Rudolf Burger is an Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n philosopher.

Life and career

Burger was born in the year of the occupation and the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, called Anschluss

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

. His parents were active communists. He concluded his studies of physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 at the Technical University in Vienna and thereafter served as an assistant at the Institute of Applied Physics, where he concluded his doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 in 1965.

After working at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Condensed Matter Physics

Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft

The Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft ' is an Austrian network of specialized research institutes that are not part of a university. It was founded in 1961 and named after physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. As of 1999, the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft comprised 131 institutes in the fields of medicine,...

 in Vienna, Burger switched to the Battelle Institute

Battelle Memorial Institute

Battelle Memorial Institute is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio and is exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the...

 in Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

. There he was part of the team for research plannings. He also joined the Planning Commission of Germanys Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

.

From 1973 to 1990 Burger headed the department for research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

 in humanities

Humanities

The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

 and social sciences

Social sciences

Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...

 at the Austrian Ministry of Science. In 1979 Burger achieved his habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 in sociology of scientific knowledge

Sociology of scientific knowledge

The sociology of scientific knowledge ' is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing "with the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity."...

, in 1987 he became a professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, where he was appointed to the chair for philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 in 1991. From 1995 to 1999 Burger served as rector of this university. In 2007 he retired.

Since the 1980s Burger initiated or participated in several intellectual and political discussions in Austria. His essays are published in the daily newspaper Die Presse

Die Presse

Die Presse is an Austrian daily newspaper based in Vienna. It was founded in 1946 by World War II resistance fighter Ernst Molden and stands in tradition of the Viennese newspapers "Die Presse" and "Neue Freie Presse" . The paper covers general news topics...

, in the weekly profil

Profil (magazine)

profil is an Austrian news magazine. It was founded in 1970 by Oscar Bronner, who also founded the magazine Trend and the daily newspaper Der Standard....

, as well as in intellectual magazines like FORVM

FORVM

FORVM was an Austrian cultural and political magazine, published in Vienna from 1954 till 1995, founded by Friedrich Hansen-Loeve, Felix Hubalek, Alexander Lernet-Holenia und Friedrich Torberg with the financial and logistical support of the Congress for Cultural Freedom...

, Leviathan or Merkur.

Status

Burger is well appreciated for his elegant style as an essayist and his avid love for intellectual

Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

 criticism

Criticism

Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another . To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.Another meaning of...

. His cynicism stirred some controversies, starting in 1990, when he opened the Günther Anders

Günther Anders

Günther Anders was a Jewish philosopher and journalist who developed a philosophical anthropology for the age of technology, focusing on such themes as the effects of mass media on our emotional and ethical existence, the nuclear threat, the Shoah and the question of being a philosopher.- Biography...

 symposium of the city of Vienna by speaking of moralistic extortion, comparing Anders and Heidegger

Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...

, equating their philospohies, and finally stating:
Philosopher Konrad Paul Liessmann defended Anders and responded: [...] therefore the circumstances are dancing; but where is the rose?. In 1992 Burger both criticised Austria's foreign policy at the balkans as warmonger (in German: kriegsgeil) and at the same time requested to let the parties of the war exsanguinate. These comments caused a nationwide controversy. In 2000 Burger criticised the Thursday Demonstrations against the Schüssel

Wolfgang Schüssel

Wolfgang Schüssel is an Austrian People's Party politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007...

/Haider

Jörg Haider

Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...

 coalition as an antifascist carnival and again unchained a national debate. Finally, in 2001 he angered a lot of critical intellectuals with his request to forget and close the debates on guilt and remembrance

Remembrance

Remembrance is the act of remembering, the ability to remember or a memorial. It may refer to:-Events:*:Category:Remembrance days**Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice, a commemorative day observed by Argentina...

. Historian Heribert Schiedel therefore named him the black and blue court philosopher, black referring to ÖVP

OVP

OVP is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:*The Office of the Vice President of the United States*The Office of the Vice President of the Philippines*OVP , a light sub-machine gun developed in Italy...

, blue to FPÖ

FPO

FPO may refer to:*Fleet Post Office, a "city" designation in military mail *Field post office, a term for military post offices in military mail systems *For position only, a designation for placeholder graphics...

.

Book publications

• (ed., with Michael Benedikt): Die Krise der Phänomenologie und Pragmatik des Wissenschaftsfortschritts. Wien 1986
• Vermessungen. Essays zur Destruktion der Geschichte. Sonderzahl, Wien 1989, ISBN 3-85449-017-8.
• In der Zwischenzeit. Adnoten zu Politik und Philosophie. Springer, Wien und New York 1996, ISBN 3-211-82782-X.
• Ptolemäische Vermutungen. Aufzeichnungen über die Bahn der Sitten. Zu Klampen, Lüneburg 2001, ISBN 3-934920-06-3.
• Kleine Geschichte der Vergangenheit. Eine pyrrhonische Skizze der historischen Vernunft. Styria, Wien 2004, ISBN 3-222-13149-X.
• Re-Theologisierung der Politik? Wertedebatten und Mahnreden. Zu Klampen, Springe 2005, ISBN 3-934920-56-X.
• Im Namen der Geschichte. Vom Mißbrauch der historischen Vernunft. Zu Klampen, Springe 2007, ISBN 978-3-86674-015-0.
• Jenseits der Linie. Ausgewählte philosophische Erzählungen. Sonderzahl-Verlag, Wien 2008, ISBN 978-3-85449-304-4.
• Das Elend des Kulturalismus. Antihumanistische Betrachtungen. Zu Klampen, Springe 2011, ISBN 978-3-86674-147-8.