Philosophy

Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) cemented Germany’s reputation as the Country of Philosophers. A child of the enlightenment, Kant believed that humans are rational beings who will automatically follow moral laws that are intrinsically valid. These moral laws are known as Categorical Imperatives. His most important work, in which he examined the difference between knowledge based on experience and knowledge based on reason, was the Critique of Pure Reason (1781).

Early 19th century

The two most important German philosophers during the early 19th century were undoubtedly Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and Georg Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831). In a departure from Kant’s emphasis on the strength of pure reason, Schopenhauer believed that humans are continually subjected to and tormented by strong forces such as the will to live and the desire to reproduce. Hegel, on the other hand, was obsessed with the contradictions that exist in life, such as those between freedom and authority and between mind and nature. He believed that contradiction and negation were necessary steps in the evolution towards a higher unity.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1881-1883) was without doubt one of the most influencial thinkers in world history. True to his theory that philosophers should not just interpret the world but change it, Marx taught that class struggles would lead to the downfall of capitalism, a system under which the members of the working classes merely dig their own graves, and the rise of a classless society ruled by the proletariat. His ideas, most famously set out in the Communist Manifesto co-authored by Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), strongly influenced the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, eventually leading to the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922.

Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) famously declared in 1882 that “God is dead”. Far from believing in a natural morality or in categorical imperatives à la Kant, Nietzche believed that all morality is relative and subjected to the “will to power”, which transcends ethical classifications such as good or evil. Nietzsche’s propagation of the Übermensch and his distinction between “master and slave” moralities were misappropriated by the Nazis, which harmed the reception of his philosophy in the 20th century.

20th century

Two of the most notable 20th century philosophers were the German Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) and the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951). In Being and Time Heidegger criticized Western metaphysics and Western thought, which he rejected as inherently violent and reductive. After publication of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1921, Wittgenstein felt that he had conclusively dealt with all key philosophical issues and turned his attention elsewhere until shortly before his death 30 years later. The work is, indeed, considered a masterpiece and one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century. His theories regarding how thoughts represent logical pictures of facts have had a tremendous impact on many areas of modern thought, in particular linguistics.