Hedwig Conrad-Martius (

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, 27 February 1888 –

Starnberg Starnberg is a German town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the " Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg. Recording a disposable per-cap ...

, 15 February 1966) was a German phenomenologist who became a

Christian mystic Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

Life and works

She initially considered a literary career, but later became interested in philosophy. This started at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. She also studied at Göttingen. To celebrate its foundation festival, in 1912 Goettingen University gave a prize to the best original work on a philosophical topic. The names of all competitors were sealed, opened only after declaring a winner. Of about 200 philosophical works, only hers - titled "The Intuitional-Theoretical Principles of Positivism" - was awarded the prize. She later became known for work on an

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophy, philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, Becoming (philosophy), becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into Category ...

of reality. She also married Theodor Conrad who helped provide for her as at this time women academics tended to struggle to make a living. As she had one Jewish grandparent her work was stalled by the rise of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

. At some point she became religiously active as a Protestant.

Connection to Edith Stein

Edith Stein Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce ; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a D ...

's interest in Catholicism came during a visit to her home. Although Protestant, Conrad-Martius would late receive a dispensation so she could be

's godmother.

Works

* Die erkenntnistheoretischen Grundlagen des Positivismus, Bergzabern 1920 * Metaphysische Gespräche, Halle 1921 * Realontologie, in: ''

Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung Munich phenomenology (also Munich phenomenological school) is the philosophical orientation of a group of philosophers and psychologists that studied and worked in Munich at the turn of the twentieth century. Their views are grouped under the names ...

'', 6 (1923), 159–333 * Zur Ontologie und Erscheinungslehre der realen Außenwelt. Verbunden mit einer Kritik positivistischer Theorien, in: ''Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung'' 3 (1916) * Die „Seele“ der Pflanze. Biologisch-ontologische Betrachtungen, Breslau 1934 * Abstammungslehre, München 1949 (Ursprünglich unter dem Titel „Ursprung und Aufbau des lebendigen Kosmos“ erschienen, Kosmos 1938) * Der Selbstaufbau der Natur, Entelechien und Energien, Hamburg 1944 * Bios und Psyche, Hamburg 1949 * Die Zeit, München 1954 * Utopien der Menschenzüchtung. Der Sozialdarwinismus und seine Folgen, München 1955 * Das Sein, München 1957 * Der Raum, München 1958 * Étude sur la Métaphore, Paris 1958 * Die Geistseele des Menschen, München 1960 * Schriften zur Philosophie I-III, im Einverständnis mit der Verfasserin herausgeben von Eberhard Avé-Lallemant, München 1963–1965

External links

* Munich phenomenology
Hedwig Conrad-Martius
bibliographical and biographical references. - Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad-Martius, Hedwig 1888 births 1966 deaths Phenomenologists 20th-century German philosophers Protestant philosophers Writers from Berlin University of Göttingen alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni German people of Jewish descent