Dagobert David Runes (January 6, 1902 – September 24, 1982) was a philosopher and author.

Biography

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

), Runes emigrated to the United States in 1926. He had received 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 philosophy from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

in 1924. In the U.S. he became editor of ''The Modern Thinker'' and later ''Current Digest''. From 1931 to 1934 he was Director of the Institute for Advanced Education in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He had an encyclopedic level fluency in Latin and Biblical Hebrew; he fluently spoke and wrote in

Austrian German Austrian German (german: Österreichisches Deutsch), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (), or Austrian High German (), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria. It has the highest sociolinguistic p ...

, German,

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

, French, Hebrew, Russian, Polish,

Czechoslovakian , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and English. In 1941 he founded the

Philosophical Library Philosophical Library is a United States publisher specializing in psychology, philosophy, religion, and history. It was founded in 1941 by Dagobert D. Runes to publish the works of European intellectuals after the 1930s diaspora in the face ...

, a spiritual organization and publishing house. Runes was a colleague and friend to

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

.Einstein wrote quotes for the covers of many of his works, including one on his book ''The War Against The Jews'' front inner flap "His views are the closest to mine... the historical treatment of Jews by Christians is the most egregious example of man's inhumanity to their fellow man..." Runes published an English translation of Marx's ''

On the Jewish Question "On the Jewish Question" is a response by Karl Marx to then-current debates over the Jewish question. Marx wrote the piece in 1843, and it was first published in Paris in 1844 under the German title "Zur Judenfrage" in the ''Deutsch–Französi ...

'' under the title ''A World without Jews''. Though this has often been considered the first translation of the work, a Soviet anti-zionist, propaganda version had existed a few years earlier, which was likely unknown to Runes. As the title of Rune's book sounded antisemitic, it had extremely limited circulation in the English-speaking world. Runes wrote an introduction to the translation that was clearly antagonistic to extreme

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 ...

, and 'its materialism,' as he would later often put it, yet he did not entirely negate Marxism. He also edited several works presenting the ideas and history of philosophy to a general audience, especially his ''Dictionary of Philosophy''.

Selected works

*'' Der wahre Jesus oder das fünfte Evangelium'' R. Cerny, 1927. *'' Dictionary of Philosophy'' (editor)

, 1942. *
The Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush
' (editor) Philosophical Library, 1947. *''Jordan Lieder: Frühe Gedichte'' (in German) The Philosophical Library, 1948. *''Letters to My Son'' The Philosophical Library, 1949. *''The Hebrew Impact on Western Civilization'' The Philosophical Library, 1951. *''Spinoza Dictionary'' The Philosophical Library, 1951. *''Of God, the Devil and the Jews'' The Philosophical Library, 1952. *''The Soviet Impact on Society: A Recollection'', 1953. *''Letters to My Daughter'' The Philosophical Library, 1954. *''Treasury of Philosophy'' (editor) The Philosophical Library, 1955. *''Treasury of World Literature'' (editor) The Philosophical Library, 1956. *''On the Nature of Man'' The Philosophical Library, 1956. * Sartre, J.P., ''Being and Nothingness'' Translated by Hazel E. Barnes, The Philosophical Library, 1956. *''Pictorial History of Philosophy'' (editor) The Philosophical Library, 1959. *''A Dictionary of Thought'' (editor) Philosophical Library, 1959. *''A World without Jews'' (translator) The Philosophical Library, 1959. *''The Art of Thinking'' The Philosophical Library, 1961. *''A Treasury of World Science'' (editor) The Philosophical Library, 1962. *''Despotism: A Pictorial History of Tyranny'' (author) The Philosophical Library, 1963 Library of Congress Card catalog #62-22269 *''The Disinterested and the Law'' The Philosophical Library, 1964. *''Philosophy for Everyman: From Socrates to Sartre'', Philosophical Library, Library of Congress Card #68-22351, ©1968.

References

Sources

*Ulrich E Bach. “Dagobert D. Runes: Ein streitbarer Verleger in New York.�

In: ''Deutschsprachige Exilliteratur seit 1933 3/I USA Supplement''. Ed. John M. Spalek, Konrad Feilchenfeldt and Sandra H. Hawrylchak. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010: 278-295. *''Pictorial History of Philosophy'' by Dagobert D. Runes, 1959. *Karl Marx: Selected essays.” 1926

External links

*
''Dictionary of Philosophy''Correspondence with Einstein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Runes, Dagobert David 1902 births 1982 deaths People from Chernivtsi Oblast 20th-century American philosophers Yiddish-speaking people Jewish American writers Jewish socialists Ukrainian Jews American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent