SCHMID, ALOIS von. – Philosopher and theologian, b. Dec. 22, 1825 at Zaumberg bei Immenstadt (Bavaria), d. Mar. 16, 1910 at Munich. After completing his studies at Augsburg and Munich, he was ordained priest in 1849.
He taught at the Gymnasium in Zweibrücken (1850–52), then became professor of philosophy at Dillingen (1853–66). For 37 years (until 1903) he held the chair of dogmatics and apologetics at the University of Munich. In his numerous publications he attempted a rapprochement between traditional scholastic philosophy and modern thought, particularly that of Kant, whose subjectivism he sought to correct without always drawing a clear distinction between the natural and the supernatural. Accused therefore of rationalism, he vigorously defended himself against the attacks of Schäzer (q.v.) and Glossner.
He wrote: Bisthumsynode (2 vols., s.l. 1850–51); Entwickelungsgesch. der Hegelschen Logik (Ratisbon 1858); Thomistische u. Scolast. Geistesheilsche (Dillingen 1859); Wissenschaftliche Richtungen auf dem Gebiete des Katholizismus (1862); Wissenschaft u. Auctorität (1868); Untersuchungen über den letzten Gewissheitsgrund des Offenbarungsglaubens (1879); Gefühl u. Gefühlswerdungen (1883); Erkenntnislehre (2 vols., Freiburg in Br. 1890); Apologetik als spekulative Grundlegung der Theologie (1900).