Richard Kroner
Richard Kroner (8 March 1884 in Breslau – 2 November 1974 in Mammern) was a German neo-Hegelian philosopher, known for his Von Kant bis Hegel (1921/4), a classic history of German idealism written from the neo-Hegelian point of view. He was a Christian, from a Jewish background. He is known for his formulation of Hegel as 'the Protestant Aquinas'.
In 1924 Victor Klemperer supported a call for Richard Kroner to a new chair for theoretical pedagogics and philosophy at Technische Hochschule Dresden,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> where he became friends with Paul Tillich.<ref name=":0" />
Under Nazi legislation Kroner's Jewish ancestry as well as his principled democratic stance led to his "suspension" (dismissal) from his university position at Kiel in 1934.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was replaced briefly by Hans-Georg Gadamer, a personal friend.<ref name=":1" />
The American philosopher Otis Lee studied with Kroner for the academic year 1933–1934 and helped him escape to the United States and find a new academic position at Manhattan's Union Theological Seminary.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web
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Kroner's ideas on Hegel, including his slant via Kierkegaard, were taken up by some existentialist thinkers, including Lev Shestov and Nikolai Berdyaev.<ref name=":1" />
In 1952 Richard Kroner retired to Elkins Park, Pennsylvania<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> before moving to Switzerland. He was awarded the Große Bundesverdienstkreuz.<ref name=":0" />
The Kroners are buried at Richmond Cemetery.<ref name=":0" />
Works
- Zweck und Gesetz in der Biologie. Eine logische Untersuchung (1913)
- Kants Weltanschauung (1914)
- Hegel. Zum 100. Todestag (1932)
- Die Selbstverwirklichung des Geistes. Prolegomena zur Kulturphilosophie (1928)<ref name=":2" />
- Von Kant bis Hegel.
- 1. Band: Von der Vernunftkritik zur Naturphilosophie (1921)
- 2. Band: Von der Naturphilosophie zur Philosophie des Geistes (1924)
- The Religious Function of Imagination (1941)
- Culture and Faith (1951)<ref name=":2" />
- Speculation in pre-Christian philosophy (1957)
- Selbstbesinnung. Drei Lehrstunden (1958)
- Speculation and Revelation In Modern Philosophy (1961)
- Between Faith and Thought: Reflections and Suggestions (1966)
- Freiheit und Gnade (1969)
References
<references/>
- On Two Books by Richard Kroner (1930) - Lev Shestov
- Richard Kroner (1884-1974). Ein christlicher Philosoph jüdischer Herkunft unter dem Schatten Hitlers (1993) – Walter Asmus (1903-1996)