Karl-Otto Apel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1922-03-15)15 March 1922 |
| Died | 15 May 2017(2017-05-15) (aged 95) Niedernhausen, Germany |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Bonn |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Continental philosophy Critical theory Pragmatism |
| Institutions | University of Mainz University of Saarbrücken University of Frankfurt am Main |
| Main interests | Philosophy of language,ethics |
| Notable ideas | Transcendental pragmatics |
Karl-Otto Apel (/ˈɑːpəl/;German:[ˈaːpl̩]; 15 March 1922 – 15 May 2017) was a Germanphilosopher and Professor Emeritus at theUniversity of Frankfurt am Main. He specialized on thephilosophy of language and was thus considered acommunication theorist. He developed a distinctive philosophical approach which he coinedtranscendental pragmatics.
Apel grew up during the political crises of theWeimar Republic. In 1940, he was a war volunteer with his entire graduating class. After theSecond World War, Apel studied from 1945 to 1950 at theUniversity of Bonn, first history andintellectual history, before he committed himself as a student ofErich Rothacker onphilosophy.[1][2] In 1950, he received his doctorate from Bonn with a thesis onMartin Heidegger.
Apel was appointed lecturer at theUniversity of Mainz in 1961. He was a full professor of philosophy at theUniversity of Kiel from 1962 to 1969, at theUniversity of Saarbrücken from 1969 to 1972, and at theUniversity of Frankfurt am Main from 1972 to 1990.[3] In 1990, he transferred toemeritus status. He has held a number of visiting and guest professorships at universities around the world.
He was made a Member of theAcademia Europaea in 1989 and a Full Member of theAcademia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea in 1993. In 2001, he was awarded theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Apel worked inethics, thephilosophy of language andhuman sciences. He wrote extensively in these fields, publishing mostly in German. Apel's work brings together theanalytical andContinental philosophical traditions, especiallypragmatism and thecritical theory of theFrankfurt School. He developed a distinctive philosophical approach which he calledtranscendental pragmatics (Transzendentalpragmatik).[4]
InUnderstanding and Explanation: A Transcendental-Pragmatic Perspective, Apel reformulated the difference between understanding (Verstehen) and explanation (Erklärung), which originated in thehermeneutics ofWilhelm Dilthey andinterpretive sociology ofMax Weber, on the basis of aPeircean-inspired transcendental-pragmatic account of language. This account of the "lifeworld" would become an element of the theory ofcommunicative action[5] anddiscourse ethics, which Apel co-developed withJürgen Habermas. Strategic rationality both claim to stand in need of communicative rationality that is seen as, in several regards, more fundamental.[6] While sympathetic to Habermas'sTheory of Communicative Action, Apel has been critical of aspects of Habermas's approach. Apel has proposed that a theory of communication should be grounded in the transcendental-pragmatic conditions of communication. After taking his point of departure from Apel, Habermas has moved towards a "weaktranscendentalism" that is more closely tied to empirical social inquiry.
Apel also wrote works onCharles Sanders Peirce and is a past president of the C. S. Peirce Society.
An early German-speaking adversary of so-calledcritical rationalism, Apel published a critique of the philosophy ofKarl Popper: InTransformation der Philosophie (1973), Apel charged Popper with being guilty of, amongst other things, apragmatic contradiction.[7][8]
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Apel influenced other philosophers writing in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Apel died on 15 May 2017 at the age of 95.[9][10]
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