Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster
| Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster 2 June 1869 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia |
| Died | 9 January 1966 (aged 96) Kilchberg, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Nationality | German |
| Era | 19th-century philosophy, 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy, German philosophy |
|
Main interests
|
Pacifism, ethics, Christianity, international law, educational theory |
|
Influences
|
|
Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster (1869–1966) was a German academic, educationist, pacifist and philosopher, known for his public opposition to Nazism. His works primarily dealt with the development of ethics through education, sexology, politics and international law.
Foerster was one of the sons of German astronomer Wilhelm Julius Foerster, a director of the Berlin Observatory and a professor at the University of Berlin. His two younger brothers became renowned is various areas in their own right; Karl Foerster as a landscape gardener and horticulturalist, and Dr. Ernst Foerster as a shipbuilder and the director of the shipbuilding division of the Hamburg-America-Line.
Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster studied philosophy, economics, ethics and sociology in Freiburg im Breisgau and Berlin. His doctoral thesis was completed in 1893 under the title Der Entwicklungsgang der Kantischen Ethik bis zur Kritik der reinen Vernunft (The development from Kantian ethics to critique of pure reason). From 1898 until 1912 he lectured at the University of Zurich and other Swiss institutions, later lecturing at the University of Vienna and from 1914 at the University of Munich.
Foerster was strongly opposed to the German foreign policy in the era of the First World War, particularly the militaristic attitudes of the ruling elite in Germany. These views made him an exception to the prevailing nationalist tendencies in the German Empire, and due to this and his ethical views he was regularly attacked from nationalist circles.
His criticism of the political legacy of Otto von Bismarck during the war caused a great scandal at his university, and he was dismissed from his post for two semesters. During this time, he returned to Switzerland, where he focused his efforts on the question of to what extent Germany was responsible for the First World War. Foerster became convinced that Germany had blocked the success of the Hague Conventions in 1907, and had thereby isolated itself internationally and drawn a course for war.
...
Wikipedia