Dietrich Mahnke (17 October 1884, Verden – 25 July 1939,

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

historian of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the History of mathematical notation, mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples ...

Biography

From 1902–1906, Mahnke studied at

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

under

Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...

and

David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental idea ...

. After serving in the First World War (stationed in Lens, France), he graduated from the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

in 1925 with a thesis on Leibniz. The thesis was later published in the Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung as ''Leibnizens Synthese von Universalmathematik und Individualmetaphysik''. In 1926 he

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

with a thesis entitled ''Neue Einblicke in die Entdeckungsgeschichte der höheren Analysis''. In 1927 he became a professor of philosophy at

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

. In 1934 he became a member of the Nazi SA.George Leaman: ''Heidegger im Kontext: Gesamtüberblick zum NS-Engagement der Universitätsphilosophen'' (= ''Ideologische Mächte im deutschen Faschismus.'' Band 5). Argument, Hamburg 1993, , p. 107. Mahnke's work in the history of mathematics focussed primarily on

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...

's development of the

infinitesimal calculus Calculus is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of ...

, and his relationship to

Neo-Platonism Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common i ...

. His last book, ''Unendliche Sphäre und Allmittelpunkt, Beiträge zur Genealogie der mathematischen Mystik'' was a study of the use of mathematical symbolism, especially the notion of "infinite spheres", in religious

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

. At the time of his death, Mahnke was editing a volume of Leibniz's mathematical correspondence. This project was then taken over by Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann. Mahnke was killed in a car accident. His ''Nachlass'' is preserved at the University of Marburg.

Bibliography

''Leibniz als Gegner der Gelehrteneinseitigkeit'' (1912)
''Der Wille der Ewigkeit'' (1917)
''Eine Neue Monadologie'' (1917)
''Die Neubelebung der Leibnizschen Weltanschauung'' (1920)
''Ewigkeit und Gegenwart, Eine Fichtische Zusammenschau'' (1922)
''Von Hilbert zu Husserl, Erste Einführung in die Phänomenologie, besonders die formale Mathematik'' (1923)
''Leibniz und Goethe: die Harmonie ihrer Weltansichten'' (1924)
''Neue Einblicke in die Entdeckungsgeschichte der höheren Analysis'' (1926)
''Ein unbekanntes Selbstzeugnis Leibnizens aus seiner Erziehertätigkeit'' (1931)
''Unendliche Sphäre und Allmittelpunkt, Beiträge zur Genealogie der mathematischen Mystik'' (1937)
''Die Rationalisierung der Mystik bei Leibniz und Kant'' (1939)

References

Sources

Joseph W. Dauben Joseph Warren Dauben (born December 29, 1944, Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica) is a Herbert H. Lehman Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He obtained his PhD f ...

, Christoph J. Scriba (ed.): ''Writing the History of Mathematics – Its Historical Development''. Birkhäuser, Basel 2002, * 1884 births 1939 deaths Sturmabteilung personnel Academic staff of the University of Marburg German historians of mathematics 20th-century German male writers 20th-century German philosophers German Army personnel of World War I Road incident deaths in Germany {{Germany-philosopher-stub