Erich Unger ( German: Erich Unger ) (1887-1950) - Jewish philosopher , author of articles and books in German. Unger's works are devoted to poetry, Nietzsche’s philosophy, political theory, philosophy, Jewish philosophy.
| Erich Unger | |
|---|---|
| Erich unnger | |
| Date of Birth | 1887 |
| Place of Birth | Berlin German Empire |
| Date of death | 1950 |
| Place of death | London |
| A country |  German Empire |
| School / tradition | Jewish philosophy |
| Direction | Western philosophy |
| Period | 20th century philosophy |
| Core interests | Judaism , Metaphysics , Religion , Politics |
| Significant ideas | Imagination of the mind |
| Influenced | Walter Benjamin |
Content
Biography
Born in Berlin in 1887. From an early age he was interested in new ideas and participated in intellectual discussions. He studied at a school in Lichterfeld , a wealthy district of Berlin, where Prussian nobles and the military lived. At the school of Friedrich Unger met with Oscar Goldberg, who led a literary club. Young Unger became one of the founders of the literary expressionism movement in Germany [1] . His journal articles of those years were often in demand [2] .
He found the First World War in Switzerland, while among his new friends was Walter Benjamin , who, admiring the work of Unger, was looking for opportunities for joint literary activity [3] . In the 1920s, Unger created a club for a group of young famous intellectuals who discussed their ideas in science, politics and philosophy. The group quickly became one of the centers of the Berlin intelligentsia of that time [4] .
Hitler's rise to power put an end to his promising academic career, and Unger emigrated with his family to Paris in 1933, and then to London in 1936, where he lived until his death in 1950.
Key Ideas
According to Unger, the main tool in any philosophical study is the "imagination of the mind" or systematic imagination in philosophy, which allows you to know the world of being, reality beyond experience. Unger wrote: “The matter of the world as a whole is not an empirical object, although it is without a doubt real” (“Living and Divine,” chapter 1). In this essay, Unger argued that the imagination of the mind is necessary for understanding reality and concepts such as being or consciousness. An example is astronomy , which studies the stars, having only an incomplete direct experience. Astronomers supplement their experience with the imagination of the mind in order to achieve that which transcends the limits of direct experience.
The “Imagination of Reason” was used by Unger to analyze the function of myth in religion (the early work “Reality, Myth, and Cognition”). In a late essay, The Natural Order of Miracles, published in the English journal The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Unger distinguished between genuine and poetic myth. A true myth refers to such phenomena as religion, science, politics, everyday life in society, the myth spreads the concepts of order and understanding of natural experience. This myth is, according to Unger, the source of the rational aspect. A poetic myth is either pure art or half religion, half art.
Unger's views on Judaism raised a wide range of issues. The philosopher noted with regret the gradual reduction of Jewish culture to a “simple religion” and believed that the revival of Judaism is possible if it will again inspire society and serve as its support. Unger, however, did not claim the existence of “Jewish” science or “Jewish” technology. Judaism may have a worldview in areas such as philosophy, sociology or politics; in issues such as immortality or features of Jewish ethics in political matters [5] .
Notes
- ↑ Sheppard, Richard. Die Schriften des Neuen Klubs, 1908-14, Hildesheim, 1980.83
- ↑ Voigts, Manfred. Vom Expressionismus zum Mythos des Hebraertums, Wurzburg: Koenigshausen und Neumann, 1994
- ↑ Scholem, Gershom. Walter Benjamin. Briefe, Frankfurt, 1966
- ↑ Voigts, Manfred. Oskar Goldberg, Berlin 1992
- ↑ “A Restatement of Judaism” article in Shofar Magazine
Literature
- Gershom Scholem (1966) Walter Benjamin. Briefe. Frankfurt am am main
- Richard Sheppard (1980.83) Die Schriften des Neuen Klubs 1908-14, Hildesheim
- Manfred Voigts (1992) Oskar Goldberg, Berlin
Links
- 'The Living and the Divine'
- 'The Story of the Garden of Eden'
- 'Conversation on Immortality'
- 'A Jewish History of the Second World War'
- 'Special Universals - a Jewish Perspective?'
- 'Introductory Thoughts on Hermann Cohen'
- 'Martin Buber'
- 'Do Philosophers Disagree'
- 'Mankind and the Planet, past, present and future'