Otto Liebmann (; 25 February 1840 – 14 January 1912) was a German

neo-Kantian In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thi ...

philosopher.

Biography

He was born at Löwenberg,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, into a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, and educated 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 ...

and Halle. He was made professor at

Strassburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the E ...

(1872) and went to

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 po ...

in 1882. He died at

. The mathematician

Heinrich Liebmann Karl Otto Heinrich Liebmann (* 22. October 1874 in Strasbourg; † 12. June 1939 in Munich-Solln) was a German mathematician and geometer. Life Liebmann was the son of Otto Liebmann (1840–1912), a Jewish neo-Kantian philosophy professor i ...

was his son.

Philosophical work

A forerunner of

neo-Kantianism In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...

, in his best-known book, ''Kant und die Epigonen'', he deals with the philosophy after

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 aest ...

, discussing

Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Ka ...

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 ...

, Hegel,

Fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

, Herbart and

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...

. Having credited Kant's philosophy (though criticizing it on the vital point of accepting a

thing-in-itself In Kantian philosophy, the thing-in-itself (german: Ding an sich) is the status of objects as they are, independent of representation and observation. The concept of the thing-in-itself was introduced by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, and ...

), he focuses on what he sees as the shortcomings in the approaches of Kants successors. He frequently ends a section with the statement that one should return to Kant. Liebmann's work also influenced his Jena colleague

Gottlob Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic ph ...

.Gottfried Gabriel, "Frege, Lotze, and the Continental Roots of Early Analytic Philosophy," in: Erich H. Reck (ed.). ''From Frege to Wittgenstein: Perspectives on Early Analytic Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 39–51, esp. 44–48. Jena Nordfriedhof Liebmann

Works

*''Kant und die Epigonen'', a critique of the followers of Kant urging a return to their master (1865) (Kant and his inferior successors) *''Ueber die Freiheit des Willens'' (1866) (On free will) *''Ueber den objektiven Anblick'' (1869) (On the objective point of view) *''Vier Monate vor Paris'', a journal published anonymously (1871) *''Zur Analysis der Wirklichkeit'' (1876; 3rd ed. 1900) (About the analysis of actuality) *''Die Klimax der Theorien'' (1884) (The climax of theory) *''Geist der Transcendentalphilosophie'' (1901) *''Grundriss der kritischen Metaphysik'' (1901) (Outline of critical metaphysics) *''Gedanken und Tatsachen'', 2 Bände (1882–1904) (Thoughts and facts)

References

External links

* * 1840 births 1912 deaths 19th-century German Jews Jewish philosophers 19th-century German philosophers University of Halle alumni Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg Academic staff of the University of Jena German male writers {{Germany-philosopher-stub