Hans-Joachim Niemann

Hans Joachim Niemann, born in 1941 in Kiel , is a German philosopher who has developed the methods of critical rationalism for applying them in the fields of metaphysics and ethics.

Biography

Niemann studied physics, chemistry and philosophy at the universities of Kiel, Munich, Marburg and Tübingen. He earned a degree in physical chemistry in 1970, and a doctorate in the field of laser-induced chemistry in 1972. After that he did some research work for the German Research Foundation. From 1973 to 1984 he was with KWU AG (Siemens AG) running a research project about laser isotope separation, oscillation and rotation spectroscopy of UF6 molecules at lowest temperatures which resulted in a number of reports and patents.

Since 1984 he has been a philosopher and freelance writer. His fields of research are epistemology, critical rationalism, problem solving based on rational ethics and criticism of the scientific standards in philosophy. From 1993 to 1999 he was a lecturer at the Universities of Bamberg and Passau. He was cofounder of the Philosophical Society in Franconia (Bamberg) and the Society of Critical Philosophy (Nuremberg). He also cofounded and co-edited the philosophical journal Aufklärung und Kritik (Enlightenment and Critique).

Publications

Books

• Die Nutzenmaximierer - Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Vorteilsdenkens (The Utilility Maximizers. The Resistible Rise of Selfishness), Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck), ISBN 978-3-16-150856-1, 2011, x + 230 p.
• Die Strategie der Vernunft. Problemlösende Vernunft, rationale Metaphysik und Kritisch-Rationale Ethik, 2. verbesserte und erweiterte Auflage, (The Strategy of Reason. About Problemsolving, Metaphysics and Ethics Based on Critical Rationalism, 2nd revised and enlarged edition), Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2008, ISBN 978-3-16-149878-7, 306 S.
• Lexikon des Kritischen Rationalismus, (Encyclopaedia of Critical Raionalism), Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2004, ISBN 3-16-148395-2. More than a thousand headwords about critical rationalism, the most important arguments of K.R. Popper and H. Albert, quotations of the original wording. Edition for students in 2006, ISBN 3-16-149158-0.

Translations

• K. R. Popper, Die Quantentheorie und das Schisma in der Physik, ( Quantum Theory and the Schism in Physics, 1982) translated into German by Hans-Joachim Niemann, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2001, ISBN 3-16147568-2
• K. R. Popper, Realismus und das Ziel der Wissenschaft, (Realism and the Aim of Science, 1983) translated into German by Hans-Joachim Niemann, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2002, ISBN 3-16147772-3.
• Ian Narveson, Warum ich den Utilitarismus aufgab (Why I Abandoned Utilitarism), translated into German by Hans-Joachim Niemann, Aufklärung und Kritik, Sonderheft 7 (2003), S.50-67.

Articles

• Reason - A Victim of Nazi Legacy, Philosopher's Magazine, Winter 1999, p. 12-13.
• In Pursuit of Relativism. Nicholas Rescher's Method of Double Writing, Quarterly Journal of Ideology 21 (3&4) Dec.1998, p. 63-95.
• Propensity und Serendipity – Zwei Leitideen steuern den glücklichen Zufall, Aufklärung und Kritik 1, (2008), S. 48-73 (Propensity and Serendipity – Two Guiding Principles Controlling Personal Chance).
• Über die Grenzen der Toleranz und 'objektive Toleranz' als Instrument der Gewaltminimierung, in: Eric Hilgendorf (Ed.), Wissenschaft, Recht und Religion – Hans Albert zum 85. Geburtstag, Berlin (LOGOS) 2006, S. 313-338 ('About the Limits of Tolerance and 'Objective Tolerance' as an Instrument for Minimizing Violence'. Contains a proposal for amending the Charter of the UN.
• 70 Jahre Falsifikation: Königsweg oder Sackgasse?, Aufklärung und Kritik 2, (2005), S. 52-79 (Seventy Years of Falsification: Patent Remedy or Dead-End?).
• Wie objektiv kann Ethik sein? Aufklärung und Kritik 5 (2001), S. 23-41 (Is Objectivity in Ethics Possible?).
• Die 'Krise in der Erkenntnistheorie' – Sokal, Bricmont und die wissenschaftlichen Standards in der Philosophie, CONCEPTUS Nr. 80 (1999), S. 1-35 (A Crisis in the Theory of Knowledge – Sokal, Bricmont and the Scientific Standards in Philosophy).

External links

• Hans-Joachim Niemann in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• philosophers-today
• opensociety.de