Theodor Paul Erismann

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Grave of Theodor Erismann in the Mühlau cemetery , Innsbruck

Theodor Paul Erismann (born September 16, 1883 in Moscow , † December 2, 1961 in Innsbruck ) was a Swiss-Austrian psychologist and between 1926 and 1961 professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of Innsbruck .

Life

Theodor Erismann came as the eldest son of the professor of hygiene Friedrich Erismann, who was then teaching at Moscow University, and his wife Sophie, née. Hate to the world. He spent his first years in Moscow; At the turn of the century, the family had to return to Switzerland due to political turmoil. Theodor Erismann attended high school in Moscow and moved to Zurich. In Zurich he first studied physics with Albert Einstein , from 1908 he turned to psychology, represented by Gustav Wilhelm Störring , who let him work actively on his experimental psychological studies.

In Zurich he married Vera Stepanoff, a doctor of philosophy and art history from Russia; the marriage produced two children, both of whom turned to academic careers.

This preference for experimentation was already evident in Erismann's doctoral thesis; the chosen topic was "The Influence of Intermediate Media on Gravity" . With Störring he moved to Strasbourg and completed his habilitation in philosophy (including psychology) in 1913. He followed Störring to Bonn and became an associate professor there in 1921. During this time, Erismann mainly dealt with experimental psychology, and in the mid-20s he expanded his work towards philosophy. This reorientation finally earned him in 1926 a call to Innsbruck to a chair for philosophy combined with the offer to head the associated institute for experimental psychology. This chair had become vacant after the death of the institute's founder, Franz Hillebrand . Together with the associate professor Richard Strohal (1888–1976), he also led the philosophical-pedagogical seminar at the University of Innsbruck until 1938.

At the Institute for Experimental Psychology, Hubert Rohracher worked as a research assistant . With this, Erismann carried out will-psychological studies. Rohracher was given leave of absence in 1938 after the Anschluss and in 1939 he was called up for military service. He was stationed as an army psychologist at the General Command in Salzburg for the "Department for Aptitude Tests". According to his own statement, in order to avoid access by the Gestapo, he volunteered for military service. From the summer semester of 1942 Rohracher taught again as a lecturer in Innsbruck, but on April 1, 1942, he was offered an associate professorship in Vienna.

After Erismann gave a public lecture on the “Psychology of the Masses” against National Socialism in 1944 , the Gauleitung demanded consequences. For example, he was banned from participating in some university events and he was severely warned by the dean of the natural science faculty. After the Second World War, Erismann developed a fruitful and trend-setting research activity in the field of psychology.

The retirement Erismanns took place in 1956. After that came for him a hard time. With a completely fresh mind, he saw his body gradually deteriorate. Years before, he had had to do without the mountaineering he loved so much, then the many long walks, and finally he remained tied to the house. Nevertheless he used every fresh minute to work on his science, most recently on the new edition of the Göschenbändchen on psychology.

He is buried in the Innsbruck-Mühlau cemetery.

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The focus of Erismann's work lies both in the field of philosophy (ethics, epistemology and ontology) and in empirical-experimental psychological research.

Theodor Erismann founded the so-called "Innsbruck School of Perceptual Psychology" . Here, on his initiative, tests were carried out with prism, color and inverted glasses , with which the adaptation of human perception to unusual circumstances, brought about by massive disruption of accustomed perception, was checked. The “method of artificial disturbance” had hardly been used experimentally until then, and certainly not for a long time. He also dealt with the spatial experience of birth-blind people (again with regard to a general theory of spatial perception), the sense of direction of the blind and many other problems of perception. He later handed over the experimental psychological work to Hubert Rohracher and the young Ivo Kohler , but remained committed to the topics as a source of ideas, test subject and author.

Erismann was also known for his diverse lecturing activities, which had brought him to Moscow again and again, as well as the multiple preference given to his students and employees at international congresses. Ivo Kohler said in his funeral speech: "You wouldn't do justice to Erismann's personality if you weren't thinking about it with a smile ..."

selected Writings

  • Theodor Erismann (1922). Psychology of professional work and career guidance.
  • Theodor Erismann (1924). The peculiarity of the spiritual. Inductive and Insightful Psychology. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer.
  • Theodor Erismann (1947). Psychology and law. Bern.
  • Theodor Erismann (1950). Thinking and being. Problem of truth. Vienna: Sexl.
  • Theodor Erismann (1954). Probability in being and thinking. Vienna: Sexl.
  • Theodor Erismann (1958). To be and want. Three conversations about good and bad. Vienna: Sexl.
  • Theodor Erismann (1958). General Psychology. Vol. 1. Basic problems. Berlin: de Gruyter.
  • Theodor Erismann (1970). General Psychology. Vol. 2. Basic types of psychological events. Berlin: de Gruyter.

Movies

  • Erectile glasses and upright vision. Vienna 1950: Production company Dr. Pacher & Peithner.
  • Wrong worlds. Vienna 1954: Production company Dr. Pacher & Peithner.

Literature about Theodor Erismann

  • Ivo Kohler (1953). Theodor Erismann turns 70. The Pyramid, 3, 181-182.
  • Ivo Kohler (1955). Theodor Erismann and the Innsbruck glasses trials. Ideas from Austria, Notring Almanach (Vol. 2). Vienna: Emergency ring of the Austrian scientific associations.
  • Richard Strohal (1962). Theodor Erismann in memory. Journal for Philosophical Research, 16 (4), 615–619.
  • Ivo Kohler (1962). In memoriam Univ. Prof. Dr. Theodor Erismann. The Pyramid, 10, 49-53.
  • Armin Stock (2014). Erismann, Theodor . In: Uwe Wolfradt, Elfriede Billmann-Mahecha, Armin Stock: German-speaking psychologists 1933–1945: Ein Personenlexikon , Springer Verlag, 108–110.

Honors

  • President of the Academic Society for Psychotherapy and Applied Psychology
  • Corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Benetka, Gerhard (1998). Denazification and prevented return. On the personal situation of academic psychology in Austria after 1945. Austrian Journal of History, 9, 188–217.

Web links


personal data
SURNAME Erismann, Theodor Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss-Austrian psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1961
Place of death innsbruck