Robert spaemann biography

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Robert Spaemann (1927-2018) was an internationally acclaimed German philosopher and Catholic public intellectual. He was an ordinary professor of philosophy at the Universities of Stuttgart, Heidelberg, where he succeeded Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Munich. In his books and essays, he touches on all the major themes of philosophy: God, religion, human nature, politics, ethics, bioethics, as well as the method and place of science, both social and natural. Much admired by Benedict XVI, he draws on classical philosophy and Christian theology to assess modern thought and culture. In 1982, the great English philosopher G.E.M. Anscombe lamented that Spaemann was too little known in the English-speaking world. Since then, some of Spaemann’s books and essays have been translated into English. In this interview, Adam Myers takes us through them.

A native Virginian, Adam Myers teaches philosophy at Mount Mercy University, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has degrees in philosophy, history, and religion at Liberty University (Va.), Wheaton College (Ill.), Yale Divinity School (Conn.), and Ba

Robert Spaemann

German philosopher (1927–2018)

Robert Spaemann (5 May 1927 – 10 December 2018) was a German Catholic philosopher.[1] He is considered a member of the Ritter School.

Spaemann's focus was on Christian ethics. He was known for his work in bioethics, ecology and human rights. Although not yet widely translated into languages other than his native German, Spaemann was internationally known, and his work was highly regarded by Pope Benedict XVI[2][citation needed] He was also a personal advisor of Pope John Paul II and a friend of Joseph Ratzinger.[3]

Life

Robert Spaemann was born in Berlin in 1927 to Heinrich Spaemann and Ruth Krämer. His parents were originally radical atheists, but both entered the Catholic Church in 1930, and after his mother's early death, his father was ordained a Catholic priest in 1942.[4]

Spaemann studied at the University of Münster, where in 1962, he was awarded his Habilitation. He was Professor of Philosophy at the Universities of Stuttgart (until 1968), Heidelberg (u

Robert Spaemann (1927-2018)

Robert Spaemann (1927-2018) Till Kinzel O n December 10, 2018, the renowned German philosopher Robert Spaemann passed away. His was a distinctive voice among contemporary thinkers, a voice that eschewed attention-seeking brilliance but instead offered calm and deep reflections on the most important matters for human beings. Spaemann’s trajectory of thought spanned about 70 years of engagement with crucial questions that refer, as the German phrase has it, Über Gott und die Welt (‘to God and the world’). This is also the title of an intriguing autobiography, written in conversational form, based on a 2012 dialogue Spaemann had with journalist Born in Berlin on May 5, 1927, to parents who would convert to Catholicism a few years later, Spaemann grew up under the National Socialist dictatorship, a regime that he considered to be a break with the 2,000-year-old tradition of the West. He would also always remember from this period his teacher’s anti-National Socialist teachings, which were transmitted through a reading of Adalbert Stifter’s novella Kalkstei

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