Hugo Dingler facts for kids

Hugo Albert Emil Hermann Dingler (born July 7, 1881, in Munich – died June 29, 1954, in Munich) was a German scientist and philosopher. He was known for his ideas about how we understand the basic rules of science and mathematics.

Life

Hugo Dingler studied mathematics, philosophy, and physics. He attended universities in Göttingen and Munich. His teachers included famous thinkers like Felix Klein and Wilhem Roentgen.

He earned his Ph.D. (a high-level university degree) in 1906 from the University of Munich. His main subjects were mathematics, physics, and astronomy.

In 1912, Dingler successfully completed his "Habilitation." This is a special qualification in Germany that allows someone to teach as a university professor. After this, he taught as a Privatdozent, giving lectures on math, philosophy, and the history of science. He became a full professor at the University of Munich in 1920. Later, in 1932, he became a professor in Darmstadt.

In 1934, Hugo Dingler lost his teaching job. This happened after the Nazi party came to power. The exact reasons are not fully clear. Dingler himself said it was because he had written positive things about Jews. However, some of his statements were also seen as anti-Jewish.

He held another teaching position from 1934 to 1936. In 1940, Dingler joined the Nazi Party. After this, he was given another teaching job. One of his books from 1944, Aufbau der exakten Fundamentalwissenschaft, was very rare. Only about thirty copies survived the bombings during World War II.

Thought

Hugo Dingler's ideas are often called "conventionalist." This means he thought that the basic rules of geometry and physics are not found by just looking at the world. Instead, they are chosen or agreed upon, like a convention. Some people called him a "radical conventionalist."

Dingler first called his own view "critical conventionalism." He wanted to show it was different from the "naïve conventionalism" of others, like Henri Poincaré. He later stopped using the term "conventionalist" for his own ideas.

He agreed that the main rules of geometry and physics are not just learned from experience. However, he disagreed with some conventionalists. He did not believe people were completely free to choose different basic rules.

Dingler thought that mathematics and physics could be built using "operations." These are like specific steps or actions. He believed that this "operational analysis" would always lead to Euclidean geometry and Newtonian mechanics. He thought these were the only possible results.

Dingler did not agree with Albert Einstein's relativity theory. Because of this, many leading scientists in Germany did not support him. His follower, Paul Lorenzen, also continued to disagree with the theory of general relativity.

Influence

Paul Lorenzen was a follower of Hugo Dingler. Lorenzen is known for his work on how to build mathematics in a clear and logical way. He especially followed Dingler's ideas about the foundations of geometry and physics.

Lorenzen had a group of followers and allies called the "Erlangen School." This group included thinkers like Kuno Lorenz and Peter Janich. They worked on a modern version of Dingler's ideas. Their goal was to include newer theories like relativity and quantum theory.

Works

• Beiträge zur Kenntnis der infinitesimalen Deformation einer Fläche (thesis directed by Aurel Voss), Amorbach, 1907.
• Grundlinien einer Kritik und exakten Theorie der Wissenschaften, 1907.
• Grenzen und Ziele der Wissenschaft, 1910.
• Die Grundlagen der angewandten Geometrie, Leipzig, 1911 / Die Grundlagen der Geometrie, Stuttgart, 1933.
• Die Grundlagen der Naturphilosophie, 1913
• Kritische Bemerkungen zu den Grundlagen der Relativitätstheorie, Physikalische Zeitschrift, vol 21 (1920), 668-675. Reissued as pamphlet in Leipzig, 1921.
• Metaphysik als Wissenschaft und der Primat der Philosophie, Munich, 1926.
• Philosophie der Logik und Arithmetik, Munich, 1931.
• Geschichte der Naturphilosophie, Berlin, 1932.
• Das System, Munich, 1933.
• Das Handeln im Sinne des höchsten Zieles, Munich, 1935.
• Die Methode der Physik, Munich, 1938.
• Vom Tierseele zur Menschenseele, Leipzig, 1941.
• Lehrbuch der Exakten Naturwissenschaften, Berlin, 1944. Edited posthumously by Paul Lorenzen as Aufbau der Fundamentalwissenschaften, Munich, 1964.
• Grundriss der methodischen Philosophie, Fuessen, 1949
• Ergreifung des Wirklichen, Munich 1955. Reprinted (with intro. by Kuno Lorenz and Jürgen Mittelstrass), Frankfurt, 1969.

See also

In Spanish: Hugo Dingler para niños