Franz Jacob Clemens (4 October 1815 – 24 February 1862) was a German
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
philosopher, a layman who defended the Catholic Church even on theological questions.
Life
Clemens was born in
Koblenz
Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...
. After spending some time in an educational institution in
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
, he entered, at the age of sixteen, the Jesuit College of
Fribourg
or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...
, Switzerland, attended the Gymnasium at Koblenz, and thence passed to the
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
. In 1835 he matriculated at the
University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
, where he devoted special attention to the study of philosophy and received the doctorate in philosophy in 1839 with a dissertation titled ''De philosophia Anaxagorae Clazomenii''
(''On the Philosophy of
Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras (; , ''Anaxagóras'', 'lord of the assembly'; ) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. In later life he was charged ...
of Clazomenae'').
At the end of a literary journey through Germany and Italy, he became, in 1843, instructor in philosophy at the University of Bonn, and taught there until 1856. In 1848 he was elected a member of the
Frankfurt Parliament
The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848).
The ...
, and attended, at
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
, the first
Congress of the German Catholics, at which he suggested the foundation of the
St. Vincent de Paul Society in Germany. In 1856 he was appointed professor of philosophy in the Academy of Münster.
So great was his popularity as a teacher at Bonn that, when he removed to the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...
, he was followed by some seventy students. The attendance at his lectures in the
Westphalian capital was an extraordinarily large one; but his health failed after a few years. In 1861, upon the advice of his physicians, he sought relief in a southern climate; he died in Rome at the beginning of the following year and was buried at the Gesù.
Works
He published his first major work, ''Giordano Bruno und Nikolaus von Cusa'', in 1847, at Bonn. He also wrote in defence of the
Holy Coat of Trier, ''Der heilige Rock zu Trier und die protestantische Kritik'' (1845), against
Johann Gildemeister
Johann Gildemeister (20 July 1812 – 11 March 1890) was a German oriental studies, Orientalist born in Kröpelin.
Biography
He studied Oriental languages and theology at the Universities of University of Göttingen, Göttingen and University of B ...
and
Heinrich von Sybel
Heinrich Karl Ludolf von Sybel (2 December 1817 – 1 August 1895) was a German historian and politician, who served in the Landtag of Prussia from 1862 to 1864 and from 1874 to 1880. He was a professor at the University of Bonn from 1861 to 1875 ...
.
His other principal writings were connected with two controversies in which he became involved. His book, ''Die speculative Theologie A. Günthers'' (Cologne, 1853), a clear demonstration of the contradiction between Catholic doctrine and the views of
Anton Günther, elicited answers from
Johann Baptista Baltzer and
Franz Peter Knoodt, to which Clemens replied.
His ''De Scholasticorum sententia, philosophiam esse theologiae ancillam, commentatio'' (Münster, 1856) treated of the subordinate position which philosophy should occupy in regard to theology. It brought him into conflict with Professor
Johannes von Kuhn
Johannes Evangelist von Kuhn (19 February 1806 – 8 May 1887) was a German Catholic theologian. With Franz Anton Staudenmaier he occupied the foremost rank among the speculative dogmatists of the Catholic Tübingen school.
Life
Kuhn was born ...
of Tübingen, against whom he published, in defence of his position: ''Die Wahrheit in dem Streit über Philosophie und Theologie'' (Münster, 1860) and ''Ueber