Lasauix, Peter Ernst von

LASAULX, PETER ERNST von. – Thinker and politician, born on 16 March 1805 at Coblenz, died on 9 May 1861 at Munich. He studied classical philology and philosophy at Bonn and Munich (1824–30); he travelled through Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Palestine (1830–34). On returning to his homeland, he received his doctorate at Kiel (1835). In the same year he was appointed professor of philology at Würzburg.

When, in 1837, the archbishop of Cologne was imprisoned in the fortress of Mindeln (20 Dec.), L. protested against the Prussian government and against the diplomat Iosia Bunsen in the work: Kritische Bemerkungen über die kälner Sache, and urged Görres, his uncle, to write the Athanasius. In 1884 he transferred to the University of Munich. Three years later, having contributed to the fall of Minister Abel and having rightly criticized the private conduct of Ludwig I of Bavaria, he was retired (28 Feb. 1847). He nevertheless continued his activity in Parliament unabated.

Although profoundly Christian in spirit, L. in his writings indulged in a form of religious relativism that led to the condemnation of four of his books (decree of the Holy Office, 7 Aug. 1861). He studied the philosophy of the ancient religions; hostile to Aristotelian thought, he cloaked Christianity in a semi-pantheistic Platonism; he placed Hellenism above Judaism and held that Socrates was a figure of Jesus, closer to him than were the biblical figures of the Old Testament (Des Socrates Leben, Lehre u. Tod nach den Zeugnissen der Alten dargestellt [1857]; placed on the Index, decree of 7 Aug. 1861).

Among his other notable works are: Das Sühnopfer der Griechen u. Römer u. ihr Verhältnis zu dem einen auf Galgatha (1841); Studien des klass. Altertums (1854); Der Untergang des Hellenismus u. die Einziehung seiner Tempelgüter (1854); Neuer Versuch einer alten, auf die Wahrheit der Tatsachen gegründeten Philos. der Ges. (1856); Über die theol. Grundlage aller philos. Systeme (1856); Die prophet. Kraft der menschl. Seele in Dichtern u. Denhern (1858; all three placed on the Index, decree of 7 Aug. 1861); Die Philosophie der schönen Künste (1860).