Hans Heinz Holz (26 February 1927 – 11 December 2011) was a German

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

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 ...

. Born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, he was professor of philosophy at the University of Marburg (from 1971 to 1979) and from 1979 to 1993 at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

. He is known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of philosophy on one hand and for his openly expressed ideological viewpoints on the other. Influenced by

Gottfried Wilhelm 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 ...

's monadology, he regards ''Widerspiegelung'' (reflection) not only as an

epistemological Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowled ...

but also as an ontological category. Some critics spot here a hazard of deviating from

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

. Though Holz saw himself as in footsteps of

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, his vision is disputed among the leftist circles. He has contributed to far-left publications like ''Marxistische Blätter'' and ''Weißenseer Blätter''. He joined the German Communist Party in 1994.

Works

* Dialektik und Widerspiegelung, Köln: Pahl Rugenstein 1983 * Dialectische constructie van de totaliteit, Groningen: Uitgeverij Konstapel 1983 (co-authors Jeroen Bartels, Detlev Pätzold and Jos Lensink) * Dialectiek als open systeem, Groningen: Uitgeverij Konstapel 1985 (co-authors Jeroen Bartels, Detlev Pätzold and Jos Lensink) * De actualiteit van de metafysica, Kampen: Kok-Agora 1991 * Niederlage und Zukunft des Sozialismus, Essen: Neue Impulse Verlag 1991 * Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Eine Einführung, Frankfurt/M. / New York: Campus 1992 * Philosophische Theorie der bildenden Künste ** Band I, Der ästhetische Gegenstand. Die Präsenz des Wirklichen, Bielefeld: Aiesthesis Verlag 1996, ** Band II, Strukturen der Darstellung. Über Konstanten der ästhetischen Konfigurationen, Bielefeld: Aisthesis Verlag 1997 ** Band III, Der Zerfall der Bedeutungen. Zur Funktion des ästhetischen Gegenstandes im Spätkapitalismus, Bielefeld: Aiesthesis Verlag 1997 * Einheit und Widerspruch. Problemgeschichte der Dialektik in der Neuzeit ** Band I: Die Signatur der Neuzeit, Stuttgart/Weimar: J. B. Metzler 1997 ** Band II: Pluralität und Einheit, Stuttgart/Weimar: J. B. Metzler 1997 ** Band III: Die Ausarbeitung der Dialektik, Stuttgart/Weimar: J. B. Metzler 1997 * Gesammelte Aufsätze aus 50 Jahren ** Band I: Der Kampf um Demokratie und Frieden, Essen: Neue Impulse Verlag 2003 ** Band II: Deutsche Ideologie nach 1945, Essen: Neue Impulse Verlag 2003 * Weltentwurf und Reflexion. Versuch einer Grundlegung der Dialektik. Stuttgart/Weimar: J. B. Metzler 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holz, Hans Heinz 1927 births 2011 deaths 20th-century German philosophers Marxist theorists German male writers 21st-century German philosophers