Karl-Otto Apel
Karl-Otto Apel | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 15 May 2017 Niedernhausen,Germany | (aged 95)
Alma mater | University of Bonn |
Era | Contemporary philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | Continental philosophy Critical theory Pragmatism |
Institutions | University of Mainz University of Saarbrücken University of Frankfurt am Main |
Main interests | Philosophy of language,ethics |
Notable ideas | Transcendental pragmatics |
Karl-Otto Apel(German:[ˈaːpl̩];15 March 1922 – 15 May 2017) was aGermanphilosopherand Professor Emeritus at theUniversity of Frankfurt am Main.He specialized on thephilosophy of languageand was thus considered acommunication theorist.He developed a distinctive philosophical approach which he called "transcendental pragmatics."
Life[edit]
Apel grew up during the political crises of theWeimar Republic.In 1940, he was a war volunteer with his entire graduating class. After theSecond World War,Apel studied from 1945 to 1950 at theUniversity of Bonn,first history andintellectual history,before he committed himself as a student ofErich Rothackeronphilosophy.[1][2]In 1950, he received his doctorate from Bonn with a thesis onMartin Heidegger.
Academic positions[edit]
Apel was appointed lecturer at theUniversity of Mainzin 1961. He was a full professor of philosophy at theUniversity of Kielfrom 1962 to 1969, at theUniversity of Saarbrückenfrom 1969 to 1972, and at theUniversity of Frankfurt am Mainfrom 1972 to 1990.[3]In 1990, he transferred toemeritusstatus. He has held a number of visiting and guest professorships at universities around the world.
He was made a Member of theAcademia Europaeain 1989 and a Full Member of theAcademia Scientiarum et Artium Europaeain 1993. In 2001, he was awarded theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Philosophical work[edit]
Apel worked inethics,thephilosophy of languageandhuman sciences.He wrote extensively in these fields, publishing mostly in German. Apel's work brings together theanalyticalandContinentalphilosophical traditions, especiallypragmatismand thecritical theoryof theFrankfurt School.He developed a distinctive philosophical approach which he calledtranscendental pragmatics(Transzendentalpragmatik).[4]
InUnderstanding and Explanation: A Transcendental-Pragmatic Perspective,Apel reformulated the difference between understanding (Verstehen) and explanation (Erklärung), which originated in thehermeneuticsofWilhelm Diltheyandinterpretive sociologyofMax Weber,on the basis of aPeircean-inspired transcendental-pragmatic account of language. This account of the "lifeworld"would become an element of the theory of communicative action[5]anddiscourse ethics,which Apel co-developed withJürgen Habermas.Strategic rationality both claim to stand in need of communicative rationality that is seen as, in several regards, more fundamental.[6]While sympathetic to Habermas'sTheory of Communicative Action,Apel has been critical of aspects of Habermas's approach. Apel has proposed that a theory of communication should be grounded in the transcendental-pragmatic conditions of communication. After taking his point of departure from Apel, Habermas has moved towards a "weaktranscendentalism"that is more closely tied to empirical social inquiry.
Apel also wrote works onCharles Sanders Peirceand is a past president of the C. S. Peirce Society.
An early German-speaking adversary of so-calledcritical rationalism,Apel published a critique of the philosophy ofKarl Popper:InTransformation der Philosophie(1973), Apel charged Popper with being guilty of, amongst other things, apragmaticcontradiction.[7][8]
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Apel influenced other philosophers writing inEurope,theAmericas,andAsia.Apel died on 15 May 2017 at the age of 95.[9][10]
List of works[edit]
- Analytic Philosophy of Language and the Geisteswissenschaften(1967)
- Hermeneutik und Ideologiekritik(1971)
- Sprache, Brücke und Hindernis(1972)
- Dialog als Methode(1972)
- Transformation der philosophie: Sprachanalytik, Semiotik, Hermeneutik(1973)
- Transformation der philosophie: Das Apriori der Kommunikationsgemeinschaft(1976)
- Sprachpragmatik und philosophie(1976)
- Neue Versuche über Erklären und Verstehen(1978)
- Die Erklären/Verstehen-Kontroverse in Transzendentalpragmatischer Sicht(1979)
- Towards a Transformation of Philosophy(1980 & 1998)
- Charles S. Peirce: From Pragmatism to Pragmaticism(1981)
- Understanding and Explanation: A Transcendental-Pragmatic Perspective(1984)
- La comunicazione umana(1985)
- Diskurs und Verantwortung: Das Problem des Übergangs zur Postkonventionellen Moral(1988)
- Towards a TranscendentalSemiotics:Selected Essays(1994)
- Ethics and the Theory of Rationality: Selected Essays(1996)
- Filosofia analitica e filosofia continentale(1997)
- From a Transcendental-Semiotic Point of View(1998)
- Mercier Lectures: "The Response of Discourse Ethics to the Moral Challenge of the Human Situation As Such, Especially Today" (2001)
- Fünf Vorlesungen über Transzendentale Semiotik als Erste Philosophie und Diskursethik(2002)
- Diskursethik und Diskursanthropologie(2002)
- Paradigmen der Ersten Philosophie: Zur reflexiven – transzendentalpragmatischen – Rekonstruktion der Philosophiegeschichte(2011)
- Transzendentale Reflexion und Geschichte(2017)
References[edit]
- ^Hösle, Vittorio (1997).Die Krise der Gegenwart und die Verantwortung der Philosophie(in German). C.H.Beck. pp. 110–115.ISBN978-3406392740.
- ^Reese-Schäfer, Walter (1990).Karl-Otto Apel zur Einführung(in German). Hamburg: Junius Verlag. pp. 15–21.ISBN978-3885068617.
- ^"Apel, Karl-Otto".d-nb.info.Deutsche National Biblothek.Retrieved19 August2014.
- ^Transzendentalpragmatik: ein Symposion für Karl-Otto Apel(in German). Andreas Dorschel (1. Aufl ed.). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 1993.ISBN3-518-28681-1.OCLC29495586.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Witzany, Günther (1991).Transzendentalpragmatik und Ek-sistenz: Normenbegründung, Normendurchsetzung.Essen: Verlag Die Blaue Eule.ISBN3-89206-317-6.OCLC27105465.
- ^Dorschel, Andreas (1989)."Ist strategisches Handeln ergänzungsbedürftig? Karl-Otto Apels These und ihre Begründung".European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie.30(1): 123–149.doi:10.1017/S0003975600005816.ISSN1474-0583.S2CID143643321.
- ^Clement, Elizabeth; Demonque, Chantal; Hansen-Love, Laurence; Kahn, Pierre (1994). "Apel, Karl-Otto".La philosophie de A à Z.Paris: Hatier. pp. 19–20.
- ^Apel, Karl-Otto (1998).Towards a Transformation of Philosophy.Marquette Studies in Philosophy. Vol. 20. Translated by Adey, Glyn; Fisby, David. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.ISBN0-87462-619-6.
- ^"Philosoph: Karl-Otto Apel ist tot".www.zeit.de(in German). 16 May 2017.Retrieved3 April2021.
- ^"Philosoph Karl-Otto Apel gestorben".science.ORF.at(in German). 16 May 2017.Retrieved3 April2021.
Further reading[edit]
- Borrelli, Michele; Caputo, Francesca; Hesse, Reinhard, eds. (2020).Karl-Otto Apel, Vita e Pensiero, Leben und Denken.Cosenza.ISBN978-88-6822-916-0.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
External links[edit]
- 1922 births
- 2017 deaths
- German military personnel of World War II
- Writers from Düsseldorf
- 20th-century German philosophers
- German philosophers of language
- Pragmatists
- German social philosophers
- Academic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
- Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
- Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- German ethicists
- Critical theorists
- People from the Rhine Province
- German male writers
- Communication theorists