Werner Jaeger
Encyclopedia
Werner Wilhelm Jaeger (July 30, 1888 – October 9, 1961) was a classicist
of the 20th century.
Jaeger was born in Lobberich
, Rhenish Prussia. He attended school at Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen
Jaeger studied at the University of Marburg and University of Berlin. He received a Ph.D.
from the University of Berlin
in 1911 for a dissertation on the Metaphysics
of Aristotle
. His habilitation was on Nemesios of Emesa (1914). Only 26 years old, Jaeger was called to a professorship with chair
at the University of Basel
in Switzerland
. One year later he moved to a similar position at Kiel
, and in 1921 he returned to Berlin. Jaeger remained in Berlin until 1936, when he emigrated to the United States
because he was unhappy with Adolf Hitler
's regime. Jaeger's expressed his veiled disapproval with Humanistische Reden und Vortraege (1937) and his book on Demosthenes
(1938) based on his Sather lecture from 1934. Jaeger's messages were fully understood in German university circles; the ardent Nazi followers sharply attacked Jaeger.
In the United States, Jaeger worked as a full professor at the University of Chicago
from 1936 to 1939, at which time he moved to Harvard University
to continue his edition of the Church father Gregory of Nyssa
on which he started before World War I. Jaeger remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, until his death. The Canadian philosopher James Doull
was among his students at Harvard.
Jaeger wrote two dissertations, one in Latin and German, on Aristotle's Metaphysics. Jaeger's edition of the Metaphysics was printed in 1957. Only two years after editing Gregory of Nyssa's Contra Eunomium (1921), Jaeger became famous with his groundbreaking study on Aristotle in 1923 which largely remained undisputed until the 1960s.
Jaeger founded two journals: Die Antike (1925–1944) and the influential review journal Gnomon
(since 1925).
Jaeger was the editor of the church father Gregory of Nyssa, Gregorii Nysseni Opera, editing Gregory's major work Contra Eunomium (1921, 1960). This edition is a major scholarly achievement and the philological foundation of the current studies on the Cappadocian Fathers
.
Jaeger is perhaps best known for his multivolume work "Paideia
: The Ideals of Greek Culture", an extensive consideration of both the earliest practices and later philosophical reflections on the cultural nature of education in Ancient Greece, which he hoped would restore a decadent early 20th century Europe to the values of its Hellenic origins. Jaeger coined the term Paideia, a shorthand for Greek education and culture, which is now used like Polis
, Hellenism or Renaissance
ranging in its use from the journal Paideia to the Paideia Proposal
.
Jaeger's last lecture, Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (1961) is a very impressive summary of his life's work covering Greek philology, philosophy and theology from Homer
, the Presocratic philosophers, Plato
to the Church Fathers
, roughly a thousand years.
The Papers of Werner Jaeger are housed at the Houghton Library
(Harvard University
).
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
of the 20th century.
Jaeger was born in Lobberich
Lobberich
Lobberich is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, situated close to the Dutch border at Venlo. It has a population of around 14,000 inhabitants...
, Rhenish Prussia. He attended school at Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum in Kempen
Kempen
Kempen may refer to:*Kempen, Germany, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany;*the German name of the Polish town of Kępno, or the former Prussian district Kreis Kempen;*the Dutch and Belgian region of Kempen, usually called Campine in English...
Jaeger studied at the University of Marburg and University of Berlin. He received a Ph.D.
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...
from the University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
in 1911 for a dissertation on the Metaphysics
Metaphysics (Aristotle)
Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. The principal subject is "being qua being", or being understood as being. It examines what can be asserted about anything that exists just because of its existence and...
of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. His habilitation was on Nemesios of Emesa (1914). Only 26 years old, Jaeger was called to a professorship with chair
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the University of Basel
University of Basel
The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. One year later he moved to a similar position at Kiel
University of Kiel
The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...
, and in 1921 he returned to Berlin. Jaeger remained in Berlin until 1936, when he emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
because he was unhappy with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's regime. Jaeger's expressed his veiled disapproval with Humanistische Reden und Vortraege (1937) and his book on Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
(1938) based on his Sather lecture from 1934. Jaeger's messages were fully understood in German university circles; the ardent Nazi followers sharply attacked Jaeger.
In the United States, Jaeger worked as a full professor at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
from 1936 to 1939, at which time he moved to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to continue his edition of the Church father Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...
on which he started before World War I. Jaeger remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, until his death. The Canadian philosopher James Doull
James Doull
James Alexander Doull was a Canadian philosopher and academic who was born and lived most of his life in Nova Scotia. His father was the politician, jurist, and historian John Doull. From the late 1940s until the mid 1980s he taught in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University in Halifax...
was among his students at Harvard.
Jaeger wrote two dissertations, one in Latin and German, on Aristotle's Metaphysics. Jaeger's edition of the Metaphysics was printed in 1957. Only two years after editing Gregory of Nyssa's Contra Eunomium (1921), Jaeger became famous with his groundbreaking study on Aristotle in 1923 which largely remained undisputed until the 1960s.
Jaeger founded two journals: Die Antike (1925–1944) and the influential review journal Gnomon
Gnomon
The gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts the shadow. Gnomon is an ancient Greek word meaning "indicator", "one who discerns," or "that which reveals."It has come to be used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields....
(since 1925).
Jaeger was the editor of the church father Gregory of Nyssa, Gregorii Nysseni Opera, editing Gregory's major work Contra Eunomium (1921, 1960). This edition is a major scholarly achievement and the philological foundation of the current studies on the Cappadocian Fathers
Cappadocian Fathers
The Cappadocian Fathers are Basil the Great , who was bishop of Caesarea; Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa , who was bishop of Nyssa; and a close friend, Gregory of Nazianzus , who became Patriarch of Constantinople...
.
Jaeger is perhaps best known for his multivolume work "Paideia
Paideia
In ancient Greek, the word n. paedeia or paideia [ to educate + - -IA suffix1] means child-rearing, education. It was a system of instruction in Classical Athens in which students were given a well-rounded cultural education. Subjects included rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, music, philosophy,...
: The Ideals of Greek Culture", an extensive consideration of both the earliest practices and later philosophical reflections on the cultural nature of education in Ancient Greece, which he hoped would restore a decadent early 20th century Europe to the values of its Hellenic origins. Jaeger coined the term Paideia, a shorthand for Greek education and culture, which is now used like Polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
, Hellenism or Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
ranging in its use from the journal Paideia to the Paideia Proposal
Paideia Proposal
The Paideia Proposal was a K-12 educational reform plan proposed by Mortimer Adler. Adler was a prolific author, and references to the Paideia plan for educational reform can be found in a number of his books listed in the references below.-The Proposal:...
.
Jaeger's last lecture, Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (1961) is a very impressive summary of his life's work covering Greek philology, philosophy and theology from Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, the Presocratic philosophers, Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
to the Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
, roughly a thousand years.
The Papers of Werner Jaeger are housed at the Houghton Library
Houghton Library
Houghton Library is the primary repository for rare books and manuscripts at Harvard University. It is part of the Harvard College Library within the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Houghton is located on the south side of Harvard Yard, next to Widener Library.- History :Harvard's first...
(Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
).
Works
- Emendationum Aristotelearum specimen (1911)
- Studien zur Enstehungsgeschichte der Metaphysik des Aristoteles (1911)
- Nemesios von Emesa. Quellenforschung zum Neuplatonismus und seinen Anfaengen bei Poseidonios (1914)
- Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. I-X (since 1921, latest 2009)
- Aristoteles: Grundlegung einer Geschichte seiner Entwicklung (1923; English trans. by Richard Robinson (1902-1996), *Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of His Development, 1934)
- Platons Stellung im Aufbau der griechischen Bildung (1928)
- Paideia; die Formung des griechischen Menschen, 3 vols. (German, 1933–1947; trans. by Gilbert HighetGilbert HighetGilbert Arthur Highet was a Scottish-American classicist, academic, writer, intellectual, critic and literary historian....
, *Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, 1939–1944) - Humanistische Reden und Vortraege (1937)
- Demosthenes (Sather lecture, 1934, 1938 trans. by Edward Schouten Robinson; German edition 1939)
- Humanism and Theology, 1943
- The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers (Gifford lectures, 1936, trans.by Edward Schouten Robinson,1947; 1953 German edition)
- Two rediscovered works of ancient Christian literature: Gregory of Nyssa and MacariusMacariusMacarius is a Latinized form of the Greek given name Makarios.It name may refer to:*Macarius of Egypt: Egyptian monk and hermit. Also known as Pseudo-Macarius, Macarius-Symeon, Macarius the Elder, or St...
,1954 - Aristotelis Metaphysica, 1957
- Scripta Minora, 2 vol., 1960
- Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (1961)
- Gregor von Nyssa's Lehre vom Heiligen Geist, 1966
External links
- http://classics.berkeley.edu/people/satherList.php