Gyula Pikler (21 May 1864 – 28 November 1937) Hungarian philosopher of law, university professor, member of the Society for Social Sciences. He was one of the most prominent and influential representatives of positivist philosophy of law and state, and was also known abroad. It was under his influence and around his person that the

Galileo Circle The Galileo Circle (''Galilei Kör'') was an atheist-materialist student organization that functioned in Budapest between 1908 and 1919. Their center was located at the Anker Köz in Terézváros, Budapest. The circle had several subgroups with f ...

was founded in Budapest in 1908, which was joined primarily by progressive young intellectual people.

Career

He was born into a

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

ian Jewish family. He was the oldest child of Lipót Pikler and Jozefin Singer. Pikler completed his secondary school education in Uzhhorod and his university studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pest. Between

1884 Events January–March * January 4 – The Fabian Society is founded in London. * January 5 – Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Princess Ida'' premières at the Savoy Theatre, London. * January 18 – Dr. William Price atte ...

and

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new Africa ...

he was assistant librarian of the House of Representatives. In

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

he obtained a private teaching qualification at the University of Budapest. From

he was an honorary professor at the University of Budapest, from

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...

he was an extraordinary professor, from

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

he was a full professor in the Department of Law and Political Science. In the early years of the century, he worked together with colleagues,

Oszkár Jászi Oszkár Jászi (born Oszkár Jakobuvits; 2 March 1875 – 13 February 1957), also known in English as Oscar Jászi, was a Hungarian social scientist, historian, and politician. Early life Oszkár Jászi was born in Nagykároly on March 2, 1875 ...

, Ágost Pulszky, Rusztem Vámbéry in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

, Somló Bódog, he launched the '' Huszadik Század,(Twentieth Century) a bourgeois radical social science journal, and a year later the Társadalomtudományi Társaság (Society of Social Sciences) was founded. He was vice-president of the society from 1901 and president from 1906 to 1920. For years he was at war with conservative and clerical tendencies because of his positivist views, and he was attacked for his views even in the House of Representatives. His major work was "On the Origin and Development of Law", in which he developed his own theory of the state and law, which was the basis of his own views. After 1910 he quietly retired from public life and devoted most of his academic work to psychology and psychophysiology. During his lifetime he published on legal philosophy and sociology in a number of journals, including the "Huzadik Század" (Twentieth Century), Our Century and the Journal of Legal Studies. In the spring of 1919, he applied for leave due to ill health and left for Vienna. After the fall of

Hungarian Soviet Republic The Socialist Federative Republic of Councils in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szocialista Szövetséges Tanácsköztársaság) (due to an early mistranslation, it became widely known as the Hungarian Soviet Republic in English-language sources ( ...

, he retired in 1925. His wife was Anna Spitzer. For the rest of his life, he lived on his family's estate in Ecséd, where he studied visual physiological observations and experiments, which he also published in German. He died in Budapest on November 28, 1937, at 9 a.m., due to coronary calcification. His home today houses the kindergarten in Ecsed.Szecskó Károly: ''Pikier Gyula emlékezete'', Hevesi Szemle 1989 / 3. szám
library.hungaricana.hu

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pikler, Gyula 1874 births 1937 deaths People from Timișoara Hungarian legal scholars