Moritz Geiger (26 June 1880 – 9 September 1937) was a German philosopher and a disciple of

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 ...

. He was a member of the Munich phenomenological school. Beside

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

, he dedicated himself to

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

epistemology 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 knowle ...

and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

Life

Moritz Geiger was born in

Frankfurt 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 studied law at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in 1898, then

history of literature The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pie ...

in 1899, and finally philosophy and psychology in 1900, with

Theodor Lipps Theodor Lipps (; 28 July 1851 – 17 October 1914) was a German philosopher, known for his theory regarding aesthetics, creating the framework for the concept of ''Einfühlung'' (empathy)'','' defined as, "projecting oneself onto the object of p ...

. During the years 1901–1902, he studied

experimental psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

with

Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was t ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Returning to Munich in 1904, he became part of the circle of students around Lipps, which included Alexander Pfänder,

Adolf Reinach Adolf Bernhard Philipp Reinach (; ; 23 December 1883 – 16 November 1917) was a German philosopher, phenomenologist from the Munich phenomenology school and law theorist. Life and work Adolf Reinach was born into a prominent Jewish family in ...

Theodor Conrad Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Bluege ...

Aloys Fischer Aloys Fischer (; 10 April 1880 – 23 November 1937) was a German educationalist who worked on the foundations of a modern theory of education. Life Fischer was born in Furth im Wald, Kingdom of Bavaria, on 10 April 1880. He attended the local e ...

Max Scheler Max Ferdinand Scheler (; 22 August 1874 – 19 May 1928) was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology. Considered in his lifetime one of the most prominent German philosophers,Davis, Zacha ...

, and

Dietrich von Hildebrand Dietrich Richard Alfred von Hildebrand (; 12 October 1889 – 26 January 1977) was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and religious writer. Hildebrand was called "the twentieth-century Doctor of the Church" by Pope Pius XII. He was a leadi ...

. In 1906, Geiger attended Husserl's lectures in

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 ...

, and became part of the Munich Circle of phenomenology, along with Reinach, Conrad, Fischer and Pfänder. He passed his thesis in 1907. Along with this Husserlian circle (including

), he published the review ''

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 ...

''. In 1915, he became a teacher at Munich and, after

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 ...

, at Göttingen (1923). When the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

had him dismissed from his chair because of his Jewish ancestry in 1933, he emigrated to the United States, teaching at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

in New York and at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He died at

Seal Harbor, Maine Mount Desert is a New England town, town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,146 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Incorporated in 1789, the town currently en ...

. Several of his students became famous, such as Klaus Berger,

Hans-Georg Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; 11 February 1900 – 13 March 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 on hermeneutics, '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''). Life Family and early life Gad ...

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...

and

Karl Löwith Karl Löwith (; 9 January 1897 – 26 May 1973) was a German philosopher in the phenomenological tradition. A student of Husserl and Heidegger, he was one of the most prolific German philosophers of the twentieth century. He is known for his tw ...

Contributions

Moritz Geiger was the sustainer of a

sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...

phenomenological method of “pure self-given

factuality A fact is a true datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means. For exa ...

”, without limitation by sensual-visible or

idealistic Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entir ...

prejudices, without basing the reality on a lower, not-given sphere. In his phenomenology every given fact values equally, independent from whether it is sensual or not.Gödel, Florian (2015), "An introduction to Moritz Geiger’s psychological contribution on empathy." ''Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences'', 8(1):161–8. He is also famous for being the founder of aesthetic phenomenology deeply but freely influenced by Husserl. A less known but very important contribution is in the clarification of the psychological concept of

empathy Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are ...

. In a lecture on the

essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...

and meaning of empathy presented at the 4th Congress for

in Innsbruck (Austria), Geiger fully describes the different

concepts A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, psy ...

of empathy available in the whole wide panorama of his time. The range of the discussed conceptualizations is wide, from aesthetics to

evolutionary theory Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certai ...

, from the phenomenal fact of “foreign expressive movements” and “foreign personalities” across the – deeply romantically influenced – treatment of the “animation of subhuman entities”, to end with the aesthetical aspects of empathy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geiger, Moritz 1880 births 1937 deaths 20th-century German essayists 20th-century German philosophers German epistemologists German male essayists German male non-fiction writers German people of Jewish descent Jewish philosophers Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Ontologists People from Mount Desert Island Phenomenologists German philosophers of art German philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology German philosophy academics Academic staff of the University of Göttingen