Lebensphilosophie

Lebensphilosophie ("philosophy of life") is a philosophical school of thought which emphasises the meaning, value and purpose of life as the foremost focus of philosophy.[1] Inspired by the critique of rationalism in the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, it emerged in 19th-century Germany as a reaction to the rise of positivism and the theoretical focus prominent in much of post-Kantian philosophy.[1]

It bore relation to the subjectivist philosophy of vitalism developed by Henri Bergson, which lent importance to immediacy of experience.[2]

This philosophy pays special attention to life as a whole, which can only be understood from within. The movement can be regarded as a rejection of Kantian abstract philosophy or scientific reductionism of positivism.

Related topics

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Gaiger, Jason (1998). "Lebensphilosophie". In Craig, Edward. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. 
  2. ^ Wolin, Richard. "Continental philosophy". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1308494/continental-philosophy. Retrieved April 24, 2011. "In Germany the corresponding school [to vitalism], known as Lebensphilosophie (“philosophy of life”), began to take on aspects of a political ideology in the years immediately preceding World War I. The work of Hans Driesch and Ludwig Klages, for example, openly condemned the superficial intellectualism of Western civilization. In associating “reason” with the shortcomings of “civilization” and “the West,” Lebensphilosophie spurred many German thinkers to reject intellection in favour of the irrational forces of blood and life. In the words of Herbert Schnädelbach, at this point “philosophy of life tendentiously abolished the traditional difference between nature and culture and thus facilitated the success of the general biologism in the theory of culture, which culminated in National Socialist racism.”"