Rudolf G. Wagner

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Rudolf G. Wagner (2007)

Rudolf G. Wagner (born November 3, 1941 in Wiesbaden ; † October 25, 2019 in Heidelberg ) was a German sinologist and professor of sinology at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg .

Life

Between 1962 and 1969 Wagner studied Sinology, Japanese Studies , Political Science and Philosophy in Bonn , Heidelberg, Paris and Munich and completed these with a PhD ( Hui-yuan's Questions to Kumarajiva ). As a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund, Wagner then worked for one year each at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley , until he came to Freie Universität Berlin in 1972 , where he became Assistant Professor of Sinology. In Berlin he also worked in communist circles and organizations of the KPD / AO and as an author in the magazine “ Liberation ”, where he defended the Pol Pot regime , among other things .

Wagner received his doctorate in philosophy from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich in 1974 . The subject of his dissertation was "Shih Hui-yüan's Questions to Kumarajiva". From 1978 he worked as a sinology lecturer at the East Asian Seminar of the Free University of Berlin and was also a science journalist for German-speaking radio stations. His habilitation took place in Berlin in 1981 with the study “Philology, Philosophy and Politics during the Zhengshi Era”. In the following years Wagner worked at several scientific institutions: at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University (1981–1982), as a private lecturer at the Free University of Berlin (1982–1983), as a visiting professor at the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard (January – June 1984) and as a linguist at the Center for Chinese Studies in Berkeley (1984–1986).

In 1987 he received the chair for Sinology at the University of Heidelberg. In 1989 he worked at the Academy of Social Sciences Beijing in the People's Republic of China , but then briefly resumed his visiting professorship at Harvard University a year later.

Wagner was married to Catherine Vance Yeh, who is a professor at Boston University , and has two daughters. He died on October 25, 2019 at the age of 77.

Act

Wagner's research dealt primarily with Chinese cultural history. His main work includes the three-volume study of the writings of the philosopher Wang Bi , which was supported by the Volkswagen Foundation with an academy scholarship:

  • The Craft of a Chinese Commentator: Wang Bi on the Laozi (2000)
  • Language, Ontology, and Political Philosophy: Wang Bi's Scholarly Exploration of the Dark (Xuanxue) (2003)
  • A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bi's commentary on the Laozi with critical text and translation (2003)

Other topics of his scientific work included a. the Taiping Uprising , the Shanghai daily Shenbao, and Chinese literature (prose and historical drama) and its links with politics.

Wagner's importance, which extends far beyond the German borders, is particularly evident from the fact that he held the office of Secretary General from September 1992 to August 1996 and that of President of the European Association of Chinese Studies from September 1996 to September 1998 . In addition, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences appointed him an associate professor in 1996.

In 1993 Wagner received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for his research . He was posthumously awarded the Karl Jaspers Prize in 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Rudolf G. Wagner: Obituary notice , FAZ from November 2, 2019
  2. ↑ Marie Louise Näth 1995: The People's Republic of China: Perceptions, Concepts of Science and Realities. Frankfurt a. M: Peter Lang, p. 117 here cites the article by Rudolf Wagner, The hatred against independence - Objectives of the press campaigns against Kampuchea, in: Liberation, Berlin, No. 7, July 1976, p. 64-75.
  3. ^ Catherine Yeh Professor of Chinese & Comparative Literature. Boston University, accessed October 31, 2019 .
  4. ^ Cluster mourns Rudolf G. Wagner. Karl Jaspers Center for Advanced Transcultural Studies, October 30, 2019, accessed October 30, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Wagner, Rudolf G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sinologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2019
Place of death Heidelberg