STÖCKL, Albert. - Neo-scholastic philosopher and theologian, born on 15 March 1823 at Möhren (central France), died at Eichstätt on 15 November 1895.
He studied philosophy and theology at the episcopal lyceum of Eichstätt (1843–48). Ordained priest on 28 April 1848, he taught philosophy at the same lyceum from 1850 onward, and from 1857 exegesis and Hebrew. Called to the chair of philosophy at the Academy of Münster in 1862, he returned in 1871 to the diocese of Eichstätt as parish priest at Gimperhausen after expressing dissent within the Academy at the time of the First Vatican Council. Made canon in 1877 at Eichstätt, he resumed teaching philosophy at the lyceum. From 1878 to 1881 he was also a member of the lower house of the Reichstag. Stöckl contributed, through his numerous and widely circulated publications in philosophy and the history of philosophy—works of a predominantly expository nature but notable for clarity and penetration—to the revival of neo-Thomism in Germany. He treated virtually every philosophical discipline and in particular wrote against materialism (*Materialismus geprüft in seiner Lehrsätzen u. deren Konsequenzen*, Mainz 1877).
Among his other principal works are to be noted: *Gesch. der Philos. des Mittelalters* (3 vols., Mainz 1864–66); *Gesch. der Philos.* (Würzburg 1868; 8th ed. in 2 vols., 1905, 1912); *Grundriss der Religionsphilos.* (ib. 1872); *Lehrbuch der Paedagogik* (ib. 1873); *Gesch. der neueren Philos.* (2 vols., ib. 1883); *Gesch. der christl. Philos. z. Zeit der Kirchenväter* (ib. 1891); *Grundriss der Gesch. der Philos.* (ib. 1894; 4th ed. 1924). Among his apologetic and theological works: *Liturgie u. dogmatische Bedeutung d. altestamentl. Opfer* (Regensburg 1848); *Das Opfer nach s. Wesen u. nach s. Gesch.* (Mainz 1861); *Das Christentum u. die grossen Fragen d. Gegenwart*, etc. (3 vols., ib. 1879–80); *Lehrbuch d. Apologetik* (2 vols., ib. 1895).