Karl Fortlage

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Karl Fortlage (* 12 June 1806 in Osnabrück; † 8 November 1881 in Jena) was a German philosopher.

Life and work

Karl Fortlage became a private lecturer in Heidelberg in 1829 with his Inaugural treatise "Ueber die Denkweise der ältesten Philosophen", in Berlin in 1845 and was appointed professor of philosophy in Jena in 1846.

Originally a Hegelian, as evidenced by his juvenile treatise "Die Lücken des Hegelschen Systems" (Heidelberg 1832), he moved, prompted by the study of Kant and especially Fichte and Beneke, to a fusion of the Science of Knowledge with empirical psychology and to a standpoint which he himself called "transcendental pantheism".

His two main philosophical works are: "Genetische Geschichte der Philosophie seit Kant" (Genetic History of Philosophy since Kant, Leipzig 1852) u. "System der Psychologie" (System of Psychology, Leipzig 1855, 2 volumes).

Rudolf Steiner pointed out that Fortlage had already recognised that consciousness is based on a process of consumption opposed to life. In his "Eight Psychological Lectures" (1869) Fortlage wrote:

„When we call ourselves living beings, and thus attach to ourselves a quality which we share with animals and plants, we understand by the living state necessarily something which never leaves us, and both in sleep and in waking always continues in us. This is the vegetative life of the nourishment of our organism, an unconscious life, a life of sleep. The brain makes an exception here in that this life of nourishment, this life of sleep is outweighed by the life of consumption in the pauses of waking. In these pauses the brain is exposed to a predominant consumption, and consequently falls into a state which, if it extended to the other organs, would bring about the absolute debilitation of the body or death. The state of consciousness and personality therefore comes about only when the center and the original source of our nervous power, the brain, suffers from the danger of death. However, in this way the danger of life is always advanced only as far as it is compatible with the preservation of the whole organism ...“ (Lit.: Fortlage, p. 35f)

Works (selection)

  • Ueber die Denkweise der ältesten Philosophen (Inaugural-Abhandlung, München 1829) archive.org
  • Die Lücken des Hegelschen Systems der Philosophie (Leipzig, 1832) archive.org
  • Darstellung und Kritik der Beweise für das Dasein Gottes (Heidelberg 1840)
  • Gesänge christlicher Vorzeit (Berlin 1844) archive.org
  • Das musikalische System der Griechen in seiner Urgestalt (Leipzig 1847) google
  • Genetische Geschichte der Philosophie seit Kant (Leipzig 1852) google
  • System der Psychologie (Leipzig 1855, 2 Bde.) Band 1
  • Acht psychologische Vorträge (Jena 1869, 2. Aufl. 1872) archive.org
  • Sechs philosophische Vorträge (Jena 1869) google
  • Vier psychologische Vorträge (Jena 1874) archive.org
  • Friedrich Rückert und seine Werke (Frankfurt 1867) archive.org
  • Beiträge zur Psychologie als Wissenschaft aus Spekulation und Erfahrung (Leipzig 1875) archive.org

Literature

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.