Rudolf Christoph Eiken (also Oiken , German Rudolf Christoph Eucken ; January 5, 1846 , Aurich , Prussia - September 15, 1926 , Jena , Weimar Republic ) - German writer and philosopher .
Rudolf Christoph Aiken | |
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Rudolf christoph eucken | |
Rudolf Aiken in 1908 | |
Date of Birth | |
Place of Birth | Aurich , Prussia |
Date of death | |
Place of death | |
Citizenship | Prussia German Empire Germany |
Occupation | novelist , philosopher |
Language of Works | |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Literature ( 1908 ) |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Literature ( 1908 ) |
Autograph | |
Biography
Rudolf Christoph Aiken was born into a family of an early post office worker and a priest’s daughter on January 15, 1846 in the town of Aurich. Thanks to the cares of his mother, he received a good education at the gymnasium and the University of Gottinging , where he studied classical philosophy and ancient history, then at the University of Berlin . In the gymnasium, he was interested in mathematics and music.
His Ph.D. was awarded to Aiken in Göttingen, where he studied classical philosophy and the history of ancient India. Philosophy and rationalistic views did not satisfy Aiken, and he began to study the works of Aristotle . In 1870 he published two brochures about Aristotle. During his studies in Berlin, he learned for himself the fact of the interrelation of philosophy, history and religion. Aiken received a degree in classical philology and ancient history. The author wrote his dissertation on the problem of the language of Aristotle. In 1871, he received a chair at the University of Basel ; Since 1874 - Professor of the University of Jena . He taught at this university until 1920.
In 1882 he married Irene Pasiv, with whom he had a daughter and two sons (chemist Arnold (1884-1950) and economist Walter ).
Scientific supervisor M. V. Bezobrazoy , since 1891, the first Russian woman - Ph.D., who, following the example of her mentor, is an “ethical idealist”.
In 1908 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the serious search for truth, the all-pervading power of thought, broad outlook, liveliness and persuasiveness with which he defended and developed an idealistic philosophy."
From 1911 to 1913 he lectured in England and the USA. He also planned to go to China and Japan, but could not because of the start of the First World War.
On January 5, 1916, to his birthday, he became an honorary citizen of the city of Jena. The writer died there on September 15, 1926.
Creativity and philosophical thought
Aiken's fame was short, precisely because many of his works are forgotten in our time. Aiken's philosophy is partly historical, and partly creative. In later works, the creative side prevailed, but the author attempted to organically combine them.
In historical works, Aiken tried to show the necessary connection between philosophical concepts and the era to which they belonged. All philosophical concepts, according to Aiken, are concepts that are influenced by life itself and solve practical problems of society. This practical idealism Aiken gave the name "activism". Activism suggests that human society can change itself through the ethical choices it can make. In this, he confronted himself with Nietzsche, who spoke of a superman who is allowed to circumvent moral and ethical standards. Aiken's philosophy attempted to reconcile intellectual thought with religion.
He also supported the view that people have a soul, and that people are between the world of the material and the spiritual. At the same time, people must overcome their material nature through continuous efforts in order to be able to improve spiritually.
In 1872 he published his work "On the method of Aristotle." In 1878, he published the book Fundamental Traps of Modern Philosophical Thought. This book has aroused great interest in the scientific community. The author tries to give an analysis of the historical roots of various philosophical views, and in 1908 Aiken republished this book called The Main Directions of Modern Thought, where he tried to supplement the book with his own philosophical ideas.
Since the 1990s, Aiken has been moving away from the problems of history and philosophy and in 1896 has been working on his own idealistic, religious and ethical thought. So, there are two monographs "The Truth of Religion" (1901) and "The main feature of the new world outlook" (1907). The work "The main feature of the new world outlook" was an attempt to stimulate a sense of spirituality, which was considered the distinctive life to which society aspires.
Aiken tried using the philosophy of Aristotle to reassess the formation of ethics beyond the human being. Not an individual, but a strong image formed in the consciousness of free harmony, capable of freeing humanity from the materiality of existence and the chain of causal effects.
In his work Socialism: Analysis (1921), Aiken reproaches socialism for its materialistic approach to characterizing man and his place in the world. Philosophical socialism disagreed with Aiken's opinion of the “lofty goal” beyond the lines of everyday life. According to Aiken, only the body is subject to physical processes, while the spirit cannot be explained from the point of view of materialism.
In these works, the author tries to convey that eternal values must be sought beyond the line of everyday life. Aiken tries to tell mankind about the spiritual aspiration towards which he must move. This aspiration requires will and sensuality.
Aiken’s system also had critics, both among materialists and idealists, who did not perceive his ethical activism in favor of old idealism.
Aiken considered it possible to talk about true religion, calling it Christianity, which is understood very peculiarly. The function of Christianity is to answer the question of what religion can do for society. But at the same time he did not share the opinion that the salvation of mankind is exclusively in the hands of the Lord God. Religion is the way to answer the question about the meaning of life. Jesus was not a god for him, but an unsurpassed person who cannot be directly inherited. Faith is the way to achieve immortality.
Aiken argued with some representatives of idealism. Like Nietzsche, he did not trust abstract intellectualism, he did not support the views of Hegel with his views on the spiritual world, he was not an empiricist who limited human experience to feelings and impressions. His “philosophy of life” partially united in itself some of the main problems of phenomenology.
Bibliography
- Fundamental snares of modern philosophical thought, 1878
- Truth of Religion, 1901
- Thomas Aquinas and Kant, 1901
- The main feature of the new worldview, 1907
- Philosophy of History, 1907
- The main problems of modern philosophy of religion = Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie der Gegenwart (1907). - M .: URSS, 2010. - 70 p. - (From the heritage of the world philosophy of thought. Ethics) - ISBN 978-5-397-01500-4
- The meaning and value of life = Der Sinn und Wert des Lebens (1908). / Per. with him. M.M. Tareeva. - M .: ELIA-ARTO, 2008. - 80 p. - ISBN 5-88225-XX
- Can we remain Christians ?, 1911
- Man and the world, 1918
- Socialism: Analysis, 1921
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 BNF ID : 2011 open data platform .
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ Biografie Rudolf Christoph Eucken (German) ". Bayerische Nationalbibliothek
- ↑ Discogs - 2000.
- ↑ Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
- ↑ German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 118682555 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
Literature
- Aiken (Eucken), Rudolf // Nobel Prize Laureates. Encyclopedia. M - I. Translation from English. - M .: Progress, 1992. - 861 p. - pp. 791.
- Aiken / A. P. Ogurtsov / / New Philosophical Encyclopedia : 4 t. / Before. scientific - ed. Council V.S. Stepin . - 2nd ed., Corr. and add. - M .: Thought , 2010. - 2816 p.
Links
- Aiken, Rudolph // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 extra.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Aiken Rudolph // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 t.] / Ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.