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Henrik Steffens | |
|---|---|
 Lithograph of Steffens byFranz Krüger, 1828 | |
| Born | 2 May 1773 |
| Died | 13 February 1845(1845-02-13) (aged 71) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Philosophy,Geology,Mineralogy |
Henrik Steffens (2 May 1773 – 13 February 1845), was a Norwegianphilosopher,scientist, andpoet.[1][2][3]
He was born atStavanger. At the age of fourteen he went with his parents toCopenhagen, where he studiedtheology andnatural science. In 1796 he lectured at theUniversity of Kiel, and two years later went to theUniversity of Jena to study the natural philosophy ofFriedrich Schelling. He went toFreiberg in 1800, and there came under the influence ofAbraham Gottlob Werner. In 1801, he published a volume on geology calledBeiträge zur inneren Naturgeschichte der Erde. (Contributions to the inner natural history of the Earth) which became his most successful and influential work as a scientist. He there defended aNeptunist theory of the origin of the Earth against theVulcanist theory later to be defended by his fellow student in Freiberg,Alexander von Humboldt.[4]
After two years he returned to Copenhagen, and is said to have introducedGerman romanticism to Denmark in 1802 with nine lectures given atElers Kollegium, later published asIndledning til philosophiske Forelæsninger (Introduction to Philosophical Lectures). These lectures were a great success and a source of inspiration in Danishromanticism. They were attended by many who later became leading Danish thinkers, such asOehlenschläger andGrundtvig.Friedrich Schleiermacher was so much struck by their excellence that he endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to obtain for Steffens a chair in the newBerlin University in 1804, in order that his own ethical teachings should be supported in the scientific department.
Despite – or perhaps because of – the deep impact made by his lectures, Steffens was not made welcome by the Danish authorities. He moved back to Germany and took up a professorship at theUniversity of Halle in 1804, to return to Denmark only occasionally. During theBattle of Leipzig (1813) he enlisted in thePrussian Army as asecond lieutenant, and he was present at thecapture of Paris the following year. He was professor of physics atBreslau from 1811 until 1832, when he accepted an invitation toBerlin.
Steffens was one of the so-called "Philosophers of Nature", a friend and adherent of Schelling and of Schleiermacher. More than either of these two thinkers he was acquainted with the discoveries of modern science, and was thus able to correct or modify the highly imaginative speculations of Schelling. He held that, throughout the scheme of nature and intellectual life, the main principle isIndividualisation. As organisms rise higher in the scale of development, the sharper and more distinct become their outlines, the more definite their individualities. This principle he endeavoured to deduce from his knowledge ofgeology, in contrast toLorenz Oken, who developed the same theory on biological grounds. His influence was considerable, and both Schelling and Schleiermacher modified their theories in deference to his scientific deductions.
His chief scientific and philosophical works are:
During the last five years of his life he wrote an autobiography,Was ich erlebte, and after his death hisNachgelassene Schriften (1846) was published. See Tietzen,Zur Erinnerung an Steffens; Petersen,Henrik Steffens (German translation, 1884); Dilthey,Leben Schleiermachers.
Henrik Steffens has been an influential figure in the Scandinavian history of Romanticism and was a towering figure in the effort to combine the emerging natural sciences with new Romantic ideas about nature. These were to a certain extent neglected in the 20th century as more positivism and naturalism dominated within the natural sciences. However, with the emergence of theAnthropocene, Steffens' ideas have been rediscovered as a source of inspiration for interdisciplinary perspectives on ecology and the earth sciences.[5]
TheHenrik Steffens Professor, a namedchair at theHumboldt University of Berlin in the field ofhumanities andsocial sciences, is funded by theGovernment of Norway and administered jointly by the Humboldt University and theUniversity of Oslo. The professorship was established in connection with thestate visit of German PresidentRoman Herzog in Norway in 1998, on the initiative ofLucy Smith, the Rector of the University of Oslo.[6] The purpose of the professorship is to promote academic cooperation between Norway and Germany in the fields of humanities and social sciences, "in the spirit of Henrik Steffens." It is one of the nine named chairs at the Humboldt University.[7]
The professorship is hosted by the Department of Northern European Studies at the Humboldt University, which is located nearUnter den Linden. The department also hosts theDag Hammarskjöld Professorship, which is funded by the Swedish government.[8]
Henrik Steffens.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Steffens, Henrik".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 870.
