Emil Lask (; 25 September 1875 – 26 May 1915) was a German philosopher. A student of

Heinrich Rickert Heinrich John Rickert (; ; 25 May 1863 – 25 July 1936) was a German philosopher, one of the leading neo-Kantians. Life Rickert was born in Danzig, Prussia (now Gdańsk, Poland) to the journalist and later politician Heinrich Edwin Rickert a ...

Freiburg University 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 ...

and

Wilhelm Windelband Wilhelm Windelband (; ; 11 May 1848 – 22 October 1915) was a German philosopher of the Baden School. Biography Windelband was born the son of a Prussian official in Potsdam. He studied at Jena, Berlin, and Göttingen. Philosophical work Win ...

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

, he was a member of the Southwestern School of

neo-Kantianism In late modern philosophy, neo-Kantianism () was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the thing-in-itself and his moral philosophy ...

Biography

Lask was born in

Austrian Galicia The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia in Eastern Europe. The crown land was established ...

, as a son of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents. After completing his philosophical education, he was made lecturer at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

in 1905, and he was elected professor there just before the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. When war began in 1914, Lask immediately volunteered. Since, as a Heidelberg professor, he would have been regarded as indispensable on the home front, he did not have to enlist. But, conscientious and idealistic, Lask believed that he had an obligation to serve his country. Lask was made a sergeant and sent to Galicia on the Eastern front, despite a frail constitution and severe myopia—which also meant that he could not shoot, but he still felt obliged to remain at the front. Lask died during the war, not far from the city of his birth, in the Galician Campaign.

refused to request his return to Heidelberg as indispensable to philosophy. Lask was an important and original thinker whose rewarding work is little known, due to his early death, but also because of the decline of neo-Kantianism. His published and some unpublished writings were collected in a three-volume edition by his pupil

Eugen Herrigel Eugen Herrigel (; 20 March 1884 – 18 April 1955) was a German philosopher, born in Lichtenau. He taught philosophy at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, Japan, from 1924 to 1929 and introduced Zen to large parts of Europe through his writi ...

with a notice by Lask's former teacher, Rickert, in 1923 and 1924. Lask is of interest to philosophers because of his uncompromising attitude and to historians of philosophy because of his influence on

György Lukács György Lukács (born Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...

and the young

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

. In ''

Being and Time ''Being and Time'' () is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other fields. Though controv ...

'' (1927), Heidegger credited Lask with being the only person to have taken up

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 ...

's investigations "positively from outside the main stream of phenomenological research", pointing to Husserl's '' Logical Investigations'' (1900–1901) as an influence on Lask's ''Die Logik der Philosophie und die Kategorienlehre'' (1911) and ''Die Lehre vom Urteil'' (1912). Lask's ideas were also influential in Japan, due to Herrigel, who lived and taught there for several years. His sister was the poet

Berta Lask Berta Lask (; 17 November 1878 – 28 March 1967) was a German writer, playwright and journalist. She joined the Communist Party of Germany, Communist Party in 1923 and much of her published work is strongly polemical. Sources identify her under ...

Works

* ''Fichtes Idealismus und die Geschichte'' Tübingen, 1902. * ''Rechtsphilosophie'' in: ''Die Philosophie im Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. Festschrift für Kuno Fischer'' edited by Wilhelm Windelband, Heidelberg, 1907. * ''Die Logik der Philosophie und die Kategorienlehre'' Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1911. * ''Gesammelte Schriften'' edited by Eugen Herrigel, Tübingen: Mohr, 1923-24 (3 volumes); reprint: Jena, Scheglmann, 2002. English translations * ''Legal Philosophy'' in ''The Legal Philosophies of Lask, Radbruch, and Dabin'' translated by Kurt Wilk (Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard U.P., 1950; ''20th Century Legal Philosophy'' series, vol. IV), pp. 1–42. French translations * ''La logique de la philosophie et la doctrine des catégories. Etude sur la forme logique et sa souveraineté'' Paris, Vrin, 2002.

Notes

Citations

References

* Beiser, Frederick, ''The German Historicist Tradition'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) ontains a chapter long introduction and overview of Lask's work* Borda, Mara, ''Knowledge Science Religion: Philosophy as a Critical Alternative to Metaphysics'' (Würzburg: Konighausen & Neumann, 2006) ontains very extensive discussion of Lask with comparisons to Simmel and Heidegger*

External links

Jewish Virtual Library Article on Lask

"Emil Lask and Kantianism" by Frederick Beiser

"Two Idealisms: Lask and Husserl"
by Karl Schuhmann and Barry Smith, Kant-Studien, 83 (1993), 448–466.
“Neo-Kantianism and Phenomenology: The Case of Emil Lask and Johannes Daubert”
by Karl Schuhmann and Barry Smith, Kant-Studien, 82 (1991), 303–318. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lask, Emil 1875 births 1915 deaths University of Freiburg alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University Kantian philosophers 20th-century German philosophers German military personnel killed in World War I German Jewish military personnel of World War I Jewish philosophers