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Heidelberg

  • Heidelberg

Europe · Continental, Analytic, American, Modern European

The University of Heidelberg was a centre of German social thought, psychiatry and philosophy in the twentieth century. Max Weber took a chair of political economy here in the 1890s. Karl Jaspers studied medicine here, worked in its psychiatric clinic and held its chair of philosophy from 1922 until his dismissal in 1937; Hannah Arendt came to study with him in 1926. György Lukács worked in the city in the 1910s, and Erich Fromm took his doctorate in 1922. Hans-Georg Gadamer succeeded Jaspers in 1949 and died in Heidelberg in 2002, aged 102.

When

  • 1896–1937 Weber and Jaspers From Weber's professorship to Jaspers's dismissal.
  • 1949–1968 Gadamer's chair Gadamer held the chair Jaspers had held.

Schools and institutions

  • University of Heidelberg Weber, Jaspers and Gadamer taught here; Arendt and Fromm studied here.

Thinkers

  • Stanisław Leśniewski 1886 – 1939studied here, 1904–1910 (Studied philosophy and mathematics at Leipzig, Zurich, Heidelberg, St Petersburg and Munich between 1904 and 1910.)
  • Max Weber 1864 – 1920taught here, 1896 (Educated mainly at Heidelberg and Berlin; took a professorship in political economy at Heidelberg two years after Freiburg.)
  • Karl Jaspers 1883 – 1969studied here, 1901–1908 (Studied law at Heidelberg (1901-1902), then medicine in Berlin and Göttingen, finishing in Heidelberg (1906-1908).); taught here, 1913–1937 (Lecturer in psychology from 1913; full professor of philosophy from 1922 until his dismissal in 1937.)
  • Hans-Georg Gadamer 1900 – 2002taught here, 1949–1968 (Succeeded Karl Jaspers at Heidelberg in 1949; retired in 1968.); died here, 2002 (Died in Heidelberg on 13 March 2002, aged 102.)
  • György Lukács 1885 – 1971worked here, 1917 (Worked in Heidelberg in the 1910s; failed to receive a Habilitation there in 1917.)
  • Endel Tulving 1927 – 2023studied here (Briefly studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg.)
  • Hannah Arendt 1906 – 1975studied here, 1926 (Went to Heidelberg University in spring 1926 to study with Karl Jaspers.)
  • Erich Fromm 1900 – 1980studied here, 1922 (PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 1922.)
  • Franz Boas 1858 – 1942studied here, 1877 (Studied natural sciences and geography at Heidelberg before Bonn (from 1877) and Kiel (from 1879).)

Sources: SEP: Stanisław Leśniewski · SEP: Max Weber · SEP: Karl Jaspers · SEP: Hans-Georg Gadamer · SEP: Georg [György] Lukács · Boston Globe: Endel Tulving obituary (2023) · SEP: Hannah Arendt · Britannica: Erich Fromm · Neue Deutsche Biographie: Franz Boas

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