Christian August Brandis (13 February 1790 – 21 July 1867) was a Germanphilologist and historian ofphilosophy.
Brandis was born atHildesheim, and was the son of the physicianJoachim Dietrich Brandis. His father moved toCopenhagen in 1810, where he became personal physician toQueen Marie.
He was educated atKiel University. In 1812 he graduated atCopenhagen, with a thesisCommentationes Eleaticae (a collection of fragments fromXenophanes,Parmenides andMelissus). For a time he studied atGöttingen, and in 1815 presented as hisinaugural dissertation atBerlin his essayVon dem Begriff der Geschichte der Philosophie.[1]
In 1816 he refused an extraordinary professorship atHeidelberg in order to accompanyBG Niebuhr toItaly as secretary to thePrussian embassy. Subsequently, he assistedImmanuel Bekker in the preparation of his edition ofAristotle. In 1821 he became professor of philosophy in the newly foundedUniversity of Bonn, and in 1823 published hisAristotelius et Theophrasti Metaphysica. WithBöckh and Niebuhr he edited theRheinisches Museum, to which he contributed important articles onSocrates (1827, 1829). From 1836 to 1839 he was tutor to the youngKing Otto of Greece.[1] Brandis was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1839.[2]
His great work, theHandbuch der Geschichte der Griechisch-Römischen Philosophie (1835-1866; republished in a smaller and more systematic form,Geschichte der Entwicklungen der griechischen Philosophie und ihrer Nachwirkungen im römischen Reiche, 1862-1866), is characterized by sound criticism.[1]
Brandis died on 21 July 1867 inBonn,Germany.
He was the father of the forestry academic and administratorSir Dietrich Brandis.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brandis, Christian August".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 428. This citesTrendelenburg,Zur Erinnerung an C. A. B. (Berlin, 1868).