TRENDELENBURG, FRIEDRICH ADOLF. - Spiritualist philosopher, b. at Lutin on 30 Nov. 1802, d. at Berlin on 24 Jan. 1872.
From his dissatisfaction with modern thought he was led to the study of classical thought, in particular that of Plato and Aristotle, from whom he drew the fundamental lines of his "organic conception of the world," inspired by a constructive finalism of the real both in nature and in history. His studies in the history of classical thought (esp. Aristotle) and modern thought (Leibniz, Spinoza) are fundamental, and particular mention should be made of the objection raised against Hegelian dialectic, which was epoch-making: Hegel affirms that dialectic must proceed from pure thought without empirical presuppositions (reines, voraussetzungslose Denken), but in reality he introduces at every point images and concepts taken from experience, such as those of "movement," "development," "internal and external," "whole and parts," etc. (Logische Untersuchungen, 2nd ed., III, Leipzig 1862, p. 36 ff.). It is this difficulty that first fed Kierkegaard's critique of idealism and then, through K. Fischer (System der Logik u. Metaphysik oder Wissenschaftslehre, 3rd ed., Heidelberg 1909, p. 199 ff.), stimulated Spaventa and Gentile to the "reform" of Hegelian dialectic. To T. is also due in good part the revival of Aristotelian studies in Germany and of the doctrine of "intentionality" on the part of F. Brentano and of speculative phenomenology (1917); a disciple of T. was also W. Dilthey (1911), the theorist of "world views" and of the distinction between "sciences of nature and sciences of the spirit." The influence of T. made itself felt in Italy especially in the spiritualism of F. Bonatelli and F. Acri.
Principal works: Aristoteles, De Anima (critical ed. with commentary), 2nd ed. edited by C. Belger, Leipzig 1877; Historische Beiträge zur Philosophie, 3 vols., Berlin 1846-1855 (vol. I contains the fundamental works: Aristoteles Kategorienlehre and Die Kategorienlehre in der Geschichte der Philosophie); Logische Untersuchungen, 3rd ed., Leipzig 1870; Naturrecht auf dem Grunde der Ethik, Leipzig 1860 (Italian trans., Naples 1873); Elementa logices Aristoteles, 9th ed., Berlin 1892.
Bibliography2 works
Cornelio Fabro