Frithjof Bergmann
Encyclopedia
Frithjof Bergmann is a Professor Emeritus of philosophy
at the University of Michigan
, where he regularly taught classes on existentialism
and continental philosophy
.
, where he was a professor and visible political activist. He taught for shorter stints at The University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and The University of California at Santa Cruz.
In 1984, he started an organisation called the Center for New Work (sometimes called just New Work) in Flint
, Michigan
, to help the many unemployed people after General Motors
closed several plants there.
Professor Bergmann's interests include continental philosophy –- especially Hegel, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Existentialism generally –- and also social and political philosophy, philosophical anthropology, and philosophy of culture. His On Being Free (1977) was issued in a paperback edition in 1978. His article The Experience of Values (reprinted in Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy by University of Notre Dame Press, 1983) is used in universities throughout the world. Professor Bergmann founded the Center for New Work in Flint in 1981, and has developed a number of suggestions about work as a calling and a vehicle of self-realization, in rotation with mainstream employment, and involving a self-sufficiency that technology itself makes possible. He resides in Ann Arbor and continues to write and lecture on the practical, social, and cultural implications of philosophical thought.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, where he regularly taught classes on existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
and continental philosophy
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...
.
Background
Professor Bergmann first came to the US as a student, where he has lived and worked ever since. He entered the doctoral program in philosophy at Princeton and studied under Walter Kaufmann, receiving his Ph.D. in 1959 with a dissertation entitled "Harmony and Reason: an Introduction to the Philosophy of Hegel." In addition, Professor Bergmann is a Nietzsche scholar; his publications include "Nietzsche's Critique of Morality" (published in Reading Nietzsche, Oxford University Press, 1988). He spent most of his academic career at the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, where he was a professor and visible political activist. He taught for shorter stints at The University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and The University of California at Santa Cruz.
In 1984, he started an organisation called the Center for New Work (sometimes called just New Work) in Flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, to help the many unemployed people after General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
closed several plants there.
Professor Bergmann's interests include continental philosophy –- especially Hegel, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Existentialism generally –- and also social and political philosophy, philosophical anthropology, and philosophy of culture. His On Being Free (1977) was issued in a paperback edition in 1978. His article The Experience of Values (reprinted in Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy by University of Notre Dame Press, 1983) is used in universities throughout the world. Professor Bergmann founded the Center for New Work in Flint in 1981, and has developed a number of suggestions about work as a calling and a vehicle of self-realization, in rotation with mainstream employment, and involving a self-sufficiency that technology itself makes possible. He resides in Ann Arbor and continues to write and lecture on the practical, social, and cultural implications of philosophical thought.
Books
- On Being Free - University of Notre Dame, November 1977; ISBN 0-268-01492-2
- Menschen, Märkte, Lebenswelten - Differenzierung und Integration in den Systemen der Wohnungslosenhilfe - VSH Verlag Soziale Hilfe, 1999; ISBN 3-923074-65-4
- Neue Arbeit, Neue Kultur - Aus dem Amerikanischen übersetzt von Stephan Schuhmacher - Arbor Verlag, 2004; ISBN 3-924195-96-X
External links
See also
Tom HodgkinsonTom Hodgkinson
Tom Hodgkinson is a British writer and the editor of The Idler, which he established in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His philosophy, in his published books and articles, is of a relaxed approach to life, enjoying it as it comes rather than toiling for an imagined better future...