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Hans Blumenberg

ハンス・ブルーメンベルク

Hans Blumenberg

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1920-07-13 （Lübeck, Germany）
Died
1996-03-28 （Altenberge, Germany） age 75
Nationality
Germany
Languages
German
Religion
Catholicism
Residence History
Lübeck (birthplace) → Hamburg (studies) → Near Münster (later life)

Career

Occupations
philosopher, intellectual historian, university professor
Active Years
1947-1996
Affiliations
Member of the Senate of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), Professor at several German universities
Memberships
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Influenced By
Edmund Husserl, Ernst Cassirer, Martin Heidegger, Arnold Gehlen
Influenced
Odo Marquard (contemporary philosopher), Scholars such as Hannes Bajohr, Contemporary scholars in intellectual history and metaphorology

Education

Katharineum zu Lübeck (secondary school)
Period: 〜1939
Year of Graduation: 1939
Country: Germany
Completed Abitur; received top distinction (Auszeichnung).
University of Hamburg
Philosophy, German studies, Classics
Period: 1945–1947（戦争中断の後）
Year of Graduation: 1947
Country: Germany
Studied after interruption due to World War II.
University of Kiel (doctoral degree)
Philosophy / Medieval intellectual history
Degree: Dr. phil.
Period: 1947（博士論文）
Year of Graduation: 1947
Country: Germany
Doctoral thesis on the originality of medieval-scholastic ontology (unpublished thesis).
Habilitation (postdoctoral qualification)
Philosophy (study on the crisis of Husserl's phenomenology)
Degree: Habilitation
Period: 1950
Year of Graduation: 1950
Country: Germany
Completed habilitation thesis; mentor included Ludwig Landgrebe.

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Paradigms for a Metaphorology

1960 philosophy / history of ideas

Introduces the concept of 'absolute metaphors' and discusses the role of metaphor in the history of ideas and philosophy.

metaphorologylanguage and truthhistory of ideas
Translations
  • English translation: Paradigms for a Metaphorology (translated, published)

The Legitimacy of the Modern Age

1966 philosophy / intellectual history

Treats the Modern Age as an independent epoch and argues against accounts that reduce modernity to secularization of theological principles.

modernitysecularizationhistory of thought
Translations
  • English translation: The Legitimacy of the Modern Age

The Genesis of the Copernican World

1975 intellectual history / philosophy

Examines the intellectual history surrounding Copernicus to trace transformations in modern conceptions of knowledge.

history of scienceepistemologymodernization
Translations
  • English translation: The Genesis of the Copernican World

The Legibility of the World

1979 philosophy / intellectual history

Discusses human comprehension of the world through metaphors of books, reading, and legibility.

reading theorymetaphorrecognition
Translations
  • English translation: The Readability of the World

Work on Myth

1979 philosophy / anthropology

Treats myth and metaphor as functional devices that help humans cope with existential overwhelm and orient themselves.

mythanthropologycultural function
Translations
  • English translation: Work on Myth

Care Crosses the River

1987 philosophy / essay

A late attempt to apprehend human reality through metaphors and involuntary expressions.

ontologymetaphortime and life
Translations
  • English translation: Care Crosses the River

St Matthew Passion

1993 philosophical meditation

Meditative work on religious and cultural themes.

religionculture
Translations
  • English translation: St. Matthew Passion

Bibliography

  • The Legitimacy of the Modern Age, 1966
  • Paradigms for a Metaphorology, 1960
  • The Genesis of the Copernican World, 1975
  • The Legibility of the World, 1979
  • Work on Myth, 1979
  • Care Crosses the River, 1987
  • St Matthew Passion, 1993

Translations of Works

  • The Readability of the World (English translation)
  • Care Crosses the River (English translation)
  • Paradigms for a Metaphorology (English translation)
  • The Genesis of the Copernican World (English translation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
precise and pointed prosehistorical-philosophical exposition
Recurring Motifs
metaphors (especially 'absolute metaphors')mythmetaphors of light and truthfinitude and time

Legacy

Blumenberg is considered one of the major German thinkers of the 20th century; his work on metaphorology and the reevaluation of modernity has had substantial influence in philosophy and intellectual history, and has gained wider reception through English translations.

Academic Societies

  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Archives

  • Suhrkamp Verlag archives

Quotes

  • “That these metaphors are called 'absolute' means only that they prove resistant to terminological claims and cannot be dissolved into conceptuality.”
    Source: Paradigms for a Metaphorology (1960) (1960)

Trivia

  • He was classified as a 'half-Jew' under Nazi racial laws because his mother was Jewish.
  • Detained in a concentration camp in 1944 but released through the intercession of Heinrich Dräger.
  • Reportedly slept little after the war to 'make up for lost time' (according to friend Odo Marquard).