Leonard Nelson | |
|---|---|
_digitalised.jpg) Nelson in 1922 | |
| Born | 11 July 1882 |
| Died | 29 October 1927 (aged 45) |
| Education | Französisches Gymnasium Berlin Heidelberg University Humboldt University of Berlin University of Göttingen (PhD, 1904; Dr. phil. hab., 1909) |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Minna Specht (since 1915) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Neo-Friesian |
| Institutions | University of Göttingen |
| Thesis | Jakob Friedrich Fries und seine jüngsten Kritiker (1904) |
| Doctoral advisor | Julius Baumann |
| Notable students | Paul Bernays,Gustav Heckmann,Gerhard Weisser,Fritz Eberhard,Alfred Kubel,Willi Eichler |
Main interests | Critical philosophy,philosophy of science,logic |
Notable ideas | Grelling–Nelson paradox, revival of theSocratic method |
Leonard Nelson (/ˈnɛlsən/;German:[ˈnɛlzɔn]; 11 July 1882 – 29 October 1927), sometimes speltLeonhard, was a Germanmathematician,critical philosopher, andsocialist. He was part of theneo-Friesian school (named afterpost-Kantian philosopherJakob Friedrich Fries) ofneo-Kantianism and a friend of the mathematicianDavid Hilbert. He devised theGrelling–Nelson paradox in 1908 and the related idea ofautological words withKurt Grelling.[2]
Nelson subsequently became influential in both philosophy and mathematics, as his close contacts with scientists and mathematicians influenced their ideas. Despite dying earlier than many of his friends and assistants, hisISK organization lived on after his death, even after being banned by theNazi Regime in 1933. It is even claimed thatAlbert Einstein supported it.[3] He's also credited with popularizing theSocratic method in his bookDie sokratische Methode (The Socratic Method).[4]
Leonard Nelson was the son oflawyer Heinrich Nelson (1854–1929) andartist Elisabeth Lejeune Dirichlet (1860–1920).[5] His mother was the granddaughter of mathematicianPeter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and descendant ofJewish philosopherMoses Mendelssohn.[6] Nelson was baptised as aProtestant at the age of five on 13 June 1887.[7]
Nelson studied atFranzösisches Gymnasium Berlin, where mathematics and science were not a focus of the curriculum. He was therefore privately tutored by mathematicianGerhard Hessenberg (1874–1925), and began reading the works of philosophersImmanuel Kant,Jakob Friedrich Fries, andErnst Friedrich Apelts, which began to spark his interest in philosophy.
In 1901, Nelson studied mathematics and philosophy atHeidelberg University for a short period of time before going toFriedrich Wilhelm University (today: Humboldt-Universität) in Berlin, from March 1901 to 1903. From 1903 to 1904, he worked with mathematicians and philosophers at theUniversity of Göttingen, such as hisdoctoral advisorJulius Baumann,David Hilbert,Felix Klein,Carl Runge, and his later rivalEdmund Husserl.
Nelson's work as a philosopher was most concerned withcritical philosophy, attributed to Kant. It sets out to find a "critique" on science andmetaphysics, similar toempiricism,[8] as things can only be true based on the perceptions and limitations on human minds. Kant's 1781 bookCritique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft) inspired Nelson to go down the path of critical philosophy, and later followed the works ofpost-Kantian philosopherFries who had also followed Kant's work.[9]
His first dissertation wasDie kritische Methode und das Verhältnis der Psychologie zur Philosophie (The Critical Method and the Relationship of Psychology to Philosophy), which failed. His 1904 dissertationJakob Fries and his Latest Critics (Jakob Friedrich Fries und seine jüngsten Kritiker) was successful. Nelson continued defending Fries' philosophy and ideas by publishing aneue Folge (new series) ofAbhandlungen der Fries'schen Schule (1904) with Gerhard Hessenberg and mathematician Karl Kaiser. It was here that Nelson and these same friends created theJakob-Friedrich-Fries-Gesellschaft (Jakob Friedrich Fries Society) to promote critical philosophy.[9]
Ready to form new ideas, Nelson founded theNeo-Friesian School in 1903, with some well-known members, such asRudolf Otto, philosopher (1869–1937),Gerhard Hessenberg, mathematician (1874–1925) andOtto Meyerhof.biochemist (1884–1951). Other notable people, such as philosopherKurt Grelling and mathematicianRichard Courant (student of Hilbert), joined after its foundation. A larger list of ISK members and similar can be seen in thelist of Germans who resisted Nazism.
In 1909 he habilitated at theUniversity of Göttingen and becamePrivatdozent. From June 1919 until his death on 29 October 1927 he was a professor in Göttingen.[9][10][11]
In 1922, Nelson founded thePhilosophisch-Politische Akademie (Philosophical-Political Academy or PPA) as a "Platonic Academy" and non-profit association, which was abandoned soon after the Nazis banned it, but re-established in 1949. It still stands today for political discussions between philosophers and politicians,[12] and was supported financially by theGesellschaft der Freunde der Philosophisch-Politischen Akademie (Society of Friends of the Philosophical-Political Academy or GFA).[13] They started working with an education center calledLanderziehungsheim Walkemühle, founded in 1921 by a support of Nelson,progressive teacher Ludwig Wunder (1878–1949). Although Wunder left it shortly after in 1924, educator and co-worker of Nelson,Minna Specht, took over,[14] with the help of journalist and authorMary Saran.
In 1917 Nelson andMinna Specht founded theInternationaler Jugendbund (International Youth Federation or IJB). In 1918, Nelson briefly became a member of theIndependent Social Democratic Party (USPD), and from 1923–1925 he was a member of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), until he was ultimately excluded. As a result, in 1925, he and Minna Specht founded theInternationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund(ISK; "International Socialist Militant League") merging it with the IJB by taking over its publishing label,Öffentliches Leben.[10] Among Leonard Nelson's students and political companions in the International Socialist Kampfbund were also[15]Prime MinisterAlfred Kubel (1909–1999) and journalistFritz Eberhard (1896–1982), later member of theParlamentarischer Rat.
Nelson married Elisabeth Schemmann (1884–1954), in 1907, but divorced in 1912 after she baptised their son Gerhard David Wilhelm Nelson (1909–1944) in theLutheran Church. Nelson's refusal to baptise his son and divorce was a big change based on his Jewish ancestry. He even resigned from theEvangelical Church in 1919.[16]
His wife marriedPaul Hensel in 1917.[17]
Nelson was an early advocate ofanimal rights and avegetarian.[18] His lecture "Duties to Animals" was published posthumously in Germany in 1932 and included in his bookA System of Ethics (translated in 1956) and reprinted in the 1972 bookAnimals, Men and Morals.[19]Nelson was aninsomniac and died at a young age frompneumonia, and was buried at a Jewish cemetery inMelsungen alongside his father Heinrich.[20]
In the summer of 1997 his granddaughter, Maria Nelson, and Maria's daughter, Rachel Urban, both visited his grave .[20]
Nelson's ideas continued to have an impact upon German socialism and communism inNazi Germany as the ISK's members became active in the left-wing resistance to Nazism.[citation needed]
Nelson published numerous books and papers, often with the help of other philosophers and mathematicians. He was later critical ofGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in his workProgress and Regress in Philosophy (Fortschritte und Rückschritte der Philosophie). He is also known for defending the idea of animal rights in his workSystem of Philosophical Ethics and Pedagogy (System der philosophischen Ethik und Pädagogik) published in 1932, with the help of his assistantGrete Hermann (also part of the ISK) and Minna Specht.[21]
Some of his works are already mentioned above, but some others, available in theInternet Archive (and other websites, if not available there), include:
English translation: "Collected Writings in Nine Volumes". It was published byPaul Bernays andFelix Meiner Verlag (a German scientificpublishing house in philosophy), inHamburg 1970-1977;[22]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Also in:Nelson, Leonard (1974).Gesammelte Schriften III. Die kritische Methode in ihrer Bedeutung für die Wissenschaften. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag. pp. 95–127.ISBN 3787302220.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
