Walter Hollitscher

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter Hollitscher (born May 16, 1911 in Vienna ; † July 6, 1986 in Vienna) was a philosopher , Marxist , popular educator , publicist and psychoanalyst .

Life

Walter Hollitscher was born as the youngest son into upper-class Viennese parents in 1911 and was soon baptized Protestant (Helvetian denomination). After his parents separated, his father moved with him to Prague . He lived with his remarried father in Prague and visited their remarried mother in Berlin during the summer. The work of Karl Kraus The last days of mankind moved Hollitscher deeply. As he said himself; "Karl Kraus antagonized me against the bourgeois world". In 1925 Hollitscher joined the communist movement as a middle school student in Prague. In 1929 he passed his Abitur in Arnau an der Elbe and began studying biology , medicine and philosophy at the University of Vienna in the same year . In Vienna he became a member of the KPÖ in the same year and made friends with prominent intellectuals such as Ernst Fischer and Elias Canetti . In 1933 he did his doctorate under Moritz Schlick and Robert Reininger with a thesis on the causal principle in quantum physics . Hollitscher also passed the state examination in psychology and psychoanalysis . After the annexation of Austria by National Socialist Germany, Hollitscher had to emigrate, first to Zurich, then to London, where he lived until 1945, including as Vice President of the Austria Center .

In October 1945 Hollitscher returned to Austria and worked for the Viennese public education and the Institute for Science and Art . In 1949 he followed a call to the GDR at the Berlin Humboldt University , where he worked until 1953 as professor of logic and epistemology and first director of the philosophical institute.

Hollitscher was friends with Paul Feyerabend . He traces his philosophical “conversion” from positivism to realism back to Hollitscher.

After his return to Vienna, Hollitscher became a scientific adviser to the KPÖ. From the 19th party congress in May 1965 to the 23rd party congress in December 1977, Hollitscher was a member of the Central Committee of the KPÖ. In the years of the party crisis and the political-ideological confrontation with revisionism by Ernst Fischer and Franz Marek , he and Ernst Wimmer were among the editors of the pamphlet Neue Politik . From 1965 to approx. 1984 Hollitscher worked annually for several months as a visiting professor for philosophical problems of modern natural sciences at the University of Leipzig (then called Karl Marx University ). There he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1971. Hollitscher was also Chancellor of the International Institute for Peace, which had its seat in Vienna until its dissolution. Walter Hollitscher died on July 6, 1986 in Vienna. His grave can be found in the urn grove of the Vienna Central Cemetery .

Honors

  • 1971 Honorary doctorate in philosophy from the Karl Marx University in Leipzig
  • 1974 Lenin Medal from the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
  • 1976 Gold Star of Friendship from the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic

literature

plant

Walter Hollitscher was an extraordinarily prolific scientist and encyclopedic thinker. Many of his writings have been translated into several languages, his main work Nature in the worldview of science in about ten. Accordingly, his work gained international recognition.

  • On the reasons and causes of the dispute about the causal principle in the present , 69 S. Vienna, Phil. Diss. 1934
  • Report of the Committee for a Christmas to interned refugees , London: Dugdale & Marsland Ltd. 1941
  • Notes on Education in Austria (compiled by RF Bayer and W. Hollitscher). Published by the Education Committee of the Free Austrian Movement in Great Britain, undated 1942
  • Nature in the world view of science Vienna, Globus Verlag 1960
  • The development in the Universum Berlin, Aufbau Verlag 1951
  • Marxist sociology of religion Vienna 1967
  • Aggression in the image of man Marx , Freud , Lorenz Frankfurt / Main Marxist sheets 1970
  • On the Critique of Contemporary Biologism Berlin 1972
  • On the benefits of philosophy and its history Introductory lecture in the course on "Problem history and historical problems of European philosophy", held at the Department of Philosophy of Science of the Institute for Science and Art in Vienna, winter semester 1946/47. Wien Verlag Willy Sale 1947
  • On the Concepts of Mental Health and Disease An investigation based on the logic of science. Vienna Gerold & Co 1947
  • Yugoslavia under construction Diary of a study trip Vienna Verlag der Österreichisch-Yugoslavischen Gesellschaft 1948
  • Racial Theory in the Light of Science Wien Verlag Willy Sales, Vienna 1948
  • From a scientific point of view, 64 articles on nature and society that are widely understood. Berlin construction publishing house 1951
  • Science and socialism - today and tomorrow, edited by the KPÖ. Vienna 1958
  • The human being in the world view of science Vienna Globus Verlag 1969
  • Animal and Human Essays Vienna Globus Verlag 1971
  • Cain or Prometheus ? On the criticism of contemporary biologism Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1972
  • Sexuality and Revolution Frankfurt / M. Publishing house Marxist Blätter 1972
  • Basic concepts of Marxist political economy and philosophy Vienna Globus-Verlag 1974
  • The overexerted sex The so-called sexual emancipation in today's capitalism. Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1975
  • For and against humanity essays. Vienna Globus Verlag 1977
  • Threat and confidence. Marxist essays Vienna Globus-Verlag 1980
  • Matter - Movement - Cosmic Development Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1983 (with the assistance of Hubert Horstmann )
  • Origin and development of life Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1984 (with the assistance of Rolf Löther)
  • Living Being Human Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1985 (with the assistance of Rolf Löther)
  • The human psyche Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1983 (with the assistance of John Erpenbeck )
  • Mensch und Gesellschaft Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1985 (with the assistance of Alfred Arnold)
  • Naturbild and Weltanschauung Berlin Akademie-Verlag 1985 (with the collaboration of Hubert Horstmann)
  • Lectures on the dialectic of nature Marburg Verlag Arbeit & Gesellschaft 1991

In addition, hundreds of essays, scientific treatises and magazine articles: including the Austrian diary, Die Woche, Austrian newspaper, (Austrian) people's voice, path and goal, international dialogue magazine , problems of peace and socialism , Marxist papers , German magazine for philosophy.

The estate and extensive library of Walter Hollitscher are now kept in the Alfred Klahr Society in Vienna.

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ^ Paul Feyerabend: Knowledge for free people . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1980, p. 223f.
personal data
SURNAME Hollitscher, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian philosopher, Marxist and psychoanalyst
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1986
Place of death Vienna