Karl Christian Planck (January 17, 1819 – June 7, 1880) was a German
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
.
Life
Planck was born in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
. He studied at
Tübingen, where he became doctor of
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
in 1840 and
Privatdozent
''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...
in 1848. During this period the influence of
Reiff Reiff may refer to: Places
;Germany
*Reiff (Rhineland-Palatinate), a municipality
;Italy
*Riva del Garda (german: Reiff am Gardasee, link=no), in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
;United Kingdom
*Reiff, Ross-shire, Scotland, a crofting and fishing vi ...
led him to oppose the dominant
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
ianism of the time.
In 1850-1851 he published his great book, ''Die Weltalter'', in which he developed a complete original system of philosophy, based on the realistic view that thought should proceed from nature to the highest forms of existence in the spiritual life. Not only did Planck oppose the idealism of his confreres; his views were, in another aspect, directly antagonistic to the
Darwinian theory of descent, which he specifically attacked in ''Wahrheit und Flachheit des Darwinismus'' (
Nördlingen, 1872).
The natural consequence of this individuality of opinion was that his books were practically disregarded, and Planck was deeply incensed. The ill success of ''Die Weltalter'' nerved him to new efforts, and he repeated his views in ''Katechismus des Rechts'' (1852), ''Grundlinien einer Wissenschaft der Natur'' (1864), ''Seele und Geist'' (1871), and numerous other books, which, however, met with no better fate. In the meantime he left Tübingen for
Ulm, whence he came finally to the
seminary of
Maulbronn. He died in 1880 in an asylum after a short period of
nervous prostration.
After his death a summary of his work came into the hands of
Köstlin (author of ''Aesthetics'', 1869), who published it in 1881 under the title ''Testament eines Deutschen, Philosophie der Natur und der Menschheit''. Planck's views were elaborately developed, but his method of exposition told heavily against their acceptance. He regarded himself as the Messiah of the German people.
Beside the works above quoted, he wrote ''System des reinen Idealismus'' (1851); ''Anthropologie und Psychologie auf naturwissenschaftlicher Grundlage'' (1874); a political treatise, ''Bismarck : Süddeutschland und der deutsche Nationalstaat'' (1872); and ''Logisches Causalgesetz und natürliche Zweckmäßigkeit'' (1874).
See Umfrid, ''Karl Planck, dessen Werke und Wirken'' (Tübingen, 1881); and Schmidt, ''Das Lebensideal Karl Christian Plancks'', in the ''Vortrage der philosophischen Gesellschaft'' (
Berlin, 1896).
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Planck, Karl Christian
German philosophers
1819 births
1880 deaths
Writers from Stuttgart
German male writers