LAZARUS, MORITZ (18241903)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 314 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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LAZARUS, MORITZ (18241903) , German philosopher, was born on the 15th of September 1824 at Filehne, Posen. The son of a rabbinical scholar, he was educated in Hebrew literature and history, and subsequently in law and philosophy at the university of Berlin. From 186o to 1866 he was professor in the university of Berne, and subsequently returned to Berlin as professor of philosophy in the kriegsakademie (1868) and later in the university of Berlin (1893). On the occasion of his seventieth birthday he was honoured with the title of Geheimrath. The fundamental principle of his philosophy was that truth must be sought not in metaphysical or a priori abstractions but in psychological investigation, and further that this investigation cannot confine itself successfully to the individual consciousness, but must be devoted primarily to society as a whole. The psychologist must study mankind from the historical or comparative standpoint, analysing the elements which constitute the fabric of society, with its customs, its conventions and the main tendencies of its

evolution

EVOLUTION

. This Volkerpsychologie (folk-or comparative psychology) is one of the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

developments of the Herbartian theory of philosophy; it is a protest not only against the so-called scientific standpoint of natural philosophers, but also against the individualism of the positivists. In support of his theory he founded, in combination with H.

Steinthal

STEINTHAL, HEYMANN (1823—1899)

, the Zeitschrift fiir Volkerpsychologie and Sprachwissenschaft (18J9). His own contributions to this periodical were numerous and important. His

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

work

WORK

was Das Leben der Seek (Berlin, 185518J7; 3rd edition, 1883). Other philosophical works were:Ueber den Ursprung der Sitten (186o and 1867), Ueber die Ideen in der Geschichte (1865 and 1872); Zur Lehre von den Sinnestduschungen (1867); Ideate Fragen (1875 and 1885), Erriehung and Geschichte (1881); Unser Standpunkt (1881); Ueber die Rei:e des Spiels (1883). Apart from the

great

GREAT

interest

INTEREST

of his philosophical

work

WORK

, Lazarus was pre-eminent among the

Jews

of the so-called Semitic domination in Germany. Like Heine, Auerbach and

Steinthal

STEINTHAL, HEYMANN (1823—1899)

, he rose superior to the narrower ideals of the German

Jews

, and took a leading place in German literature and thought. He protested against the violent

anti

ANTI, or CAMPA

-Semitism of the time, and, in spite of the moderate tone of his publications, drew upon himself unqualified censtue. He wrote in this connexion a number of articles collected i11 1887 under the title Treu and Frei. Reden and Vortrage fiber Juden us.l Judenthum. In 1869 and 1871 he was president of the first and second Jewish Synods at

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

and Augsburg.
See R. Flint, The Philosophy of History in Europe; M. Brasch, Gesanimelte Essays and Characterkopfe zur neuen Philos. and Literatur; E. Berliner, Lazarus and die offentliche Meinung; M. Brasch, " Der Begrunder do Volkerpsychologie," in Nord et Sud (September 1894).

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