Late German Idealism ─ Trendelenburg and Lotze

Frederick C. Beiser presents a study of the two most important idealist philosophers in Germany after Hegel: Adolf Trendelenburg and Rudolf Lotze. Trendelenburg and Lotze dominated philosophy in Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They were important influences on the generation after them, on Frege, Brentano, Dilthey, Kierkegaard, Cohen, Windelband and Rickert. Late German Idealism is the first book on this significant but neglected chapter in European philosophical history. It provides a general introduction to every aspect of the philosophy of Trendelenburg and Lotze--their logic, metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics; but it is also a study of their intellectual development, from their youth until their death. Their philosophy is placed in the context of their lives and culture.

Frederick C. Beiser was born and raised in the US, and studied in the UK at Oriel and Wolfson Colleges, Oxford. He also studied in Germany and lived in Berlin for many years, receiving stipends from the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the Humboldt Stiftung. He has taught in universities across the US, and is currently Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University. Beiser is the author of Schiller as Philosopher (OUP, 2005), Diotima's Children (OUP, 2009), and The German Historicist Tradition (OUP, 2011).