Karl Ludwig Michelet (4 December 1801 – 15 December 1893)
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 ...

. He was born and died at Berlin.

Biography

Michelet studied at the grammar school and at

Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

in his native town, took his degree as doctor of philosophy in 1824, and became professor in 1829, a post which he retained till his death.

Work

Educated in the doctrine of

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 ...

, he remained faithful to his early teaching and spent his life defending and continuing the Hegelian tradition. His first notable work was the ''System der philosophischen Moral'' (Berlin, 1828), which develops the principles contained in his inaugural dissertation. It is an examination of the ethical theory of responsibility. In 1836 he published, in Paris, a treatise on the ''Metaphysics'' of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

, written in French (''Examen critique du livre d'Aristote intitulé Metaphysique'') and crowned by the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He wrote also two other treatises on Aristotle: ''Nikomachische Ethik'' (2nd ed., 1848) and ''Die Ethik des Aristoteles in ihrem Verhältniss zum System der Moral'' (1827). Michelet's own views are best expressed in his ''Vorlesungen über die Persönlichkeit Gottes und die Unsterblichkeit der Seele, oder die ewige Persönlichkeit des Geistes'' (1841) and ''Die Epiphanie der ewigen Persönlichkeit des Gottes'' (1844–52). The philosophical

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

developed in these works has been described as a " Neo-Christian

Spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

." From 1832 to 1842 Michelet was engaged as one of the editors of Hegel's complete works, and he sought to illustrate Hegel's system in three works: ''Geschichte der letzten Systeme der Philosophie in Deutschland von Kant bis Hegel'' (2 vols., Berlin, 1837–1838), ''Entwickelungsgeschichte der neuesten Deutschen Philosophie mit besonderer Rücksicht auf den gegenwärtigen Kampf Schelling's mit der Hegelschen Schule'' (1843), and the controversial dissertation ''Schelling und Hegel'' (1839). In ''Anthropologie und Psychologie'' (1840), Michelet diverges in many respects from Hegelian principles. Other works include: ''Eine italienische Reise in Briefen'' (Berlin, 1856), ''Die Geschichte der Menschheit in ihrem Entwickelungsgange seit dem Jahre 1775 bis auf die neuesten Zeiten'' (2 vols., 1859–60), ''Naturrecht, oder Rechtsphilosophie als die praktische Philosophie'' (3 vols., 1866), ''Esquisse de logique'' (Paris, 1856), ''Hegel der unwiderlegte Weltphilosoph'' (1870), ''Wahrheit aus meinem Leben'' (1886). In 1845 Michelet founded the Berlin Philosophical Society, which has continuously represented the Hegelianism of Germany. He was the first editor of ''Der Gedanke'' (1860), the official organ of the society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michelet, Karl Ludwig 1801 births 1893 deaths 19th-century German philosophers Französisches Gymnasium Berlin alumni Writers from Berlin Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin German male writers Hegelian philosophers