Richard Schaeffler

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Richard Schaeffler (born December 20, 1926 in Munich ; † February 24, 2019 there ) was a German philosopher with extensive contributions to the philosophy of history and religion. The avowed Catholic Schaeffler was one of the main figures of the history and religious-philosophical reception of Kant in the 20th century. From 1968 to 1989 he worked as a professor for philosophical-theological borderline questions at the Ruhr University in Bochum and from then until 2011 he taught as a visiting professor at the University of Philosophy Munich .

Richard Schaeffler. Signature 1996

Life

Richard Schaeffler, son of the pharmacist couple Joseph Schaeffler and Gertrud Schaeffler, b. Witkowski, spent his early childhood in various suburbs of Munich, most recently in Solln near Munich, where he also attended elementary school. From April 1936 to July 1941 he attended the boarding school of the humanistic grammar school in the Benedictine Abbey of Ettal . After this institution was closed, he returned to Solln and attended the Theresien-Gymnasium in Munich until October 1942 . At that time, Schaeffler was expelled from school for racial reasons (his mother was Jewish) and received private lessons from teachers who sympathized with him. In the following years he worked as a pharmacist apprentice in his father's company, a wholesaler of pharmaceutical preparations. In November 1944 he and his father were arrested by the Gestapo and taken to a “special labor camp”, where they had to remain until liberation by American troops. From his return in May 1945 until September of that year he worked again in his father's business.

At the end of September 1945 he was given permission to take part as a guest in the lectures and seminars of the philosophy faculty of the Berchmanns Kolleg in Pullach near Munich (today's Munich School of Philosophy ), a university of the Jesuit order. After a year he finished with the intermediate examination. The main teachers at this time were the Jesuit fathers Walter Brugger and Josef de Vries ; At that time members of the convent were also Karl Rahner and Johannes Baptist Lotz . In March 1946 he passed his Abitur at the Theresien-Gymnasium in Munich. From the winter semester 1946/47 he studied philosophy, psychology and catholic theology at the philosophical faculty of the University of Tübingen, from the winter semester 1950/51 as a doctoral student. Philosophical teachers were Gerhard Krüger , Eduard Spranger and Wilhelm Weischedel , in psychology Eduard Spranger and Hans Wenke , in Catholic theology the dogmatist Karl Adam , exegete Fridolin Stier , church historian August Fink and fundamental theologian Heinrich Fries . In the summer semester of 1952 he submitted his extensive philosophical dissertation The Faith to Karl Jaspers to the Heidegger and Bultmann student Gerhard Krüger , who had converted to the Catholic Church in 1950 .

After completing his doctorate, he took up an assistant position at Gerhard Krüger and completed his habilitation in 1961 at the Philosophical Faculty in Tübingen with the thesis The Structure of History . The work represents "both in historical and systematic terms an essential contribution to the philosophy of history", judged the philosopher Hans Michael Baumgartner .

From 1968 until his retirement in 1989, Schaeffler was professor for philosophical-theological borderline questions at the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Since then he has been a visiting professor at the Munich University of Philosophy . In addition to his scientific work, Schaeffler was involved in the “Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians” and the “Discussion Group Jews and Christians” at the Central Committee of German Catholics (1972–1983).

Since 1995, the Munich School of Philosophy has awarded the “Richard Schaeffler Prize for philosophical and theological borderline questions” to young philosophers every two years. Previous winners include Georg Essen , Markwart Herzog and Thomas Schärtl . On November 11, 2005, the Munich University of Philosophy awarded him an honorary doctorate for his scientific merits in the philosophy of religion, philosophy of history and philosophy of science.

Publications

  • The question of faith in the work of Karl Jaspers . Diss. Phil. mach. Tübingen 1952 (available in: UB Bochum , UB Erlangen , UB Tübingen ).
  • The controversy between Anselm von Canterbury and Gaunilo von Marmoutiers: on the question of whether the existence of God is justifiable in thought [Habil. Lecture]. In: Christoph Böhr / Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz (ed.): God think. On the philosophy of religion (the image of man and the order of society). Springer, Heidelberg 2019, 1–17.
  • The structure of the historical period [Habil.-Schrift]. Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1963.
  • Religion and critical awareness. Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau 1973.
  • Piety of thought? Martin Heidegger and Catholic theology. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1978.
  • What can we hope for? The Catholic theology of hope between Bloch's utopian thinking and the Reformation doctrine of justification . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1979.
  • The interrelationships between philosophy and Catholic theology (= the philosophical endeavors of the 20th century ). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1980.
  • Faith reflection and science teaching. Theses on the history of science and the philosophy of science in theology (= Quaestiones Disputatae. Vol. 82). Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1980.
  • Philosophy of religion (= Handbook of Philosophy. Vol. 4). Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1983, ISBN 3-495-48072-2 .
  • Ability to experience. On the transcendental hermeneutics of speaking from God (= Quaestiones Disputatae. Vol. 94). Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1982.
  • The little linguistic teaching of prayer (= Collection Horizonte. NF, Vol. 26). Johannes-Verlag, Einsiedeln 1988, ISBN 3-265-10338-2 (in French: Le langage de la prière . Paris 2003, ISBN 2-204-07116-1 ).
  • Prayer and Argument - Two Ways of Speaking from God. An introduction to the theory of religious language . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1989.
  • Experience as a dialogue with reality. An investigation into the logic of experience. Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, ISBN 3-495-47803-5 .
  • Philosophical exercise in theology. 3 volumes. Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau 2004.
  • Recognition as responsive creation. Or: How is the world of objects built before our eyes? Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau 2014.
  • Unconditional truth and finite reason. Possibilities and limits of human knowledge (the image of humans and the order of society). Springer, Heidelberg 2017.
  • The good, the beautiful and the holy. Characteristics and conditions of ethical, aesthetic and religious experience. Alber, Freiburg 2019.

literature

  • Bernd Irlenborn : "Veritas semper maior". Richard Schaeffler's philosophical concept of God in the field of tension between philosophy and theology (= Ratio fidei. Vol. 20). Pustet, Regensburg 2003, ISBN 3-7917-1841-X .
  • Bernd Irlenborn, Christian Tapp (ed.): God and reason. New perspectives on Richard Schaeffler's transcendental philosophy (= Scientia & Religio. Vol. 11). Alber, Freiburg / Munich 2013, ISBN 3-495-48562-7 .
  • Matthias Laarmann, Tobias Trappe (eds.): Experience - History - Identity. At the intersection of philosophy and theology. For Richard Schaeffler. Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-451-26199-5 (with bibliography 1952–1996).
  • Bernhard Nitsche : Divine universality in concrete history. Attempt at a transcendental historical reassurance of Christology in discussion with Richard Schaeffler and Karl Rahner (= religion, history, society. Fundamental theological studies. Vol. 22). Lit, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-8258-5136-2 .
  • Bernhard Nitsche: A little exercise in Richard Schaeffler's great "Philosophical Exercise in Theology". In: New journal for systematic theology and philosophy of religion. Vol. 49 (2007), H. 1, pp. 114-130, doi: 10.1515 / NZST.2007.009 .
  • Thomas M. Schmidt , Siegfried Wiedenhofer (Ed.): Religious experience. Richard Schaeffler's contribution to the philosophy of religion and theology. Alber, Freiburg / Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-495-48401-2 (with bibliography 1952-2010).
  • Stefan Walser: Thinking about praying. Studies on Richard Schaeffler's religious-philosophical prayer teaching (= Scientia & Religio. Vol. 13). Alber, Freiburg / Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-495-48703-7 .
  • Christoph Böhr / Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz (eds.): God think. On the philosophy of religion (the image of man and the order of society). Springer, Heidelberg 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Richard Schaeffler has died. University of Philosophy Munich, March 1, 2019, accessed on March 2, 2019 .
  2. ^ R. Schaeffler: CV. In: Ders .: The question of faith in the work of Karl Jaspers. Diss. Phil. Tübingen 1952, appendix [without pagination, p. 1]: "The teachers of this institution [ie the Theresien-Gymnasium], who after my expulsion from the school were always ready, regardless of the dangers associated with them, to me in the evening hours I am very grateful to give private lessons. "
  3. ↑ Philosophisches Jahrbuch 72 (1965) 427.
  4. ^ Richard Schaeffler Prize for philosophical-theological borderline questions ( memento from January 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), website of the Munich University of Philosophy, accessed on January 17, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Schaeffler, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 2019
Place of death Munich