Lotze, Rudolph Hermann
Lotze, Rudolph Hermann
(1817-1881) Empiricist in science, teleological idealist in philosophy, theist in religion, poet and artist at heart, Lotze conceded three spheres; Necessary truths, facts, and values. Mechanism holds sway in the field of natural science; it does not generate meaning but is subordinated to value and reason which evolved a specific plan for the world. Lotze’s psycho-physically oriented medical psychology is an applied metaphysics in which the concept soul stands for the unity of experience. Science attempts the demonstration of a coherence in nature; being is that which is in relationship; “thing” is not a conglomeration of qualities but a unity achieved through law; mutual effect or influence is as little explicable as beingIt is the monistic Absolute working upon itself. The ultimate, absolute substance, God, is the good and is personal, personality being the highest value, and the most valuable is also the most real. Lotze disclaimed the ability to know all answersthey rest with God. Unity of law, matter, force, and all aspects of being produce beauty, while aesthetic experience consists in Einfhlung. Main works
Metaphysik, 1841;
Logik, 1842;
Medezinische Psychologie, 1842;
Gesch. der Aesthetik im Deutschland, 1868;
Mikrokosmos, 3 vols., 1856-64 (Eng. tr. 1885);
Logik 1874;
Metaphysik, 1879 (Eng. tr. 1884). — K. F. L.