Inspirational Quotes by Wilhelm Dilthey (German Philosopher)

Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911,) fully Wilhelm Christian Ludwig Dilthey, was a German philosopher, literary critic, biographer, and historian of ideas. A key figure in modern social thought’s idealist tradition, he made significant contributions to the humanities and other human sciences. His approach for the comprehensive treatment of history from the cultural viewpoint has influenced the study of literature.

Born in Biebrich, Hesse, Dilthey was a student of the great historian Leopold Von Ranke. He taught at Basel, Kiel, and Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) and was a philosophy professor at Berlin (1882–1911.)

One of Dilthey’s central themes is the radical distinction he made between the natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften) and the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften,) the former offering explanations of physical events through causal laws, the latter offering understanding (Verstehen) of events in terms of human intentions and meanings. He was a significant influence on Martin Heidegger, R. G. Collingwood, and Jose Ortega y. Gasset.

Dilthey developed a typology of worldviews (Weltanschauungen,) which would determine the different ways of conceiving our relation to the world. He developed a theory of hermeneutics to interpret historical texts and favored biography as the best historical method. His works include studies of Friedrich Schleiermacher, the young Hegel, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and Goethe.

Dartmouth College’s historian Michael Ermarth wrote Wilhelm Dilthey: The Critique of Historical Reason (1978.)

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