Wilhelm Windelband | |
|---|---|
 Wilhelm Windelband, prior to 1905 | |
| Born | (1848-05-11)11 May 1848 |
| Died | 22 October 1915(1915-10-22) (aged 67) |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 19th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Neo-Kantianism (Baden School) Foundationalism[1] |
| Main interests | Metaphysics,philosophical logic |
| Notable ideas | Thenomothetic–idiographic distinction |
Wilhelm Windelband (/ˈvɪndəlbɑːnd/;German:[ˈvɪndl̩bant]; 11 May 1848 – 22 October 1915) was a Germanphilosopher of theBaden School.
Windelband was born the son of aPrussian state secretary for theProvince of Brandenburg inPotsdam,Germany.[2] He studied at theUniversity of Jena in which he attended lectures byKuno Fischer.[2] He later studied in the university ofBerlin and ofGöttingen, under the direction ofHermann Lotze.[3][2] In 1870 he presented hisD. Phil. dissertation, which was entitled 'Die Lehren vom Zufall' (The Theories of Chance).[4] In the following year Windelband served as asoldier in theFranco-Prussian War.[2] In 1873 he returned toacademia and obtained hisDr. Phil. Habil. at theUniversity of Leipzig, which was entitled 'Die Gewissheit der Erkenntnis: eine psychologisch-erkenntnisstheoretische Studie' (On the certainty of knowledge: a psychological-epistemological study). In 1874 he married Martha Wichgraf, with whom he had four children.[2]
In 1876, Windelband became Professor of Inductive Philosophy at theUniversity of Zurich inSwitzerland.[2] In 1877, he returned to Germany, where he became Professor of Philosophy at theUniversity of Freiburg. In 1882 he accepted an offer of a post in the then-GermanUniversity of Strasbourg, where in 1894/5 and 1897/98 he became itsrector.
Windelband is now mainly remembered for the termsnomothetic andidiographic, which he introduced during an address which he gave in 1894 upon his installation as the Rector of theUniversity of Strasbourg, the Third Edition of which was subsequently published as a thirty-six page booklet.[5][6] The termsnomothetic andidiographic are used inpsychology and elsewwhere. However, they are used differently to the ways that Windelband meant.[7]
Windelband was aneo-Kantian who argued against other contemporary neo-Kantians, maintaining that "to understandKant rightly means to go beyond him". Against hispositivist contemporaries, Windelband argued that philosophy should engage in humanistic dialogue with the natural sciences rather than uncritically appropriating its methodologies. His interests inpsychology and cultural sciences represented an opposition topsychologism andhistoricism schools by a critical philosophic system.
Windelband relied in his effort to reach beyond Kant on such philosophers asGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,Johann Friedrich Herbart, andHermann Lotze.[8]Heinrich Rickert was closely associated with Windelband. Windelband's disciples were not only noted philosophers, but alsosociologists likeMax Weber andtheologians likeErnst Troeltsch andAlbert Schweitzer.
Books[9]
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