Heinrich Rickert
For Rickert, the natural sciences form general concepts and laws, while history and the cultural sciences form concepts of singular things by selecting what is essential through its relation to values – so the human sciences rest on a logic of their own, not on psychology.
Placement
Southwest German neo-Kantian who held that the cultural sciences form their concepts by relating singular facts to values, the natural sciences by generalising – the frame Max Weber took over for the social sciences; he succeeded Windelband in Heidelberg and taught Lask and Heidegger.
Key ideas
- Value-relation (Wertbeziehung) in the cultural sciences
- Limits of natural-scientific concept formation
- Philosophy as a system of values
Teachers: Wilhelm Windelband
Students: Emil Lask, Martin Heidegger
Influence
Influenced by 1
Wilhelm Windelband studied with
studied with
Rickert wrote his dissertation under Windelband in Strasbourg (1888), later succeeded him in Heidelberg and drew on Windelband’s essay on history and natural science for his theory of science. SEP “Heinrich Rickert” (A. Staiti, L. Oliva), introduction; SEP “Neo-Kantianism” (J. Heis), §3
Evidence: AI draft
Wilhelm Windelband › 1848–1915
Influenced 2
Max Weber
influenced
Weber took over the neo-Kantian account of concept formation in the historical and cultural sciences as Rickert had elaborated it, but rejected Rickert’s recourse to ends that are valid across all cultures. SEP “Max Weber” (S. H. Kim, rev. 2022), §2.1 and §5.1; SEP “Heinrich Rickert” (A. Staiti, L. Oliva), introduction
Evidence: AI draft
Max Weber › 1864–1920
Emil Lask taught
taught
Lask wrote his dissertation on Fichte under Rickert at Freiburg in 1902. SEP “Neo-Kantianism” (J. Heis), §3
Evidence: AI draft
Emil Lask › 1875–1915
Criticism
Criticized by 1
Martin Heidegger taught
taught ✓
Heidegger wrote his 1915 habilitation on Duns Scotus under Rickert’s direction in Freiburg. SEP “Martin Heidegger” (M. Wrathall, 2025), life section
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
criticised by
In his 1919 lecture course Heidegger drew on Brentano, Dilthey and Husserl for a phenomenological critique of the neo-Kantian transcendental philosophy of value of Windelband, Rickert and Lask. SEP “Hermann Lotze” (D. Sullivan, rev. 2024), §5.3
Evidence: AI draft
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976
Criticizes 1
Wilhelm Dilthey
criticised
Rickert objected to Dilthey that psychology cannot ground the human sciences and that re-living past experience would not amount to understanding it, holding that the logical structure of historical science fixes its object. SEP “Heinrich Rickert” (A. Staiti, L. Oliva), §3
Evidence: AI draft
Wilhelm Dilthey › 1833–1911
Works
Rickert’s earlier statement (1899) of his division of the sciences: the natural sciences generalise, the cultural sciences relate their objects to values; the Limits of Concept Formation later gave it its full logical foundation.
Argues that the natural sciences form general concepts and laws, while history forms concepts of singular things by selecting what matters through relation to values; the logical frame of the Baden School, developed from Windelband’s distinction and taken up by Max Weber.
Position
Rickert is on the map as the systematic head of the Southwest German (Baden) School of neo-Kantianism. In The Limits of Concept Formation in Natural Science (1902) he developed Windelband’s distinction into a logic of the sciences: the natural sciences form general concepts, history forms concepts of singular things by selecting what is essential through its relation to values (Wertbeziehung), which must be kept apart from the historian’s own valuing. Max Weber took over this frame for the social sciences, but rejected Rickert’s recourse to ends that are valid across all cultures. In the System of Philosophy (1921) Rickert grounded the cultural sciences in a system of values. He was an opponent of Dilthey, objecting that psychology cannot ground the human sciences and that re-living past experience would not amount to understanding it; Husserl and Lask in turn criticised parts of his theory. Heidegger wrote his habilitation under him in 1915 and in his lecture course of 1919 criticised the neo-Kantian philosophy of value of Windelband, Rickert and Lask.
Life & context
Heinrich Rickert was born on 25 May 1863 in Danzig (Gdańsk), the son of a Berlin liberal politician and editor. He studied in Berlin, where he heard Friedrich Paulsen, and from 1885 in Strasbourg with Wilhelm Windelband, under whom he wrote his dissertation On the Theory of Definition (1888). For health reasons he moved to Freiburg in 1889, habilitated there under Alois Riehl with The Object of Knowledge, and became associate professor in 1894 and full professor in 1896. In 1915 he succeeded Windelband in Heidelberg, where he taught until 1932; he died there on 25 July 1936.
Further main works
- The Object of Knowledge (Der Gegenstand der Erkenntnis, 1892)
- System of Philosophy, vol. 1 (System der Philosophie, 1921)
- Kant as Philosopher of Modern Culture (Kant als Philosoph der modernen Kultur, 1924)
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