Munich School of Philosophy (German: ''Hochschule für Philosophie München'') is a small
Jesuit higher education college in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
founded in 1925.
History
Founded as a seminary at
Pullach
Pullach, officially Pullach i. Isartal, is a municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria in Germany. It lies on the Isar Valley Railway and is served by the S 7 line of the Munich S-Bahn, at the Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof, Pullach and ...
in 1925 by
Augustin Bea
Augustin Bea, S.J. (28 May 1881 – 16 November 1968), was a German Jesuit priest, cardinal, and scholar at the Pontifical Gregorian University, specialising in biblical studies and biblical archaeology. He also served as the personal confessor ...
, first named the Berchmanskolleg, it obtained the ability to issue a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in 1932. In 1971 the school moved to central
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
and opened to non-Jesuit students. The majority of students are not members of the Jesuit Order, and now include women and international students. It is accredited by the
Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts (in German: ''Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst'').
Since 2009, the Munich School of Philosophy hosts the yearly ''Rahner Lecture'' in memory of the German Jesuit and theologian
Karl Rahner
Karl Rahner (5 March 1904 – 30 March 1984) was a German Jesuit priest and theologian who, alongside Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Yves Congar, is considered to be one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of ...
.
Philosophical tradition
Most faculty members are
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
. The school has long stood in the tradition of
Neo-Scholasticism
Neo-scholasticism (also known as neo-scholastic Thomism Accessed 27 March 2013 or neo-Thomism because of the great influence of the writings of Thomas Aquinas on the movement) is a revival and development of medieval scholasticism in Catholic the ...
. Only since the 1970s, when the school opened to non-Jesuit students,
contemporary philosophy such as
marxism
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
,
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
and
analytic philosophy have gained more prominence in the undergraduate and postgraduate education. To date, the undergraduate curriculum at the Munich School of Philosophy places much emphasis on the
history of philosophy and issues pertaining to the study of
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
.
As a
Jesuit school, its objectives and purpose must be in accord with the
apostolic constitution ''Sapientia Christiana'', Art. 79 and 80 in research and teaching:
# to promote the study of philosophy and its history;
# to reflect systematically on fundamental issues of religious faith and to elucidate the affiliation between philosophy and theology;
# to analyze and develop the contributions of other sciences towards philosophy;
# to apply the insights gained from these theoretical endeavors to practical concerns of human and social life.
Notable alumni and faculty members
Faculty
Harald Lesch
Harald Lesch (born 28 July 1960) is a German physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter, professor of physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and professor of natural philosophy at the Munich Un ...
is a German physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter, and professor of physics at the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and lecturer of
natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science.
From the ancient wo ...
at the Munich School of Philosophy.
Alumni
Notable alumni include former
minister-president
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...
of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
Erwin Teufel
Erwin Teufel (born 4 September 1939, in Zimmern ob Rottweil) is a German politician of the CDU.
Political career
Teufel was the leader of the CDU parliamentary group in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg from 1978 to 1991.
Teufel was Ministe ...
and German politician and CDU party member
Heiner Geißler
Heiner Geißler (3 March 1930 – 12 September 2017) was a German politician with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and a federal minister from 1982 to 1985.
Career
Born Heinrichjosef Georg Geißler in Gleisweiler, he studied law a ...
.
Research centers
The Munich School of Philosophy has six distinctive research centers:
* Institute for Social and Development Studies (''German: Institut für Gesellschaftspolitik/IGP'')
* Institute for Communications and Media Research (''German: Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Erwachsenenpädagogik/IKE'')
* Institute for Philosophy of Religion (''German: Institut für Religionsphilosophie/IRP'')
* Institute for Scientific Issues related to Philosophy and Theology (''German: Institut für naturwissenschaftliche Grenzfragen zur Philosophie und Theologie/ING'')
* Institute for Philosophy and Leadership (''German: Institut für Philosophie und Leadership'')
* Rottendorf Project (''German: Rottendorf Projekt)
Rankings
The Munich School of Philosophy is currently not ranked in any major university web rankings due to its specialization in
philosophy. It frequently cooperates with faculty members of two Munich universities, the
Technical University
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
and the
Ludwig Maximilian University
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
which are both consistently ranked among Germany's foremost universities.
See also
*
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology (German: ''Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen'') is a higher education Jesuit college in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The school offers a 10-semester Magister in Catholic Th ...
*
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
The Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) is a Roman Catholic research university in Eichstätt and Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany.
Compared to other German universities it is a rather small institution with 4,800 students in 2019; n ...
*
Heythrop College
Heythrop College, University of London, was a constituent college of the University of London between 1971 and 2018, last located in Kensington Square, London. It comprised the university's specialist faculties of philosophy and theology with soc ...
*
European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA)
*
List of Jesuit sites
This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association.
Nearly all these sites have bee ...
External links
Official website in GermanOfficial website in English
{{Authority control
Universities and colleges in Munich
Jesuit universities and colleges
Catholic universities and colleges in Germany
Seminaries and theological colleges in Germany
Philosophy academics
German philosophy
Educational institutions established in 1925
1925 establishments in Germany