Edition, quoted by Asmus, 41st

Works (selection)

  • Purpose and Law in Biology: A Logical Inquiry , 1913.
  • Kant's Weltanschauung , 1914.
  • From Kant to Hegel , 2 volumes, 1921–1924. ( Volume 1 , Volume 2 )
  • The Self-Realization of the Spirit , 1928.
  • The cultural-philosophical foundation of politics , 1931.
  • Hegel. On the 100th anniversary of death , 1932.
  • The religious function of imagination , 1941.
  • The primacy of faith , 1951.
  • Speculation and revelation in the history of philosophy , 3 volumes, 1957–1961.
  • Self-reflection. Three lessons , 1958.
  • Between faith and thought: Reflections and Suggestions , 1966.
  • Freedom and Grace , 1969.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kroner, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH November 2nd 1974
Place of death Mammers