Leo Kofler
Encyclopedia
Leo Kofler was a social philosopher from Cologne
. He ranks with the Marburg politicologist Wolfgang Abendroth
and the Frankfurt school
theoreticians Max Horkheimer
and Theodor W. Adorno
among the few well-known Marxist intellectuals in post-war Germany. However, almost nothing of his work was ever translated into English, and he is therefore little known in the English-speaking world. Kofler had his own, distinctive interpretation of Marxism
, which connected sociology
and history
with aesthetics
and anthropology
.
, Austria-Hungary
(now Ukraine
). War
in 1915/16 drove his family to escape to Vienna, where Leo attended business school, until 1927. His working career was cut short by the 1929 stock crash
, and he became an adviser of a social-democratic education center in Vienna, joining the left-wing of the social-democratic labour party (SDAP). From 1933-34, he devoted himself to research with Max Adler. In July 1938, after the annexation of Austria
by Nazi Germany
, he escaped to Basel, Switzerland where he was interned in an immigrant camp. Most of his family died in the Holocaust
, and his parents were shot in 1942. Nevertheless he continued his theoretical studies, being influenced especially by the writings of Georg Lukács
. In 1944 he published his first book under the pseudonym "Stanislaw Warynski".
His second book, on the history of the civil society, was published in 1948 in East Germany
. In September 1947 he moved to the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, and in 1948 became lecturer in medieval and modern history at the University of Halle. But after his public criticism of the Stalinization of the Socialist Unity Party
, he was dismissed from his post. At the end of 1950, he escaped with his future wife Ursula Wieck to Cologne
in West Germany
, and worked there as well as in Dortmund and Bochum
as lecturer and researcher, publishing a stream of books and articles.
He died in Cologne on 29 July 1995 after a lengthy illness.
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. He ranks with the Marburg politicologist Wolfgang Abendroth
Wolfgang Abendroth
Wolfgang Abendroth was a socialist German jurist and political scientist. He was born in Elberfeld, now a part of Wuppertal in North Rhine-Westphalia. Abendroth was an important contributor to the constitutional foundation of postwar West Germany. He briefly held a professorship in law in East...
and the Frankfurt school
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
theoreticians Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer was a German-Jewish philosopher-sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the 'Frankfurt School' of social research. His most important works include The Eclipse of Reason and, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, The Dialectic of Enlightenment...
and Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
among the few well-known Marxist intellectuals in post-war Germany. However, almost nothing of his work was ever translated into English, and he is therefore little known in the English-speaking world. Kofler had his own, distinctive interpretation of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, which connected sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
with aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
and anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
.
Biography
Kofler was born of Jewish parents on 26 April 1907 in Chocimierz, East GaliciaKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(now Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1915/16 drove his family to escape to Vienna, where Leo attended business school, until 1927. His working career was cut short by the 1929 stock crash
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, and he became an adviser of a social-democratic education center in Vienna, joining the left-wing of the social-democratic labour party (SDAP). From 1933-34, he devoted himself to research with Max Adler. In July 1938, after the annexation of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, he escaped to Basel, Switzerland where he was interned in an immigrant camp. Most of his family died in the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, and his parents were shot in 1942. Nevertheless he continued his theoretical studies, being influenced especially by the writings of Georg Lukács
Georg Lukács
György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. He is a founder of the tradition of Western Marxism. He contributed the concept of reification to Marxist philosophy and theory and expanded Karl Marx's theory of class consciousness. Lukács' was also an influential literary...
. In 1944 he published his first book under the pseudonym "Stanislaw Warynski".
His second book, on the history of the civil society, was published in 1948 in East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
. In September 1947 he moved to the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, and in 1948 became lecturer in medieval and modern history at the University of Halle. But after his public criticism of the Stalinization of the Socialist Unity Party
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
, he was dismissed from his post. At the end of 1950, he escaped with his future wife Ursula Wieck to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
in West Germany
German Federal Republic
"German Federal Republic" was one of the derogatory terms used by the communist German Democratic Republic to refer to the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1950s until 1968, when they started using the propaganda term "BRD"....
, and worked there as well as in Dortmund and Bochum
Bochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
as lecturer and researcher, publishing a stream of books and articles.
He died in Cologne on 29 July 1995 after a lengthy illness.
Main works
- Die Wissenschaft von der Gesellschaft , 1944, 1971
- Zur Geschichte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Versuch einer verstehenden Deutung der Neuzeit, 1948.
- Stalinistischer Marxismus, 1951
- Das Wesen und die Rolle der stalinistischen Bürokratie, 1952.
- Der Fall Lukacs. Georg Lukacs und der Stalinismus, 1952
- Geschichte und Dialektik, 1955
- Staat, Gesellschaft und Elite zwischen Humanismus und Nihilismus, 1960
- Das Ende der Philosophie?, 1961
- Zur Theorie der modernen Literatur, 1962
- Der proletarische Bürger, 1964
- Der asketische Eros. Industriekultur und Ideologie, 1967
- Perspektiven des revolutionären Humanismus, 1968
- Marxistische Staatstheorie, 1970
- Stalinismus und Bürokratie, 1970
- Kunst und absurde Literatur 1970,
- Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus, 1971
- In Aggression und Gewissen. Grundlegung einer anthropologischen Erkentnnistheorie 1973
- Haut den Lukács. Realismus und Subjektivismus 1977.
- Der Alltag zwischen Eros und Entfremdung, 1982
- Beherrscht uns die Technik? Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus, 1983
- Aggression und Gewissen. Grundlegung einer anthropologischen Erkenntnistheorie, 1973
- Soziologie des Ideologischen, 1975
- Geistiger Verfall und progressive Elite, 1981
- Der Alltag zwischen Eros und Entfremdung. Perspektiven zu einer Wissenschaft von Alltag, 1982.
- Eros, Ästhetik, Politik. Thesen zum Menschenbild bei Marx, 1985
- Aufbruch in der Sowjetunion? 1986
- Die Vergeistigung der Herrschaft, 2 Bände 1986/87
- Avantgardismus als Entfremdung. Ästhetik und Ideologiekritik, 1987
- "Die Kritik ist der Kopf der Leidenschaft." Aus dem Leben eines marxistischen Grenzgängers. Ein Gespräch anlässlich seines 80. Geburtstages mit Wolf Schönleitner und Werner Seppmann, 1987
- Zur Kritik bürgerlicher Freiheit. Ausgewählte politisch-philosophische Texte eines marxistischen Einzelgängers, Hrsg. Christoph Jünke, 2000
Commentaries in German
- Humanistische Anthropologie und dialektischer Materialismus. Ein Arbeitsbuch. Leo Kofler zum 70. Geburtstag. Broschiert - 320 Seiten, November 1982, ISBN 3-87958-710-8
- Marxismus und Anthropologie. Festschrift für Leo Kofler. Bochum: Germinal Verlag, 1980.
- Jünke, Christoph (Hg.), Am Beispiel Leo Koflers. Marxismus im 20. Jahrhundert. Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2001.
External links
- Leo Kofler Society (in German) http://www.leo-kofler.de/
- Leo Kofler as praxis-thinker (in German)http://www.praxisphilosophie.de/kofler.htm