Rudolf Eucken: Ethical activism

Eucken, Rudolf Christoph (rū'dôlf krĭs'tôf oik'ən) , 1846–1926, German philosopher, studied at Göttingen and Berlin. He taught philosophy at Basel and became professor of philosophy at Jena (1874). His work attained wide popularity, and he won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1912 he lectured at Harvard. His philosophy, known as activism, stressed personal ethical effort rather than intellectual idealism. English translations of his work include The Truth of Religion (1901), The Life of the Spirit (1909), and Knowledge and Life (1913). Encyclopedia Directory > People > Encyclopedia - People

Rudolf Christoph Eucken (January 5, 1846 - September 15, 1926) was a Frisiann philosopher, and the winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize for Literature. He was born in Aurich, Hanover (now Germany), and studied at Göttingen University and Berlin University. In 1871, after five years working as a school teacher, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He stayed there until 1874 when he took up a similar position at the University of Jena, Germany in 1874. He stayed there until he retired in 1920. He married in 1882 and had a daughter and two sons. His son Walter Eucken became a famous founder of neoliberal thought in economics.

His philosophy was based around human experience, maintaining that humans have souls, and that they are therefore at the junction between nature and spirit. He believed that people should overcome their non-spiritual nature by continuous efforts to achieve a spiritual life. He called this Ethical activism. He delivered lectures in England in 1911 and spent six months lecturing at Harvard University and elsewhere in the United States in 1912-1913. Wikipedia Directory > Reference > Wikipedia

Bergson's intuition, James' cosmic consciousness, Eucken's superconscient