Arnold Gehlen facts for kids
Arnold Gehlen (born January 29, 1904, in Leipzig, German Empire – died January 30, 1976, in Hamburg, West Germany) was an important German thinker. He was a conservative philosopher, sociologist, and anthropologist. He studied how humans behave and how societies work.
His Life and Work
Arnold Gehlen studied philosophy and was greatly influenced by thinkers like Hans Driesch, Nicolai Hartmann, and especially Max Scheler. He also learned a lot from Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, and American thinkers like Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and George Herbert Mead.
In 1933, Gehlen joined the Nazi Party. He became a professor and continued his academic career. His most famous book, Der Mensch (meaning Man), was published in 1940. It was later translated into English as Man. His Nature and Place in the World. Gehlen was a modern conservative. He accepted the big changes that came with the Industrial Revolution and modern society. He wrote about this in his book Man in the age of technology.
Gehlen took over teaching positions from other professors. He taught at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Königsberg. Later, he taught at the University of Vienna until he joined the army in 1943. After the war, he continued teaching at various universities, including Aachen University of Technology. In the late 1960s, he became a strong critic of the student protest movements happening at that time.
Arnold Gehlen was also the cousin of Reinhard Gehlen. Reinhard founded and led the West German Federal Intelligence Service, which is like a spy agency.
Key Ideas
Gehlen's main idea in Der Mensch is that humans are unique. We have special qualities that no other animals have. One key idea is "world-openness" (Weltoffenheit). This means humans can adapt to many different environments. Animals, on the other hand, can only live in places that perfectly suit their natural abilities.
This "world-openness" allows us to change our surroundings. We can create our own cultural environments. Gehlen believed that language is a way of acting, not just talking. He also thought humans have many impulses but can control themselves. While this ability helps us create amazing things, it can also lead to some instability in our lives.
Gehlen's ideas have influenced many modern German thinkers. These include Peter L. Berger and Niklas Luhmann in sociology. His work has also influenced Hans Blumenberg in philosophy. In recent years, people have become interested in Gehlen's ideas again. This is partly because of predictions he made in his book Moral und Hypermoral about how politics would develop.
Post-histoire
In 1952, Gehlen started using the term post-histoire. This idea came from Hendrik de Man, a Belgian thinker. Gehlen used it to describe a time when society becomes very stable and rigid. In this time, there are no new big ideas, no major changes, and no new developments.
In 1961, Gehlen wrote an article called Über kulturelle Kristallisation (meaning "On Cultural Crystallization"). In it, he said, "I am predicting that the history of ideas has come to an end." He believed we had reached the time of post-histoire. He felt that humanity as a whole should "make do with what you have," just like the advice a poet named Gottfried Benn gave to individuals.
Selected Writings
- Der Mensch. Seine Natur und seine Stellung in der Welt. (1940) (Translated as Man. His Nature and Place in the World, Columbia University Press, 1987)
- Urmensch und Spätkultur. Philosophische Ergebnisse und Aussagen. (1956)
- Die Seele im technischen Zeitalter. (1957) (Translated as "Man in the age of technology")
- Moral und Hypermoral. Eine pluralistische Ethik. (1969)
- Zeit-Bilder. Zur Soziologie und Ästhetik der modernen Malerei. (1960)
See also
In Spanish: Arnold Gehlen para niños
- Philosophical anthropology
- Postmodernism
