Wilhelm Traugott Krug
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Traugott Krug was a German
philosopher and writer.
in Saxony
, and died at Leipzig
. He studied at Wittenberg
under Reinhard and Jehnichen, at Jena
under Reinhold
, and at Göttingen
.
From 1801 to 1804 he was professor of philosophy at Frankfurt (Oder)
, after which he succeeded Kant
in the chair of logic and metaphysics at the university of Königsberg
. From 1809 till his death he was professor of philosophy at Leipzig.
; consciousness only in its relation to Being
. Both Being and Consciousness, however, are immediately known to us, as also the relation existing between them. By this Transcendental Synthesis he proposed to reconcile Realism
and Idealism
, and to destroy the traditional difficulty between transcendental, or pure, thought and things in themselves.
Krug challenged Hegel to deduce his quill or pen from German Idealism
's Philosophy of Nature. In so doing, he challenged the thinking that particular, perceptually real things could be logically known from general concepts. As such, this was also a rejection of the Ontological Proof
of God's existence and also Hegel's Absolute idealism
, with its Absolute Spirit
. Both claimed that something exists, or has being
, because it is a thought in someone's mind
.
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
philosopher and writer.
Life
He was born at RadisRadis
Radis is a village and a former municipality in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Kemberg.- Geography :...
in Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
, and died at Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. He studied at Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
under Reinhard and Jehnichen, at Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
under Reinhold
Karl Leonhard Reinhold
Karl Leonhard Reinhold was an Austrian philosopher. He was the father of Ernst Reinhold, also a philosopher.-Life:...
, and at Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
.
From 1801 to 1804 he was professor of philosophy at Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
, after which he succeeded Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
in the chair of logic and metaphysics at the university of Königsberg
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as second Protestant academy by Duke Albert of Prussia, and was commonly known as the Albertina....
. From 1809 till his death he was professor of philosophy at Leipzig.
Views
In philosophy his method was psychological; he attempted to explain the Ego by examining the nature of its reflection upon the facts of consciousness. Being is known to us only through its presentation in consciousnessConsciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
; consciousness only in its relation to Being
Being
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
. Both Being and Consciousness, however, are immediately known to us, as also the relation existing between them. By this Transcendental Synthesis he proposed to reconcile Realism
Philosophical realism
Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc....
and Idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
, and to destroy the traditional difficulty between transcendental, or pure, thought and things in themselves.
Krug challenged Hegel to deduce his quill or pen from German Idealism
German idealism
German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment...
's Philosophy of Nature. In so doing, he challenged the thinking that particular, perceptually real things could be logically known from general concepts. As such, this was also a rejection of the Ontological Proof
Ontological argument
The ontological argument for the existence of God is an a priori argument for the existence of God. The ontological argument was first proposed by the eleventh-century monk Anselm of Canterbury, who defined God as the greatest possible being we can conceive...
of God's existence and also Hegel's Absolute idealism
Absolute idealism
Absolute idealism is an ontologically monistic philosophy attributed to G. W. F. Hegel. It is Hegel's account of how being is ultimately comprehensible as an all-inclusive whole. Hegel asserted that in order for the thinking subject to be able to know its object at all, there must be in some...
, with its Absolute Spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
. Both claimed that something exists, or has being
Being
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
, because it is a thought in someone's mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
.
Principal works
He was a prolific writer on a great variety of subjects; he excelled as a popularizer rather than as an original thinker. His work stimulated freedom of thought in religion and politics. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philos. des XIX. Jahrh. (1835-1837) contained criticisms of Hegel and SchellingFriedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , later von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him between Fichte, his mentor prior to 1800, and Hegel, his former university roommate and erstwhile friend...
.
- Briefe über den neuesten Idealismus (1801)
- Versuch über die Principien der philosophischen Erkenntniss (1801)
- Fundamentalphilosophie (1803)
- System der theoretischen Philosophie (1806-1810)
- System der praktischen Philosophie (1817-1819)
- Handbuch der Philosophie (1820; 3rd ed., 1828)
- Logik oder Denklehre (1827)
- Geschichte der Philos. alter Zeit (1815; 2nd ed., 1825)
- Allgemeines Handworterbuch der philosophischen Wissenschaften (1827-1834; 2nd ed., 1832-1838)
- Universal-philosophische Vorlesungen für Gebildete beiderei Geschlechts
- Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philos. des XIX. Jahrh. (1835-1837)
- Meine Lebensreise (Leipzig, 2nd ed.,1840), autobiography