Werner Krieglstein
Encyclopedia
Werner Josef Krieglstein, Ph.D.
(October 31, 1941), a Fulbright Scholar
and University of Chicago
fellow, is an award winning and internationally recognized scholar, director and actor. Krieglstein is the founder of a neo-Nietzschean philosophical school called Transcendental Perspectivism
. Krieglstein's "philosophy of compassion" has been the subject of symposium lectures at many prominent conferences including the UNESCO
section of the World Congress of Philosophy
conference in Seoul Korea (August, 2008), the ISAIL "Fields of Conflict-Fields of Wisdom": 4th International Congress in Wuerzburg, Germany (May, 2008), the meeting of the American Philosophical Association
in Washington D.C.(Symposium Chair: Sept. 2006), and the ISUD Fourth World Conference of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (Summer, 2001), among many others.
, which is now known as Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, but he grew up just outside of Frankfurt
, Germany. In the Sixties, Krieglstein was a student at the Frankfurt School
in Germany with Theodor W. Adorno
. In his first book, Krieglstein credits the roots of his passion for the transformative aspects of philosophy to the tutelage of Adorno. As a German Jew, Adorno boldly returned to Germany almost immediately after WWII ended with the goal of challenging the indoctrination many university students had received in Hitler's youth education programs. Before moving to the United States, Krieglstein also studied at the Free University of Berlin
. Following his studies in Germany, Krieglstein pursued his doctorate at the University of Chicago as a Fulbright Scholar and University Fellow.
Krieglstein has held teaching positions at the University of Helsinki
, Finland
, and Western Michigan University
in Kalamazoo. He currently is professor emeritus
of philosophy and religious studies at the College of DuPage
, where he was awarded the Most Outstanding Teacher Award in 2003 and the Distinguished Regional Humanities Educator Award from the Community College Humanities Association in 2008. In addition to his role as professor, Krieglstein is a course director at the Interuniversity Center in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and a board member of the International Society for Universal Dialogue. His philosophy of compassion is also finding an audience within the education reform movement, with symposium lectures at AEPL "Reclaiming the Wisdom Tradition for Education" conference in Northern California (May, 2008), the NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, TX (May, 2007), and the CCHA Creating Communities Conference hosted by the University of Chicago (Nov, 2006).
, and was fortunate enough to study mime under Marceau student Jeanne Winkler. An ISAIL bio notes that "his black light production of Kafka's Metamorphosis was performed over two hundred times at both European and American festivals." After emigrating to the US and while teaching at Western Michigan University in 1976, he founded and directed a small rural theater company in Lawrence, Michigan
known as the Whole Arts Theater, which later moved to Kalamazoo. More recently, Krieglstein has shifted his acting focus to film. In the past few years, he has worked on several independent films including 'Urban Ground Squirrels' by Wiggle Puppy Productions, Chicago (Mark Krieglstein, 2002) and the internationally known 'Light Denied' by Delos Films, Warsaw (Paweł Kuczyński, 2008), along with a few smaller films.
and Morocco
before settling down on an organic farm in Lawrence, Michigan. While farming, he continued to teach and pursue acting in nearby Kalamazoo. In 1990, Krieglstein moved with his family to Glen Ellyn, Illinois
, home to the College of DuPage where he would begin his almost 20 year professorship. Together, Maryann and Werner have five sons and one grandson: Robin (07/01/71), married to Suruchi have a son named Milan (03/14/09); Mark (02/25/75); Daniel (03/31/79), married to Andrea Trocchio; Tomas (12/05/80), married to Annie Colbert; and Michael (09/02/84).
's Perspectivism
and the utopian ideals of the Transcendentalism
movement. Transcendental Perspectivism challenges Nietzsche's claim that there is no absolute truths while fully accepting his observation that all truth can only be known in the context of ones perception. This is accomplished through an appreciation of the emotional relationship between two perceptions (the "perceiver" and the "other"). In the simplest of terms, a transcendental truth can only be known when two individuals come to agree on the truth by either force or cooperation, thus working together to build a shared reality.
Achievements
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(October 31, 1941), a Fulbright Scholar
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
and University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
fellow, is an award winning and internationally recognized scholar, director and actor. Krieglstein is the founder of a neo-Nietzschean philosophical school called Transcendental Perspectivism
Transcendental Perspectivism
Transcendental perspectivism is a hybrid philosophy developed by German-born philosopher, Professor Werner Krieglstein. A blending of Friedrich Nietzsche's Perspectivism and the utopian ideals of the Transcendentalism movement, Transcendental Perspectivism challenges Nietzsche's claim that there...
. Krieglstein's "philosophy of compassion" has been the subject of symposium lectures at many prominent conferences including the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
section of the World Congress of Philosophy
World Congress of Philosophy
The World Congress of Philosophy is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years in a different country under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies . First organized in 1900, these events became firmly established after the Second World War...
conference in Seoul Korea (August, 2008), the ISAIL "Fields of Conflict-Fields of Wisdom": 4th International Congress in Wuerzburg, Germany (May, 2008), the meeting of the American Philosophical Association
American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly activity in philosophy, to facilitate the professional work...
in Washington D.C.(Symposium Chair: Sept. 2006), and the ISUD Fourth World Conference of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (Summer, 2001), among many others.
Academic background
Krieglstein was born in Pilsen, Protectorate of Bohemia and MoraviaProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
, which is now known as Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, but he grew up just outside of 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...
, Germany. In the Sixties, Krieglstein was a student at the Frankfurt School
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
in Germany with Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
. In his first book, Krieglstein credits the roots of his passion for the transformative aspects of philosophy to the tutelage of Adorno. As a German Jew, Adorno boldly returned to Germany almost immediately after WWII ended with the goal of challenging the indoctrination many university students had received in Hitler's youth education programs. Before moving to the United States, Krieglstein also studied at the Free University of Berlin
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
. Following his studies in Germany, Krieglstein pursued his doctorate at the University of Chicago as a Fulbright Scholar and University Fellow.
Krieglstein has held teaching positions at the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....
in Kalamazoo. He currently is professor emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
of philosophy and religious studies at the College of DuPage
College of DuPage
College of DuPage, or COD, is a two-year community college in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates facilities in the Illinois communities of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Naperville, West Chicago, and Westmont...
, where he was awarded the Most Outstanding Teacher Award in 2003 and the Distinguished Regional Humanities Educator Award from the Community College Humanities Association in 2008. In addition to his role as professor, Krieglstein is a course director at the Interuniversity Center in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and a board member of the International Society for Universal Dialogue. His philosophy of compassion is also finding an audience within the education reform movement, with symposium lectures at AEPL "Reclaiming the Wisdom Tradition for Education" conference in Northern California (May, 2008), the NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, TX (May, 2007), and the CCHA Creating Communities Conference hosted by the University of Chicago (Nov, 2006).
Actor and director
While at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Krieglstein rose to prominence in theater when he was appointed as director of the avant-garde theater, Die Neue Bühne, at the Goethe University. While writing for the theater's paper, he interviewed members of the Living Theater including Jerzy GrotowskiJerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts....
, and was fortunate enough to study mime under Marceau student Jeanne Winkler. An ISAIL bio notes that "his black light production of Kafka's Metamorphosis was performed over two hundred times at both European and American festivals." After emigrating to the US and while teaching at Western Michigan University in 1976, he founded and directed a small rural theater company in Lawrence, Michigan
Lawrence, Michigan
Lawrence is a village in Van Buren County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,059 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Lawrence Township. Home of noted journalist Paul Garrod and the annual Ox Roast and Homecoming festival. Area recognized Farmer's Market runs...
known as the Whole Arts Theater, which later moved to Kalamazoo. More recently, Krieglstein has shifted his acting focus to film. In the past few years, he has worked on several independent films including 'Urban Ground Squirrels' by Wiggle Puppy Productions, Chicago (Mark Krieglstein, 2002) and the internationally known 'Light Denied' by Delos Films, Warsaw (Paweł Kuczyński, 2008), along with a few smaller films.
Personal life
Krieglstein is married to Maryann Krieglstein, also a professor at COD. After attaining his PhD, the two lived in a few places around the world including FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
before settling down on an organic farm in Lawrence, Michigan. While farming, he continued to teach and pursue acting in nearby Kalamazoo. In 1990, Krieglstein moved with his family to Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Glen Ellyn is an affluent village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the village population was 26,999.-Geography:...
, home to the College of DuPage where he would begin his almost 20 year professorship. Together, Maryann and Werner have five sons and one grandson: Robin (07/01/71), married to Suruchi have a son named Milan (03/14/09); Mark (02/25/75); Daniel (03/31/79), married to Andrea Trocchio; Tomas (12/05/80), married to Annie Colbert; and Michael (09/02/84).
Philosophy
Transcendental Perspectivism is a hybrid philosophy blending Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
's Perspectivism
Perspectivism
Perspectivism is the philosophical view developed by Friedrich Nietzsche that all ideations take place from particular perspectives. This means that there are many possible conceptual schemes, or perspectives in which judgment of truth or value can be made...
and the utopian ideals of the Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian...
movement. Transcendental Perspectivism challenges Nietzsche's claim that there is no absolute truths while fully accepting his observation that all truth can only be known in the context of ones perception. This is accomplished through an appreciation of the emotional relationship between two perceptions (the "perceiver" and the "other"). In the simplest of terms, a transcendental truth can only be known when two individuals come to agree on the truth by either force or cooperation, thus working together to build a shared reality.
Awards and academic achievements
Awards- 1996 Jens Jacobsen Award for best paper at the World Congress on Violence and Human Co-Existence
- 2003 Most Outstanding Teacher Award (COD)
- 2008 Distinguished Regional Humanities Educator Award (CCHA)
Achievements
- 1968-1969 University of Chicago Fellowship for Graduate Studies
- 1968-1972 Fulbright Grant Scholar
- 1972 Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Chicago
External links
- Transcendental Perspectivism: The Third Enlightenment 'Home Page'
- Transcendental Perspectivism on MySpace
- Faculty page and class list
- Light Denied - Trailer
- Krieglstein's video lecture on the "Meaning of Life" (Italy, 2004)
- Krieglstein's video lecture on "action and reflection"
- Krieglstein in Chinese (conference paper)