Karl Lamprecht facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Karl Lamprecht
|
|
|---|---|
Karl Lamprecht in 1909
|
|
| Born | 25 February 1856 Jessen, Province of Saxony, Germany
|
| Died | 10 May 1915 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | German historian |
Karl Gotthard Lamprecht (born February 25, 1856 – died May 10, 1915) was an important German historian. He was known for studying German art and the history of how people earned a living (economic history).
Contents
About Karl Lamprecht
Early Life and Education
Karl Lamprecht was born in a town called Jessen in Germany. When he was a student, he learned many subjects. He studied history, political science (how governments work), economics (how money and resources are used), and art. He went to universities in Göttingen, Leipzig, and Munich.
Later, Lamprecht became a teacher. He taught at the university in Marburg. Then he moved to Leipzig. There, he started a special center. It was called the Institut für Kultur und Universalgeschicht. This center focused on comparing world cultures and their histories.
His Work and Ideas
Lamprecht worked on a big project called "The Chronicles of the German Cities." This project was led by another famous historian, Karl von Hegel. Lamprecht also spent a lot of time studying how society and the economy developed in Germany and Europe, especially during the Middle Ages.
He had some new and different ideas about history. He believed that history was not just about kings and wars. He thought it should also look at how people lived every day. He studied broad topics like society, the environment, and even people's feelings and thoughts. To him, history was as much about understanding how society worked as it was about political events.
The "Methodenstreit" (Method Dispute)
Lamprecht wrote a very long book series called Deutsche Geschichte (German History). It had 13 volumes and covered all of German history. This book caused a big argument among historians in Germany. This argument was called the Methodenstreit, which means "methodological dispute."
Many other historians, like Max Weber, disagreed with Lamprecht's methods. They thought he wasn't strict enough in his research. They also felt he didn't pay enough attention to important political ideas. Because of this, Lamprecht and his students were often left out by other German academics. For a long time, studying social history in Germany was not very popular.
However, even though other academics didn't like his methods, many regular German people enjoyed reading his books.
His Beliefs and Later Life
Lamprecht was a main supporter of Kulturgeschichte, which means "History of Culture." He strongly believed that German culture was very important.
Just before he died, World War I began. He strongly disagreed with the idea that Germany's part in the war was only because of "war lords." He said that Germany was united in its actions.
Karl Lamprecht passed away in Leipzig on May 10, 1915. He died from internal bleeding, likely caused by a stomach problem.
His Influence on Other Historians
Karl Lamprecht's ideas were received much better in France and the United States. In 1904, he was invited to give talks at Columbia University in the U.S. These talks were later published as a book called What is History?.
His work had a big impact on French historians like Marc Bloch. It also influenced the Annales School, a famous group of historians. One of Lamprecht's students was Cai Yuanpei. Cai Yuanpei later became the head of Beijing University and greatly influenced modern Chinese thought.
Select Works by Karl Lamprecht
- Deutsches Wirtschaftsleben im Mittelalter, 3 vols., Leipzig 1885-1886 (Aalen 1969)
- Deutsche Geschichte, 12 vols. + 2 incomplete vols., Berlin 1891-1909
- Die kulturhistorische Methode, Berlin 1900
- Lamprecht, Karl (1905). What is history? Five lectures on the modern science of history. E. A. Andrews (trans.), William Edward Dodd (trans.). New York: Macmillan Co.. OCLC 1169422.
See also
In Spanish: Karl Lamprecht para niños
