Any info on philosopher Ludwig Fischer?

January 4, 2009 5:52 PM

Does anyone know anything about an obscure German philosopher by the name of Ludwig Fischer?

His 1927 book "Die natürliche Ordnung unseres Denkens" was translated in 1930 as "The Structure of Thought: A Survey of Natural Philosophy" and published in London by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. There are a few scattered and fleeting references to this book online, but absolutely nothing about Fischer himself.

Although he shares the same name with both Hegel's illegitimate son, as well as with a convicted Nazi lawyer/war criminal, and although there are two other obscure German philosophers named Fischer (Kuno and Kurt Rudolf), I can find zero about the man in question (which is unusual, because even with very obscure philosophers I can usually find some small scrap of information). Thanks for your help.

posted by ornate insect to religion & philosophy (4 comments total)

He also wrote a book entitled "Das Vollwirkliche Und Das Als-ob" (Berlin, 1921) and never translated, if that helps.
posted by ornate insect at 6:02 PM on January 4

Well this document references a work entitled "Fiktionen und Bilder in der Rechtswissenschaft", an article apparently published in the 1919 Archiv für die zivilistische Praxis by Ludwig Fischer. The title is in keeping with the ones you've listed here, so that's something.

Then there's this, which links him with one Hans Vaihinger. I get a lot of hits for Vaihinger when I do relevant searches for Fischer, so it's likely they were engaged in some sort of philosophical discourse, or at least wrote about similar things.

You'll definitely want to read this too, as it appears to be a quite recent document by Fischer. Granted, someone publishing in both 1921 and 2003 would be quite old, but it does appear to be on point.

As far as I can tell he was an entirely minor member of German academia. Other than that, I go nothing.
posted by valkyryn at 6:58 PM on January 4

valkyryn--thanks for your response and three links. Your second .pdf link lists the following in its bibliography: Fischer, L. (1933): Die Grundlagen der Philosophie und der Mathematik, Leipzig.

I am familiar w/Vaihinger (his Philosophie des Als Ob, or "Philosophy of As If" is often referenced but infrequently read). FWIW, Fischer devotes several pages (p. 336-40) to Vaihinger in "The Structure of Thought." Vaihinger himself died in 1933.

(Also FWIW, my casual interest in Fischer stems at least in part from the initial sympathy I felt in a partial reading of "The Structure of Thought." Like Nicolai Hartmann at around the same time, Fischer appears to have been attempting a formal ontology that was eclipsed by the radical work of Heidegger. And I am also interested in thinkers from that period, such as Léon Brunschvicg or Emil Lask, whose work has been mostly forgotten).
posted by ornate insect at 7:25 PM on January 4

valkyrin: Your last link also has a biography of the Ludwig Fischer publishing there, and he was born in 1939. Not impossibly a son or relation, maybe emailing him might help? Here's his web page.
posted by themel at 12:29 PM on January 5