Constantin Brunner (1862–1937) was the
pen-name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish philosopher Arjeh Yehuda Wertheimer (called Leo). He was born in
Altona (near
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
) on 27 August 1862. He came from a prominent Jewish family that had lived in the vicinity of Hamburg for generations; his grandfather,
Akiba Wertheimer, was chief
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
of Altona and
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
. Brunner studied philosophy under a number of prominent scholars, but never completed his doctorate. He established himself as a literary critic, and enjoyed a wide celebrity. In the 1890s, he withdrew from public life to devote himself to writing. He lived in Germany until 1933, when, with the rise to power of the
Nazi party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
, he moved to
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, where he died on 27 August 1937.
Doctrine
Central to Brunner's theory is the characterization of three different modes of mental activity:
![Brunner Doctrine schema](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Brunner_Doctrine_schema.jpg)
# Practical reason, which every human possesses, and which serves one's normal needs
# Spiritual/intellectual (''geistig'') thought, which rises above the relative truth residing in experience and in science, and strives toward a perception of the one eternal and absolute essence.
# "Superstition"—pseudo-contemplation, which is the mode of contemplation of most ordinary men. Unfounded belief is a distortion of the spiritual faculty. While practical reason recognizes that the "relative" is only "relative," superstition elevates what is relative to the status of the absolute.
Each of the three modes of thought consists of three specificates. In the practical understanding, the specificates are feeling, knowing and willing. In spiritual life, these are modified to become, respectively, art, philosophy and mysticism (love). Superstition distorts the specificates of spiritual life, transforming them into religion, metaphysics and moralism.
Brunner's intention is to contrast popular thought with spiritual/intellectual thought. His work ''Die Lehre von den Geistigen und vom Volke'' is a survey of the whole of human intellectual history seen from the point of view of this doctrine.
Brunner's ultimate objective was to prepare the way for the establishment of a community centered on the life of the mind, which would in turn open the way to the expansion of democracy.
Brunner and Judaism
The opposition between the spiritual and the religious is a major theme in Brunner's work. He contends that
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
is essentially anti-religious, stating in ''Our Christ'' that "Judaism as a spiritual doctrine is the opposite of religion and a protest against it", and culminates his argument with his own translation of the
Shema
''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...
: "Hear O Israel, Being is our god, Being is one". He juxtaposes priestly/pharisaic/rabbinic to prophetic Judaism, stating that the latter represents the true mystical essence in opposition to the former which distorts that essence.
Brunner and Christianity
For Brunner,
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
was both a
mystic and a
genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabili ...
, whereas Christian religion is largely a distortion of his thought.
Brunner and Israel
Throughout his life, Brunner was
anti-Zionist. However, there is evidence that, toward the end of his life in light of events in Europe, he was reconsidering his opposition to the founding of the state of Israel (see ''Assimilation und Nationalismus: ein Briefwechsel mit Constantin Brunner'' / Willy Aron).
Brunner and the history of philosophy
According to Brunner, the authentic philosophy presented by
Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, ...
has its antithesis in
scholasticism which reaches its highest expression in
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
. Thus Spinoza and Kant represent opposite poles in the dialectical idealism by which Brunner organizes the whole of intellectual history.
Brunner and science
Brunner maintains that the foundation of all science is the doctrine of universal all-motion. His elaboration of this doctrine has had a decisive effect on a number of medical practitioners and researchers.
Brunner and evolution
Brunner's position is that the fixity of the genus is a scientific principle that needs to be preserved if meaningful work is to be undertaken with biological systems. He argued that because the theory of evolution undermined the notion of genus, it would be detrimental to practical scientific endeavor.
Influence and relevance
In ''Confessions of a European Intellectual'',
Franz Schoenberner
Franz Schoenberner (December 18, 1892April 11, 1970) was a German editor and writer.
Life and works
Franz Schoenberner grew up as the eleventh child of a pastor in Berlin. From 1911 to 1914, he studied literature and art history in Berlin and Muni ...
describes Brunner as "one of the more important figures" in Europe. Brunner corresponded with
Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician.
During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...
,
Martin Buber
Martin Buber ( he, מרטין בובר; german: Martin Buber; yi, מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 –
June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism ...
,
Gustav Landauer
Gustav Landauer (7 April 1870 – 2 May 1919) was one of the leading theorists on anarchism in Germany at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was an advocate of social anarchism and an avowed pacifist.
In 1919, he ...
and
Lou Andreas-Salomé
Lou Andreas-Salomé (born either Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé or Lioulia von Salomé, russian: link=no, Луиза Густавовна Саломе; 12 February 1861 – 5 February 1937) was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and a ...
.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
read Brunner but, while appreciating his critical insight and sharing his devotion to
Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, ...
, rejected his philosophy, particularly where it stood opposed to
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
.
[Einstein to W. Aron, 14 January 1943. Einstein Archive, reel 33-296 Einstein-Aron correspondence, ]Albert Einstein Archives
Albert Einstein Archives refers to an archive on the Givat Ram ( Edmond J. Safra) campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jerusalem, Israel housing the personal papers of 20th century physicist Albert Einstein.
Overview
In his will, Alb ...
, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Brunner attracted a large and devoted following among the Jewish youth in Czernowitz. The best known of his disciples in this group is the poet,
Rose Ausländer
Rose Ausländer (born Rosalie Beatrice Scherzer; May 11, 1901 – January 3, 1988) was a Jewish poet writing in German and English. Born in Czernowitz in the Bukovina, she lived through its tumultuous history of belonging to the Austro-Hungarian E ...
.
With the Second World War, Brunner's books were burned and his devotees scattered. His German disciple Magdalena Kasch managed to save the bulk of Brunner's writing from destruction by the Nazis. In 1948, she, with the help of some of Brunner's other surviving friends, founded the "Internationaal Constantin Brunner Institut" (ICBI) in the Hague. However, there has been no major revival of interest in his work, despite the efforts of artists
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name:
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor
** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England
** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...
and
André Breton who regarded him as a role model.
Brunner in English
Brunner's works available in English include
*''Science, Spirit, Superstition'', which is a compilation of material from his other books. There are extracts from many of Brunner's works, including large sections from ''Die Lehre von den Geistigen und vom Volk'', covering the doctrine and history of science. There are also important sections from ''Materialismus und Idealismus'', a dialogue presentation of Brunner's understanding of philosophy and its history. It includes his writing on a variety of subjects.
*''Our Christ''. A translation, with an introduction and editorial notes.
*''The Tyranny of Hate: The Roots of Antisemitism'', an abridgement of one of Brunner's works on antisemitism.
There is relatively abundant secondary literature available in English, notably ''To live is to think : the thought of twentieth-century German philosopher Constantin Brunner'' by Hans Goetz (1995).
Brunner in French
Several works by Brunner are available in French. ''L'amour'' is the first part of Brunner's work on sexual relationships. ''Spinoza contre Kant'' contains Brunner's sketch of the history of modern philosophy. ''Le malheur de notre peuple allemand et nos " Völkisch "'' (orig. 1924) warns against the dangers of Nazism. The Sorbonne has an archive of several French translations of Brunner's work by Henri Lurié. There is abundant secondary material in French as well, notably a recent work by Martin Rodan entitled ''Notre culture européenne, cette inconnue'' (Peter Lang, 2009).
References
External links
Short biographyConstantin Brunner InfoThe Papers of Constantin BrunnerDigitized Archival Collection i
DigiBaeck Leo Baeck Institute, NY.
Works online
''Spinoza contra Kant''(English).
''Der Judenhass und die Juden''(German).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunner, Constantin
1862 births
1937 deaths
19th-century German philosophers
20th-century German Jews
20th-century German philosophers
Anti-Zionist Jews
German anti-Zionists
German male writers
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands
Jewish philosophers
Spinoza scholars