Rüdiger Safranski (born 1 January 1945) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Life

From 1965 to 1972, Safranski studied philosophy (among others with Theodor W. Adorno),

German literature German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a less ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics, ae ...

at Goethe University in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

and at the

Free University A free university is an organization offering uncredited, public classes without restrictions to who can teach or learn. They differ in structure. In 1980 in the United States, about half were associated with a traditional university, about a ...

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 ...

(then

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

). There, he worked as an assistant lecturer for German literature from 1972 to 1977. He earned a PhD from FU Berlin in 1976 for a dissertation by the title of "Studies on the Development of Working-Class Literature in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

" (original german: Studien zur Entwicklung der Arbeiterliteratur in der Bundesrepublik). In the late 1970s, he worked as the co-publisher and editor of the ''Berliner Hefte'', a journal on ''literary life''. From 1977 to 1982, Safranski worked as a lecturer in

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ral ...

. Since 1987 he has worked as a freelance writer. In 2005 he married his longtime girlfriend Gisela Nicklaus. He lives in Berlin and Badenweiler.

Works and TV appearances

Safranski's most popular works are monographs on

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

, E.T.A. Hoffmann,

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...

, and

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

. Since 1994, he is a member of the

P.E.N. PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

Center, since 2001 member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (''German Academy for Language and Poetry'') in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

. From 2002 to 2012, he co-hosted (along with Peter Sloterdijk) a bi-monthly debate on philosophical and ethical questions, the so-called "Philosophical Quartet" (German: ''Philosophisches Quartett''), for German public-service TV station ZDF.

List of works

# Goethe and Schiller. Geschichte einer Freundschaft. Story of a friendship. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 2009. # Romantik. Eine deutsche Affäre. Romanticism. A German affair. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 2007. eview of the English translation by Omid Mehrgan in Modern Language Notes, April 2015; see also: Hans-Dieter Gelfert in The Berlin Review of Books, 30 November 2009# Schiller als Philosoph – Eine Anthologie. Schiller as Philosopher – An Anthology. Berlin, wjs-Verlag. Berlin, wjs-Verlag. 2005. # Schiller oder die Erfindung des Deutschen Idealismus. Schiller, or the invention of

German idealism German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutiona ...

. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 2004. ezension: Manfred Koch in NZZ, 25.; see also: Manfred Koch in the NZZ, 25 September 2004# Wieviel Globalisierung verträgt der Mensch? How much

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

can a human being tolerate? München ua: Hanser. Munich: Hanser. 2003. # Friedrich Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche. Biographie seines Denkens. Biography of his thinking. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 2000. ezension: Ijoma Mangold in Berliner Zeitung, 18.; see also: Ijoma Mangold in Berliner Zeitung, 18 August 2000# Das Böse oder Das Drama der Freiheit. Evil or the drama of freedom. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 1997. ezension: Micha Brumlik in Die Zeit, 19.; see also: Micha Brumlik in Die Zeit, 19 September 1997# Ein Meister aus Deutschland. A master from Germany. Heidegger und seine Zeit. Heidegger and his time. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 1994. # Wieviel Wahrheit braucht der Mensch? How much truth do we need? Über das Denkbare und das Lebbare. About the thinkable and liveable. München ua, Hanser. Munich, Hanser. 1990. # Schopenhauer und die wilden Jahre der Philosophie. Schopenhauer and the wild years of philosophy. Eine Biographie. A biography. 2. 2. Aufl. München ua: Hanser. Munich et al. ed: Hanser. 1988. # ETA Hoffmann. ETA Hoffmann. Das Leben eines skeptischen Phantasten. The life of a skeptical dreamer. München ua: Hanser. Munich: Hanser. 1984. # Studien zur Entwicklung der Arbeiterliteratur in der Bundesrepublik (Dissertation), Berlin, Freie Univ., 1976. Studies on the development of working-class literature in the Federal Republic (dissertation), Berlin, Freie Univ., 1976.

Awards

* 1995 Friedrich Märker Prize for Essayists * 1996 Wilhelm Heinse Medal of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature * 1998 Ernst Robert Curtius Prize for Essay Writing * 2000

Friedrich Nietzsche Prize The Friedrich Nietzsche Prize or Friedrich-Nietzsche-Preis is a German literary award named after Friedrich Nietzsche and awarded by the state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was first awarded in 1996 for a German-language essayistic or philosophical wor ...

of the State of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...

* 2003 Premio Internazionale Federico Nietzsche, the Italian Nietzsche Society * 2005 Leipzig Book Fair Prize in the category Non-Fiction/Essays for "Schiller, or The Invention of German

Idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...

" * 2006 Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis of the City of

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'', w ...

* 2006 ''Welt''-Literaturpreis * 2009

Corine Literature Prize The Corine – International Book Prize, as it is officially called, is a German literature prize created by the Bavarian chapter of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, first awarded in 2001. It is awarded to German and international "au ...

, Lifetime Achievement prize from the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

n Minister President * 2014

Thomas Mann Prize Thomas Mann Prize (''German'': Thomas-Mann-Preis) is a literary prize of Germany. In full the title is "Thomas Mann Prize of the city of Lübeck and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts". It is given in alternate years in Lübeck and in Munich. The ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Safranski, Rudiger 1945 births Living people German philosophers German male writers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Heidegger scholars People from Rottweil