LOTZE, RUDOLF HERMANN. – Philosopher, born on 23 May 1817 in Bautzen, died on 1 July 1881 in Berlin. He studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Leipzig, where he obtained his habilitation in the medical sciences (1839) and in philosophy (1840). From 1844 to 1881 he held the chair of philosophy at the University of Göttingen. In 1881 he moved to Berlin.
In his formation, L. was linked on the one hand to idealistic philosophy and on the other to the orientation toward the positive sciences of his time. The reconciliation of these two tendencies became the dominant motive of his thought. Fundamentally, he took up Leibniz’s solution (v.). The mechanical laws are universally valid and sufficient even for the empirical explanation of organic life; yet they further present themselves as means and instruments for the realization of the good. At the beginning of each of the great periods of the history of the universe, God establishes initial conditions that are the starting points for the realization of a divine plan. Matter, moreover, is only the spatiotemporal phenomenal form of a spiritual reality, consisting of a multitude of monadiform selves, whose substantial character nevertheless remained uncertain for L.
L.’s originality is revealed more in his treatment of certain particulars than in the structural ideas of his system. In his Medizinische Psychologie, oder Physiologie der Seele (Leipzig 1852), he sought to clarify the relations between soul and body through a description and interpretation of empirical data, including those of psychopathology. It was through this work that he became one of the forerunners of modern experimental psychology. In his Logik (ibid. 1843), he developed the concept of Geltung (value), using it to characterize the mode of existence of the significations and contents of thought. In this way he made an exceptionally important constructive contribution to the Neo-Kantian philosophers of the Marburg schools (H. Cohen, P. Natorp) and Heidelberg (W. Windelband, H. Rickert). An even greater influence was exerted by the introduction of the concept of “value” into philosophical speculation. According to L., human beings possess, in the faculty of feeling and discerning values, a means of revealing being as powerful as the first principles of ontology and logic. L. in fact attempted to ground his theism and finalism on axiological considerations. Through his conceptions of validity and value, L. exerted a considerable influence on later philosophy. His most notable disciples were Gust. Teichmüller and Julius Bergmann.
Other principal works: Mikrokosmos, 3 vols. (Leipzig 1856–64; Italian trans., Pavia 1911–14); Gesch. der Aesthetik in Deutschland (Munich 1868, Leipzig 1913); System der Philosophie, I, Logik (ibid. 1874); II, Metaphysik (ibid. 1879; French trans. by Duval, Paris 1883).