Oskar Kraus was a Czech philosopher, jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

.

Life

Oskar Kraus, who converted from the Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 to the Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 faith, was the son of Hermann Kraus and Clara Reitler-Eidlitz. In 1899 he married Bertha Chitz.

In 1890 he began to study jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

 and philosophy

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...

 under Friedrich Jodl and Anton Marty

Anton Marty

Anton Marty was a Swiss philosopher. He specialized in philosophy of language, psychology and ontology. The linguists in Prague School were influenced by his works.-Sources:...

, who introduced him into Franz Brentano

Franz Brentano

Franz Clemens Honoratus Hermann Brentano was an influential German philosopher and psychologist whose influence was felt by other such luminaries as Sigmund Freud, Edmund Husserl, Kazimierz Twardowski and Alexius Meinong, who followed and adapted his views.-Life:Brentano was born at Marienberg am...

's philosophy. Kraus made his Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in 1895 and attained the habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 in philosophy in 1902. In 1909 he became Professor extraordinarius and in 1916 Professor ordinarius. After the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 in 1939, Kraus was put into an concentration camp; however, after he was released he fled to Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

. At the University Edinburgh he held Gifford Lectures

Gifford Lectures

The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...

 in 1941. In 1942 he died because of cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

Work

During World War I

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...

, Kraus worked on topics in relation to war

War

War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

 and ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

 and wrote important works in the field of Public international law.

Influenced by Brentano, Kraus developed an apriori

A priori and a posteriori (philosophy)

The terms a priori and a posteriori are used in philosophy to distinguish two types of knowledge, justifications or arguments...

 value theory

Value theory

Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why and to what degree people should value things; whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else. This investigation began in ancient philosophy, where it is called axiology or ethics. Early philosophical...

, which was formulated in opposition to marxistic

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...

 value theory. He also applied this method on economics

Theory of value (economics)

"Theory of value" is a generic term which encompasses all the theories within economics that attempt to explain the exchange value or price of goods and services...

,

Based on his ideas on law and duty he developed a juristic hermeneutics in the field of Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

, and criticized historism

Historism

Historism is a philosophical and historiographical theory, founded in 19th-century Germany and especially influential in 19th- and 20th-century Europe...

 and positivism

Positivism

Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....

.

Kraus was also known for his criticism of the theory of relativity

Theory of relativity

The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....

, which was according to him an accumulation of "absurdities" (like the constancy of the speed of light) and "mathematical fictions".

Publications

• Das Bedürfnis. Ein Beitrag zur beschreibenden Psychologie, Leipzig 1894
• Zur Theorie des Wertes. Eine Bentham-Studie, Halle a. d. Saale: Niemeyer 1901
• Die Lehre von Lob, Lohn, Tadel und Strafe bei Aristoteles, Halle a. d. Saale 1905
• Die aristotelische Werttheorie in ihren Beziehungen zu den modernen Psychologenschule, in: Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft 61 (1905), 573-92.
• Über eine altüberlieferte Mißdeutung der epideiktischen Redegattung bei Aristoteles, Halle a. d. Saale 1905
• Neue Studien zur Aristotelischen Rhetorik, insbesondere über das genos epideiktikon, Halle a. d. Saale 1907
• Das Recht zu strafen. Eine rechtsphilosophische Untersuchung, Stuttgart 1911
• Platons Hippias Minor. Versuch einer Erklärung, Prag 1913
• Martys Leben und Werke. Eine Skizze, in: Josef Eisenmeier, Alfred Kastil und Oskar Kraus (Hgg.): Anton Marty, Gesammelte Schriften. Bd. I, 1. Abteilung, Halle a. d. Saale 1916
• Der Krieg, die Friedensfrage und die Philosophen. Ein Vortrag, Prag 1917
• Franz Brentano. Zur Kenntnis seines Lebens und seiner Lehre, München 1919
• Zur Debatte über die Gestaltpsychologie. Einige kritische Darlegungen, Lotos, Prag 69 (1921) 233-42.
• Offene Briefe an Albert Einstein und Max von Laue über die gedanklichen Grundlagen der speziellen und allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie, Wien 1925
• Der Machtgedanke und die Friedensidee in der Philosophie der Engländer Bacon und Bentham, Leipzig 1926
• Albert Schweitzer. Sein Werk und seine Weltanschauung, Berlin 1926/1929
• Bertrand Russells Analyse des Geistes, in: Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie 75 (1930), 289-314, auch in: Wege und Abwege der Philosophie, Vorträge und Abhandlungen von Oskar Kraus, Prag: Calve 1934, 37-61.
• Wege und Abwege der Philosophie. Vorträge und Abhandlungen, Prag 1934
• Die Werttheorien. Geschichte und Kritik, Brünn / Wien / Leipzig: Rohrer 1937
• Albert Schweitzer. His Work and his Philosophy, übers. v. E. G. McCalman, eingeführt v. A. D. Lindsay, London 1944

External links