Topic: Nicolai Hartmann

Nicolai Hartmann , 1882-1950, German philosopher, b. Latvia. He taught at Marburg (1922-25), Cologne (1925-31), Berlin (1931-45), and Göttingen (1945-50). Abandoning his early adherence to idealism, he propounded instead a philosophical realism based on the intelligibility of being. For Hartmann, ontology was the source of philosophy. He saw philosophy's mission as the statement of the problems of being and the unraveling of the irrational and the puzzling. Although a nontheistic humanist, he posited three levels of the spirit, which he considered to be a process rather than a substance.... Read more