Wilhelm Traugott Krug (22 June 177012 January 1842) was a German philosopher and writer. He is considered to be part of the Kantian School of logic.

Life

Krug was born on June 22, 1770 near

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

to a farming family. He studied at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

under

Franz Volkmar Reinhard Franz Volkmar Reinhard (12 March 1753 – 6 September 1812) was a German Protestant theologian born in Vohenstrauß. Biography In 1780 he became an associate professor of theology and philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, where he se ...

and Karl Gottfried Jehnichen, at

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

under

Karl Leonhard Reinhold Karl Leonhard Reinhold (26 October 1757 – 10 April 1823) was an Austrian philosopher who helped to popularise the work of Immanuel Kant in the late 18th century. His "elementary philosophy" (''Elementarphilosophie'') also influenced German ideal ...

, and at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. After finishing his studies, he was employed as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

at the University of Wittenberg. From 1801 to 1804, Krug was professor of philosophy at

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

, after which he succeeded

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 ...

in the chair of logic and metaphysics at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

. From 1809 till his death he was professor of philosophy at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. He fought in the

War of Liberation Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...

(1813–14) as captain of mounted chasseurs. He became Kant's successor at the University of Königsberg after the faculty of philosophy elected him to Kant's chair of logic and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

. He died at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

on January 12, 1842.

Views

In philosophy, Krug's method was psychological; he attempted to explain the Ego by examining the nature of its reflection upon the facts of consciousness. Being is known to us only through its presentation in

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

; consciousness only in its relation to

Being In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

. Both Being and Consciousness, however, are immediately known to us, as also the relation existing between them. By this Transcendental Synthesis he proposed to reconcile

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

and

Idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

, and to destroy the traditional difficulty between transcendental, or pure, thought and things in themselves. Krug challenged Schelling to deduce his quill or pen from

German Idealism German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...

Philosophy of Nature Nature has two inter-related meanings in philosophy and natural philosophy. On the one hand, it means the set of all things which are natural, or subject to the normal working of the laws of nature. On the other hand, it means the essential prope ...

. It was part of his empiricist objections to the new idealist philosophy. In so doing, he challenged the thinking that particular, perceptually real things could be logically known from general concepts. It prompted

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich 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 ...

to issue a critical response and forced him to deal with the issue of the knowledge of singulars. ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des XIX. Jahrhunderts'' (1835–1838) contains criticisms of Hegel and

Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual * Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher * Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educato ...

. Krug was a prolific writer on a great variety of subjects, excelling as a popularizer rather than as an original thinker. His work stimulated freedom of thought in religion and politics, and he was a firm supporter of

Jewish emancipation Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It incl ...

Personal life

In 1804, Krug married

Wilhelmine von Zenge Wilhelhmine von Zenge (20 August 1780 – 25 April 1852) was a German pastellist. Born either in Berlin or in Frankfurt, she was the daughter of a general, and became engaged to Heinrich von Kleist in 1800. In 1811, however, Kleist committed s ...

(1780–1852), the eldest daughter of a Prussian major-general. They had six children. Wilhelmine had previously been engaged to

Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'', ''The Broken Jug'', ''Amph ...

.Heinrich von Kleist: Biography
Kleist Museum.

Principal works

*''Briefe über den neuesten Idealism. Eine Fortsetzung der Briefe über die Wissenschaftslehre'' (1801) *''Entwurf eines neuen Organon's der Philosophie oder Versuch über die Principien der philosophischen Erkenntniss'' (1801) *''Fundamentalphilosophie'' (1803) *''System der theoretischen Philosophie'' (1806–1810): **''Denklehre oder Logik'' (1806) **''Erkenntnisslehre oder Metaphysik'' (1808) **''Geschmackslehre oder Aesthetik'' (1810) *''Geschichte der Philosophie alter Zeit, vornehmlich unter Griechen und Römern'' (1815; 2nd ed., 1825) *''System der praktischen Philosophie'' (1817–1819): **''Dikäologie oder philosophische Rechtslehre'' (1817) **''Aretologie oder philosophische Tugendlehre'' (1818) **''Eusebiologie oder philosophische Religionslehre'' (1819) *''Handbuch der Philosophie und der philosophischen Literatur'' (1820-1821; 3rd ed., 1828) *''Meine Lebensreise'' (1825, 2nd ed., 1842), autobiography *''Allgemeines Handwörterbuch der philosophischen Wissenschaften'' (1827-1834; 2nd ed., 1832-1838) * ''Gesammelte Schriften'' (1830-1841; Collected works in 12 volumes): ** 1-2: ''Theologische Schriften'' (1830) ** 3-6: ''Politische und juridische Schriften'' (1834-1836) ** 7-9: ''Philosophische Schriften'' (1839) ** 10-12: ''Enzyklopädische und vermischte Schriften'' (1841) *''Universalphilosophische Vorlesungen für Gebildete beiderlei Geschlechts'' (1831) *Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des XIX. Jahrhunderts (1835-1838): ** ''Schelling und Hegel oder die neueste Philosophie im Vernichtungskriege mit sich selbst begriffen'' (1835) ** ''Ueber das Verhältniß der Philosophie zum gesunden Menschenverstande, zur öffentlichen Meinung und zum Leben selbst, mit besonderer Hinsicht auf Hegel'' (1835) ** ''Der hallische Löwe und die marzialischen Philosophen unserer Zeit oder neuester Krieg auf dem Gebiete der Philosophie'' (1838) For a bibliography of Krug's writings see his autobiography ''Lebensreise'' (1842, pp. 343–360).

Notes

References

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External links

Online Books by Wilhelm Traugott Krug
The Online Books Page {{DEFAULTSORT:Krug, Wilhelm Traugott 1770 births 1842 deaths People from Kemberg People from the Electorate of Saxony Members of the First Chamber of the Diet of the Kingdom of Saxony German philosophers 19th-century philosophers German logicians Metaphysicians Philosophers of mind 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers University of Wittenberg alumni University of Jena alumni University of Göttingen alumni European University Viadrina faculty University of Königsberg faculty Leipzig University faculty