Richard Rudolf Waltz

Richard Rudolf Walzer FBA (born July 14, 1900 in Berlin , † April 16, 1975 in Oxford ) was a German-British classical philologist , philosopher and orientalist . He specialized in Greek and Arabic philosophy and was a member of the British Academy .

biography

Richard Walzer was born as the son of the Jewish businessman Max Walzer and his wife Elfriede. In 1918 he graduated from Werner-Siemens-Realgymnasium in Berlin-Schöneberg . He first studied medicine and Hebrew at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin . After hearing lectures from Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff , he switched to Greek studies in 1919 .

In 1927 he received his doctorate on Magna Moralia and Aristotelian Ethics . He provided evidence for the prevailing opinion that the Magna Moralia did not come from Aristotle , against Hans von Arnim's attempt to identify the MM as an early work by Aristotle. In the same year he became an assistant at the Berlin University, in 1932 he completed his habilitation on studies on the unity of Herodoteic history and became a private lecturer in classical philology. In his inaugural lecture on Classical Antiquities and Oriental Studies , he illustrated the tradition of Greek thought in Arabic philosophy.

In 1933 he was dismissed as a Jew while visiting Italy with his wife . Friends warned him not to return to Germany. Walzer stayed in Italy until 1938, teaching Greek philosophy at the University of Rome and translating Heraclitus into Italian.

When Italy became dangerous for Jews too, he moved to Great Britain . In 1942 he found a job at Oriel College of Oxford University . At first he was a lecturer in Greek philosophy. In 1945 he became a lecturer in medieval philosophy. In 1950 a chair for late Greek and medieval Arabic philosophy was created for him. In 1962 he moved within Oxford University from Oriel College to St Catherine's College .

In 1952 he was also made an honorary professor at the University of Hamburg . In 1953 and 1954 he conducted research at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton , New Jersey . In 1956 he was elected a member of the British Academy. With Samuel Miklos Stern he published the journal Oriental Studies from 1962 .

Walzer had been married to Martha Eva Sophie Cassirer, daughter of the publisher Bruno Cassirer , since 1927 .

Publications (selection)

• Magna Moralia and Aristotelian Ethics (= New Philological Investigations. H. 7, ZDB -ID 500328-3 ). Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1929 (at the same time: Berlin, university, considerably expanded and redesigned dissertation, 1927).
• Galen's Paper on Medical Experience: Preliminary Report. In: Meeting reports of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-historical class. 1932, ISSN  0933-8152 , pp. 449-468 (also special print: De Gruyter, Berlin 1932).
• as editor: Aristotelis Dialogorum fragmenta (= Testi della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Volume 2, ZDB -ID 2279626-5 ). Sansoni, Florence 1934 (reprint. Olms, Hildesheim 1963; Licosa Reprints, Florence 1972).
• Galen's writing “About the Seven Month Children”. In: Rivista degli Studi orientali. Volume 15, 1935, p. 323 ff.
• Studi su al-Kindī . 2 volumes. 1938-1940;
  • Volume 1: with M. Guidi: Uno scritto introduttivo allo studio di Aristotele. In: Memorie della R. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Class di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche. Ser. 6, vol. 6, fasc. 6, 1940, ISSN  0391-8149 , pp. 375-419 (also special print. Bardi, Rome 1938).
  • Volume 2: with H. Ritter : Uno scritto morale inedito di al-Kindī (Temistio Περὶ ὰλυρὶας?). In: Memorie della R. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Class di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche. Ser. 6, vol. 8, fasc. 1, 1938, pp. 5-63 (also special copy. Bardi, Rome 1938).
• as editor and translator: Eraclito : Raccolta dei frammenti e traduzione italiana (= Testi della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Vol. 4). Sansoni, Florence 1939 (reprint. Olms, Hildesheim 1964).
• as editor with Franz Rosenthal : Alfarabius : De Platonis philosophia (= Corpus Platonicum Medii Aevi . Plato Arabus. Vol. 2, ZDB -ID 2325939-5 ). Warburg Institute, London 1943 (text in Arabic and Latin).
• as editor and translator: Galen on medical experience. 1st edition of the arabic version with english translation and notes. Oxford University Press, London a. a 1944 (reprinted there in 1946).
• Arabic Transmission of Greek Thought to Medieval Europe. In: Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Volume 29, No. 1, 1945, ISSN  0021-7239 , pp. 160-183 (also reprint. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1945).
• Galen on Jews and Christians. Oxford University Press et al. a., Oxford et al. a. 1949.
• as editor with Paul Kraus: Galeni compendium Timaei Platonis. Aliorumque dialogorum synopsis quae extant fragmenta (= Corpus Platonicum Medii Aevi. Plato Arabus. Volume 1). Warburg Institute, London 1951 (reprint: Kraus Reprint, Nedeln 1973).
• New Light on the Arabic Translations of Aristotle. In: Oriens. Volume 6, No. 1, 1953, pp. 91-142.
• Islamic Philosophy. In: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Ed.): History of Philosophy Eastern and Western. Volume 2. Allen & Unwin, London 1953, pp. 120-148 (2nd imprint. Ibid 1957).
• Greek into Arabic. Essays on Islamic philosophy (= Oriental Studies. Volume 1). Bruno Cassirer, Oxford 1962 (2nd imprint. Ibid 1963).
• L'éveil de la philosophie islamique (= Revue des etudes islamiques. Hors series Vol. 1, ISSN  0768-262X ). Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris 1971.
• as editor and translator: al-Farabi on the perfect state. = Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī's Mabādi 'Ārā' ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila. A revised text with introduction, translation, and commentary. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1985, ISBN 0-19-824505-X (text in Arabic and English).
• as translator with Michael Frede : Galen: Three Treatises on the Nature of Science (= Hackett Classics. Vol. 592). Hackett, Indianapolis IN et al. a. 1985, ISBN 0-915145-91-X .
• as editor with JM Mingay: Aristotelis Ethica Eudemia. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-814575-6 (text in Greek and Latin, introduction in Latin).

literature

• Luc Deitz : Waltz, Richard Rudolf (1900–1975). In: HCG Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. From the earliest times to the year 2000. Volume 57: Walliers - Welles. Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2004, ISBN 0-19-861407-1 , pp. 231-232.
• Samuel M. Stern (Ed.): Islamic philosophy and the classical tradition. Essays presented by his friends and pupils to Richard Walzer on his 70th birthday (= Oriental Studies. Vol. 5). Cassirer, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-85181-007-1 .
• Fritz Wehrli : Richard Walzer † In: Gnomon . Vol. 48, 1976, pp. 221-222.
• DA Russell: Richard Rudolf Walzer, 1902–1975 . In: Proceedings of the British Academy . tape 73 , 1987, pp. 705-710 ( thebritishacademy.ac.uk [PDF]).

Web links

• Literature by and about Richard Rudolf Walzer in the catalog of the German National Library