Kuno Fischer
Fischer held that the history of modern philosophy from Descartes to Schopenhauer is one connected, dialectical development rather than a row of separate systems; Trendelenburg contested his reading of Kant’s doctrine of space.
Placement
Historian of philosophy in Jena and Heidelberg whose lectures Dilthey, Windelband, Frege and Weber heard; his reading of Kant brought a long quarrel with Trendelenburg, and Nietzsche read his Spinoza volume.
Key ideas
- The history of philosophy as a dialectical process of development
- Kant’s doctrine of space (contested by Trendelenburg)
Students: Wilhelm Dilthey, Gottlob Frege, Wilhelm Windelband, Max Weber
Influence
Influenced 5
Wilhelm Dilthey taught
taught
At Heidelberg Dilthey was introduced by Fischer to the idealist systems. SEP “Wilhelm Dilthey” (R. Makkreel), §1.2
Evidence: AI draft
Wilhelm Dilthey › 1833–1911
Friedrich Nietzsche
influenced
In 1881 Nietzsche read Fischer’s volume on Spinoza and then named Spinoza a precursor in a postcard to Overbeck. R. de Pablos Escalante, Anales del Seminario de Historia de la Filosofía 33 (2016), 137–161, citing T. Brobjer, Nietzsche’s Philosophical Context (2008)
Evidence: AI draft
Friedrich Nietzsche › 1844–1900
Gottlob Frege taught
taught
The only philosophy Frege heard at Jena was Fischer’s lecture course on Kant’s critical philosophy. M. Potter, “Introduction”, Cambridge Companion to Frege (2010), p. 1
Evidence: AI draft
Gottlob Frege › 1848–1925
Wilhelm Windelband taught
taught
Windelband attended Fischer’s lectures in Jena, and Fischer’s Kant scholarship shaped his work as a historian of philosophy. SEP “Wilhelm Windelband” (K. Kinzel), §1 and §2
Evidence: AI draft
Wilhelm Windelband › 1848–1915
Max Weber taught
taught
Weber counts Fischer among his teachers at Heidelberg (1882–84), alongside Knies, Bekker and Erdmannsdörffer. NDB “Weber, Max” (F. W. Graf, NDB 27, 2020, pp. 474–479; deutsche-biographie.de/sfz6881.html); Weber’s own record of his courses not checked
Evidence: AI draft
Max Weber › 1864–1920
Criticism
Mutual critique 1
Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg ⇄ mutual
criticised
Fischer answered Trendelenburg in 1870 with the Anti-Trendelenburg. Wikipedia, “Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg” (read)
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Trendelenburg attacked Fischer’s reading of Kant’s doctrine of space in Kuno Fischer and His Kant (1869). Wikipedia, “Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg” (read); Britannica and Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries report the same dispute
Evidence: AI draft
Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg › 1802–1872
Works
Multi-volume history of modern philosophy, from Descartes and Bacon through Leibniz, Kant, Fichte and Hegel to Schopenhauer, treated as a dialectical process of development; his volume on Kant led to the quarrel with Trendelenburg.
Position
Fischer is on the map as a historian of philosophy whose lectures were heard by a whole circle of thinkers on the map. His History of Modern Philosophy, begun in 1852, follows philosophy from Descartes and Bacon through Leibniz, Kant, Fichte and Hegel to Schopenhauer as a dialectical development in the spirit of Hegel. Windelband attended his lectures in Jena, Frege heard his course on Kant’s critical philosophy there, and in Heidelberg Dilthey was introduced by him to the idealist systems and Max Weber heard him in the years 1882–84. His reading of Kant’s doctrine of space was attacked by Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg in Kuno Fischer and His Kant (1869) and answered by Fischer in the Anti-Trendelenburg (1870), a standard episode of nineteenth-century philosophy. Nietzsche read Fischer’s volume on Spinoza in 1881 and named Spinoza a precursor in a postcard to Overbeck.
Life & context
Kuno Fischer was born on 23 July 1824 near Guhrau in Silesia. He studied philosophy, philology and theology in Leipzig and Halle from 1844, took his doctorate in 1847 with a dissertation on Plato’s Parmenides and habilitated in philosophy at Heidelberg in 1850. In 1853 his licence to teach was withdrawn over a charge of pantheism. He became professor in Jena in 1856, where he taught for sixteen years and was rector in 1862 and 1868, and in 1872 he returned to Heidelberg. He died there on 5 July 1907.
Further main works
- System of Logic and Metaphysics (System der Logik und Metaphysik, 1852)
- Anti-Trendelenburg (Anti-Trendelenburg, 1870)
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