Robert S. Hartman

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Robert Schirokauer Hartman (born January 27, 1910 in Berlin ; † September 20, 1973 in Mexico City ) was an American logician and philosopher of German origin.

He is considered an important representative of the science of values ​​( axiology , " Science of Value ") and is the founder of formal axiology (mathematically exact science of values). Hartman was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 .

Life

The father of Robert Schirokauer (the S. remained in the middle name) was of Jewish origin, his birth mother was Lutheran . He was raised Catholic through his stepmother . He studied law in Germany, political science in Paris and economics in London. As a young judge in the early 1930s, he harshly condemned criminal Nazis and also published offensive articles against the National Socialists and their activities.

After Hitler's " seizure of power " he fled to France in the summer of 1933 with a false passport (Hartman) and made his way there as a photographer with a photo agency, which he continued to operate a short time later in London. He then worked with Gerhard Zucker , a German rocket engineer who wanted to make this technology available to the British Post. In London he also made the acquaintance of the representative of Walt Disney in Europe and was shortly afterwards commissioned to set up the corresponding business in Scandinavia. The Nazis continued to watch him. In 1938 he left Europe to initially run the business for Walt Disney in Mexico. In order to continue his scientific research on the question "What is good?", He immigrated from Mexico to the USA in 1942 and received his doctorate in philosophy from Northwestern University in Illinois in 1946 . After numerous teaching assignments and visiting professorships, a. a. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Yale University , he taught and researched until his death in 1973 every six months at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México .

In addition to his scientific work, Robert S. Hartman has always remained connected to the corporate world. B. through advice and publications. He is considered to be the father of the profit share idea in the USA and thus significantly supported the participation of the workforce in the company's profits, also with the help of pension payments. In the 1960s and 1970s he was heavily influenced by the Cold War and the threat of human annihilation from nuclear weapons. He was in contact with numerous political giants around the world in order to promote possibilities for a lasting peace. In the last year of his life he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

plant

The mathematically exact science of values ​​was at the center of Hartman's work as a scientist. The atrocities committed by the Nazis were the main reason why Robert S. Hartman devoted himself entirely to researching the “good” in the second half of his life. He was wondering why in history the brutal and inhuman rulers always seemed to be the more powerful. He himself considered human life to be infinitely valuable. He wanted to develop a formal concept of the good in order to bring the ethical-moral thinking and acting of people to an exact and high level - similar to the natural sciences with their technical developments for more than 500 years with the help of the axioms of Isaac Newton and had reached others. The “good” would therefore be strengthened in order to be able to better stand up to the “bad”. His striving for a better, value-oriented world is illustrated by the following quote: “I thought to myself, if evil can be organized so efficiently [by the Nazis] why cannot be good? Is there any reason for efficiency to be monopolized by the forces for evil in the world? Why is it so difficult to organize good? Why have good people in history never seemed to have had as much power as bad people? I decided I would try to find out why and devote my life to doing something about it. "

The axiom of value science developed by Robert S. Hartman has the formal definition of "good" as its object: " Good is concept fulfillment." As a result, he succeeded in building an exact science of values ​​regardless of different moral and moral values. The mathematically formulated axiom relates to the properties of an object or subject, be it a conceptual construct, an object or a person. The more properties there are in an object, the more valuable it is. His mathematically formulated axiom is:

V x = 2 n - 1

The value (Value = V) of “something”, be it object or subject (x) corresponds to the base 2 to the power of n, which indicates the number of properties of the “something” minus one.

Hartman derived three different “value dimensions” from this: the intrinsic (human), the extrinsic (objective) and the systemic (formal) dimension. From the combination of these dimensions, everyday concepts as well as complicated relationships or situations can now be represented with mathematical formulas based on the science of values. The dimensions of values ​​can be represented mathematically using Cantor's set theory . This makes it possible to measure values ​​and evaluations exactly or to differentiate them from one another. An evaluation in the sense of good or bad is comparable.

Practical use

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
The "numerous international validation studies" are not proven.

While the work on a further development of this calculation model of the values ​​did not achieve a breakthrough, Hartman developed a practical-operational application of his research, which is known today as the Hartman Value Profile (HVP). This psychometric - more precisely value-metric - procedure records the personal value system of a test person and allows valid conclusions to be drawn about their attitudes, personality traits and thus their behavior. By ranking 18 statements twice, the properties mentioned can be measured in a way that prevents the subject from being manipulated. For this reason, the HVP is suitable for use in personnel selection, personnel development and coaching . The HVP is scientifically supported by numerous, also international validation studies. HVP applications have only recently been offered in Europe.

literature

  • Rem B. Edwards, John W. Davis: Forms of Value and Valuation . University Press of America, 1991
  • Robert S. Hartman: The Structure of Value . Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 1967
  • Robert S. Hartman: Freedom to Live (edited by Arthur R. Ellis). Amsterdam / Atlanta 1994
  • Robert S. Hartman: The knowledge of Good - Critique of Axiological Reason (edited by Arthur R. Ellis and Rem B. Edwards). Amsterdam / New York 2002
  • Leon Pomeroy: The New Science of Axiological Psychology . Amsterdam / New York 2005

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 401k retirement plan in the English language Wikipedia
  2. ^ Robert S. Hartman: Freedom to Live [edited by Arthur R. Ellis]. Amsterdam / Atlanta 1994, p. 33
  3. ↑ hartmaninstitute.org
personal data
SURNAME Hartman, Robert S.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hartman, Robert Schirokauer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American logician and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 20th September 1973
Place of death Mexico city