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Ernst Bloch

エルンスト・ブロッホ

Ernst Bloch

Pen Names: Karl Jahraus（Pseudonym (used)）, Jakob Knerz（Pseudonym (used)）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1885-07-08 （Ludwigshafen, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire）
Died
1977-08-04 （Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany） age 92
Nationality
German
Languages
German
Religion
Judaism (background)
Residence History
Ludwigshafen (birthplace) → Munich (education) → Würzburg (education) → Switzerland (exile) → Austria (exile) → France (exile) → Czechoslovakia (exile) → United States (New Hampshire, Cambridge, MA) → Leipzig (university position) → East Germany (residence) → Tübingen (honorary chair, died)

Career

Occupations
philosopher, professor, author
Active Years
1908-1977
Affiliations
Leipzig University, University of Tübingen (honorary chair), German Academy of Sciences at Berlin (AdW)
Memberships
Member of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin (AdW)
Influenced By
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Thomas Müntzer, Paracelsus, Jacob Böhme
Influenced
Jürgen Moltmann, Dorothee Sölle, José Esteban Muñoz, Joel Kovel, Robert S. Corrington

Education

University of Munich
Philosophy
Degree: PhD
Period: 1900s
Year of Graduation: 1908
Country: Germany
Dissertation: Kritische Erörterungen über Rickert und das Problem der modernen Erkenntnistheorie (Critical discussions on Rickert and the problem of modern epistemology)
University of Würzburg
Philosophy
Degree: PhD
Period: 1900s
Year of Graduation: 1908
Country: Germany
PhD awarded (1908)

Awards

National Prize of the GDR
1955
Organization: German Democratic Republic
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Principle of Hope (Das Prinzip Hoffnung)

1947 Philosophy

An encyclopedic work describing humanity's and nature's orientation toward a socially and technologically improved future. Written in a poetic, aphoristic style, it develops a theory of hope, utopia, and teleology in history.

utopiahopeteleology of historyMarxismreligion and theology
Translations
  • The Principle of Hope (English translation, MIT Press, 1986)

The Spirit of Utopia (Geist der Utopie)

1918 Philosophy / Utopian studies

Early essays on utopia that contain ideas foundational to his later work on utopian thought.

utopiaideal societies
Translations
  • The Spirit of Utopia (English translation, Stanford, 2000)

Bibliography

  • Geist der Utopie (The Spirit of Utopia, 1918)
  • Thomas Müntzer as Theologian of Revolution (1921)
  • Spuren (Traces, 1930)
  • Erbschaft dieser Zeit (Heritage of Our Times, 1935)
  • Freiheit und Ordnung (Freedom and Order, 1947)
  • The Principle of Hope (3 vols., 1938–1947)
  • Natural Law and Human Dignity (1961)
  • Tübinger Einleitung in die Philosophie (A Philosophy of the Future, 1963)
  • Religion im Erbe (Man on His Own, 1959–66)
  • Atheism in Christianity (1968)
  • The Problem of Materialism (1972)
  • Experimentum Mundi (1975)

Translations of Works

  • The Principle of Hope (English translation, MIT Press, 1986)
  • The Spirit of Utopia (English translation, Stanford, 2000)
  • Avicenna and the Aristotelian Left (English translation, Columbia, 2019)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
poetic, aphoristic styleencyclopedic and discursive expositionscholarly yet fragmentary
Recurring Motifs
hopeutopiamessianic expectationnon-simultaneityeschatological orientation of history

Legacy

Bloch significantly influenced 20th-century utopian thought and the philosophy of hope. His work affected the 1968 student movements, liberation theology, and had repercussions in performance studies and other humanities fields.

Museums

  • Ernst-Bloch-Zentrum Germany (location details unspecified)

Academic Societies

  • Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
  • Various scholarly societies and working groups

Archives

  • Papers and materials held at Leipzig University and related research institutions

In Popular Culture

  • Max Bill's 'Endlose Treppe' (Endless Stair) is dedicated to Bloch's The Principle of Hope

Quotes

  • "the greatest of modern utopian thinkers"
    Source: Joel Kovel, History and Spirit (1991) (1991)

Trivia

  • Used the pseudonyms Karl Jahraus and Jakob Knerz.
  • Fled the Nazis and lived in Switzerland, Austria, France, Czechoslovakia and the United States.
  • Wrote parts of The Principle of Hope in the reading room of Harvard's Widener Library.