Friedrich Albert Lange (September 28, 1828 - November 23, 1875), was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
philosopher and sociologist.
Lange was born in Wald, near
SolingenSolingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2005 population of 162,685 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
, the son of the
theologianThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
,
Johann Peter LangeJohann Peter Lange , was a German Protestant theologian of peasant origin and was born at Sonneborn near Elberfeld....
. He was educated at Duisburg, Zürich and Bonn, where he distinguished himself in gymnastics as much as academically. In 1852 he became a schoolmaster at Cologne; in 1853
PrivatdozentPrivate docent is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor.-Becoming:Privatedocentship is conferred to academics who have...
in philosophy at Bonn; and in 1858 schoolmaster at Duisburg, resigning when the government forbade schoolmasters to take part in political activities.
Lange then began a career of militant
journalismJournalism is the craft of conveying news, descriptive material and comment via a widening spectrum of media. These include newspapers, magazines, radio and television, the internet and even, more recently, the mobile phone...
in the cause of political and social reform.
Friedrich Albert Lange (September 28, 1828 - November 23, 1875), was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
philosopher and sociologist.
Biography and works
Lange was born in Wald, near
SolingenSolingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2005 population of 162,685 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
, the son of the
theologianThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
,
Johann Peter LangeJohann Peter Lange , was a German Protestant theologian of peasant origin and was born at Sonneborn near Elberfeld....
. He was educated at Duisburg, Zürich and Bonn, where he distinguished himself in gymnastics as much as academically. In 1852 he became a schoolmaster at Cologne; in 1853
PrivatdozentPrivate docent is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor.-Becoming:Privatedocentship is conferred to academics who have...
in philosophy at Bonn; and in 1858 schoolmaster at Duisburg, resigning when the government forbade schoolmasters to take part in political activities.
Lange then began a career of militant
journalismJournalism is the craft of conveying news, descriptive material and comment via a widening spectrum of media. These include newspapers, magazines, radio and television, the internet and even, more recently, the mobile phone...
in the cause of political and social reform. His ceterum censeo can be considered to be the repeated demand for the resign of Bismark. He was prominent in public affairs, yet found enough time to write most of his best-known books,
Die Leibesübungen (1863),
Die Arbeiterfrage (1865, 5th ed. 1894),
Geschichte des MaterialismusGeschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart is a philosophical work by Friedrich Albert Lange, originally written in German and published in October 1865 . Lange vastly extended the second edition published in two volumes in 1873–75...
(1866), and
John Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill , English philosopher, political theorist, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century whose works on liberty justified freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control...
s Ansichten über die soziale Frage (1866).
In 1866, discouraged by affairs in Germany, he moved to
WinterthurWinterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...
, near
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
, to become connected with the democratic newspaper,
Winterthurer Landbote. In 1869 he was
Privatdozent at Zürich, and next year professor. Still in Zürich he recognized first signs of his illness, which lead several year later to his death. The strong French sympathies of the Swiss in the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between France and Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria...
as well as the prospect for a pension for his wife in the case of his death led to his speedy resignation. Afterwards he gave up politics. He had an offer from the universities of Würzburg, Königsberg, Kiel, Gießen and Jena, but in 1872 he accepted a professorship at the University of Marburg. Unhappily, his body was already stricken with disease, and, after a lingering illness, he died in Marburg.
His
Logische Studien was published by
Hermann CohenHermann Cohen was a German-Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century" .-Life:...
in 1877. His main work, the
Geschichte des Materialismus is a didactic exposition of principles rather than a history in the proper sense. According to Lange,
to think clearly about materialismThe philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance. As a theory, materialism is a form of physicalism and belongs to the...
is to refute it.
There is a comprehensive school named after him, the Friedrich-Albert-Lange-Gesamtschule, in Wald, his birthplace, which is now part of the city of
SolingenSolingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2005 population of 162,685 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
.
Literature
- Bleuler-Hausheer, Salomon (1876), Friedrich Albert Lange. Eine biographische Skizze und Erinnerungen an die Verfassungsrevision, in: Der Landbote und Tagblatt der Stadt Winterthur, No. 2, 2. Januar 1876 bis No. 11, 13. Januar 1876
- Berdiajew, Nikolai, Friedrich Albert Lange und die kritische Philosophie in ihren Beziehungen zum Sozialismus, in: Die Neue Zeit, 18. Jg., (1900), 2. Bd., S. 132-140, S. 164-174, S. 196-207
- Bernstein, Eduart, Zur Würdigung Friedrich Albert Langes, in: Die Neue Zeit. Revue des geistigen und öffentlichen Lebens, 6. Jg., (1892), 2. Bd., S. 68-78, 101-109, 132-141
- Braun, Heinrich (1881), Friedrich Albert Lange als Sozialökonom nach seinem Leben und seinen Schriften, Diss. Universität Halle a.d.Saale
- Cohen, Hermann, Friedrich Albert Lange, in: Treitschke, H.v./Wehrenpfennig, W. (Hrsg.), Preußische Jahrbücher, 37. Band, (1876), 4. Heft, S. 353-381
- Georg Eckert, Friedrich Albert Lange (1828-1875) und die Social-Demokratie in Duisburg; in: Duisburger Forschungen 8 (1965), 1-23
- ders., Friedrich Albert Lange. Über Politik und Philosophie. Briefe und Leitartikel 1862-1875; (=Duisburger Forschungen Beiheft 10); Duisburg 1968
- Elissen, Otto A. (1894), Friedrich Albert Lange. Eine Lebensbeschreibung, Leipzig
- Fischer, Heinz-Dietrich, F.A. Lange als politischer Publizist; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 145-173
- Freimuth, Frank (1993), Wie kultiviere ich die Freiheit bei dem Zwange? Das Bildungsverständnis Friedrich Albert Langes, Pfaffenweiler
- Grab, Walter, F.A. Langes Zeitung »Der Bote vom Niederrhein« und die Kontinuität demokratischer Strömungen in Deutschland; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 83-91
- Gross, Andreas / Klages, Andreas (1996), Die Volksinitiative in den Kantonen am Beispiel des Kantons Zürich, in: Auer, A. (Hrsg.), Les origines de la démocratie directe en Suisse / Die Ursprünge der schweizerischen direkten Demokratie. Actes du Colloque organisé les 27-29 avril 1995 par la Faculté de droit et le C2D, Bern, S. 267-281
- Guggenbühl, Gottfried (1936), Der Landbote 1836-1936. Hundert Jahre Politik im Spiegel der Presse, Winterthur
- Gundlach, Franz (1928), Catalogus Professorumm Academiae Marburgensis. Die akademischen Lehrer der Philipps-Universität Marburg. Von 1527-1910, S. 298.
- Heid, Ludger, F.A. Lange und der Preußische Verfassungskonflikt; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 56-70
- ders., Biographische Daten zu F.A. Lange; a.a.O., 268-270
- Heinemann, Gustav (1978), Friedrich Albert Lange - Der Vorrang der politischen vor der sozialen, in: Dirks, Walter/ Kogon, Eugen (Hrsg.), Frankfurter Hefte. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Politik, 33. Jg., Heft 2, Februar, S. 27-33.
- Hirsch, Helmut, F.A. Lange und die USA im Zeitpunkt des amerikanischen Sezessionskrieges; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 92-107
- Holzhey, Helmut, Philosophische Kritik. Zum Verhältnis von Erkenntnistheorie und Sozialphilosophie bei F.A. Lange; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 207-225
- Irmer, Peter, F.A. Lange – ein politischer Agitator in der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 1-19
- Jacobsen, Bjarne (1989), Max Weber und Friedrich Albert Lange. Rezeption und Innovation, Wiesbaden
- Kloeden v., Wolfdietrich, Friedrich Albert Lange, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 4 (1992), 1092-1097 (mit Literatur)
- Knoll, Joachim H., F.A. Lange - eine »merkwürdige Randfigur« in der Pädagogik des 19. Jahrhunderts; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 108-132
- Ley, Hermann, F.A. Langes „Geschichte des Materialismus“; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 174-187
- Majert, Regina, Friedrich Albert Lange als Präses des Vorstandes der gewerblichen Sonntagsschule in Duisburg (1860-1865); in: Duisburger Forschungen 23 (1976), 238-248
- Na’aman, Shlomo, F.A. Lange in der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 20-55
- Plump, Klaus, Der Nachlaß F.A. Langes im Stadtarchiv Duisburg; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 236-267
- ders. (1975), Versuch einer Bibliographie der von Friedrich Albert Lange publizierten Schriften; in: Knoll, Joachim/ Schoeps, Uulius (Hrsg.), Friedrich Albert Lange. Leben und Werk, Duisburg, S. 236-265
- Reichesberg, Naum (1892), Friedrich Albert Lange als Sozialökonom, Dissertation Universität Bern
- Sass, Hans-Martin, Der Standpunkt des Ideals als kritische Überwindung materialistischer und idealistischer Metaphysik; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 188-206
- Sattler, Martin, F.A. Lange - »Socialkonservativer« oder »Socialrevolutionär«; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 71-82
- Schoeps, Julius H., F.A. Lange und die deutsche Turnbewegung; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 133-145
- Schulz, Eberhard Günter (1991), Friedrich Albert Lange und die katholische Philosophie, Bochum
- Stack, Georg J. (1983), Nietzsche and Lange, Berlin, New York
- Vaihinger, Hans (1876), Hartmann, Dürig und Lange. Zur Geschichte der deutschen Philosophie im 19. Jahrhundert, Iserlohn
- Weyer, Adam, Religion und Sozialismus bei F.A. Lange; in: Duisburger Forschungen 21 (1975), 226-235
- Wolff, Georg (1925), Friedrich Albert Langes sozialpolitische Anschauungen und seine Stellung zu Sozialismus und Sozialreform, Dissertation Universität Gießen
- Zinnel, Jürgen (2000), Friedrich Albert Langes Überlegungen zur direkten Demokratie unter Berücksichtigung zeitgenössischer Diskussionszusammenhänge, Marburg
External links