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Karl-Otto Apel

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Karl-Otto Apel
Born(1922-03-15)15 March 1922
Died15 May 2017(2017-05-15)(aged 95)
Alma materUniversity of Bonn
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolContinental philosophy
Critical theory
Pragmatism
InstitutionsUniversity 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]

  1. ^Hösle, Vittorio (1997).Die Krise der Gegenwart und die Verantwortung der Philosophie(in German). C.H.Beck. pp. 110–115.ISBN978-3406392740.
  2. ^Reese-Schäfer, Walter (1990).Karl-Otto Apel zur Einführung(in German). Hamburg: Junius Verlag. pp. 15–21.ISBN978-3885068617.
  3. ^"Apel, Karl-Otto".d-nb.info.Deutsche National Biblothek.Retrieved19 August2014.
  4. ^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)
  5. ^Witzany, Günther (1991).Transzendentalpragmatik und Ek-sistenz: Normenbegründung, Normendurchsetzung.Essen: Verlag Die Blaue Eule.ISBN3-89206-317-6.OCLC27105465.
  6. ^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.
  7. ^Clement, Elizabeth; Demonque, Chantal; Hansen-Love, Laurence; Kahn, Pierre (1994). "Apel, Karl-Otto".La philosophie de A à Z.Paris: Hatier. pp. 19–20.
  8. ^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.
  9. ^"Philosoph: Karl-Otto Apel ist tot".www.zeit.de(in German). 16 May 2017.Retrieved3 April2021.
  10. ^"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]