RICKERT, HEINRICH. - Philosopher, b. at Danzig on 25 May 1863, d. at Heidelberg on 28 July 1936, where he had been professor (after Freiburg). Together with Windelband (q.v.), from whom he derived his fundamental philosophical themes, he is the most original and acute representative of the so-called "Philosophy of Values" (q.v.).
His principal writings, which develop and deepen his doctrine, are: *Der Gegenstand der Erkenntnis* (Freiburg 1892); *Die Grenzen der Naturwissenschaften* (Freiburg 1892); *System der Philosophie* (I, Tübingen 1921); *Grundprobleme der Philosophie* (ibid. 1934).
To know is to judge, that is, to recognize a value; and the value recognized must hold for all at all times. Therefore, in the act of judging, a universally and eternally valid value is presupposed, even if the judgment (q.v.) is pronounced upon particular and transient representations. The judgment has an "obligatoriness," a necessity (different from causal necessity), it is imperative: in this its "ought to be" (which transcends every individual empirical consciousness and belongs to a universal and imperishable consciousness) consists the truth of the judgment. Philosophy must distinguish the world of reality (judgments of reality, descriptive and classificatory of phenomena, proper to science) and the realm of values, whose judgments are precisely those proper to philosophy. The reciprocal relation of the two worlds is given by the act of valuation, which expresses the sense of value and constitutes a third realm, that of "meaning."
of the University, violently attacking religious orders, especially the Jesuits. After being dismissed, he defended his viewpoint in numerous writings, refusing any retraction. His literary activity is multifaceted, ranging from rhetorical-gymnastical pamphlets to the edition of the Works of
R., a defender—sometimes polemically (*Die Philosophie des Lebens*, Tübingen 1920)—of the eternity of values against the philosophies of life and various forms of historicism (q.v.), rightly claims their superhistoricity: value is presupposed to history, which does not create II. Therefore, the historian recognizes the value of events, and human spiritual activity does not posit but discovers values.