Friedrich Albert Lange: biography of this German philosopher

This thinker was especially interested in the subject of what a good educational system should be like.

Friedrich Albert Lange was a German philosopher known for having tried to compile the entire history of materialism up to his time and, in addition, for having proposed reforms in the German educational system.

Not only did he spend his life in the classrooms of German Gymnasiums and universities, but he also dedicated himself to the political struggle by working in opinion journals critical of the way German unification was taking place.

The following is a biography of Friedrich Albert a biography of Friedrich Albert Langeand also go into more detail about his thoughts on how the educational process should take place.

Biography of Friedrich Albert Lange

Friedrich Albert Lange was born on September 28, 1828 in Wald, present-day Germany.a. He was the son of a Protestant theologian and dogmatic writer Johann Peter Lange. As a child he moved with his family to Langenberg in 1832 and then to Duisburg. Then, in 1841 he would go to Zurich, where his father would fill the position of professor of theology left vacant by David Friedrich Strauss. Lange would study philology and theology in Zurich, especially the doctrines of Hegel and Herbart, besides being interested in Kant while in this city.

In 1898 he moved to Bonn to study at its university, where he would pursue further studies.In 1898 he moved to Bonn to study at its university, where he would pursue higher studies in philosophy, German literature, analytical geometry and calculus. Later, in 1851, he obtained his doctorate with his work on metric questions.

After his military service in Cologne, he became a teacher at a high school in Cologne, and in 1955 he joined the faculty of the University of Bonn as a privatdozent. In 1857 he began to give lessons on materialism, however, not being able to improve his position as a teacher in Bonn and having little success his lectures on pedagogy, he decided to return to Duisburg and work in his Gymnasium (German high school).

In Duisburg he would teach Greek, Latin, German and philosophy between 1858 and 1862. between the years 1858 and 1862, and it would be in this period in which he would write several pedagogical articles for the Enzyklopädie des gesammten Erziehungs und Unterrichtswesens of Karl Schmid.

But the life of Friedrich Albert Lange is not merely academic. He also developed an important political activism, involving himself in the new consumer cooperatives and supporters of the unification of Germany..

He spent several months working as co-editor of the liberal newspaper "Rhein und Ruhrzeitung", which was critical of Otto von Bismarck. In 1866 he joined the International Workingmen's Association, which was to become known, in the course of time, as the "Rhein und Ruhrzeitung".which would become known, in the course of time, as the First International. A year later he published the first edition of his "History of Materialism".

In 1869 he joined the University of Zurich, where he became a professor. However, he later moved to Marburg to exercise the same profession. While in that city, in 1872, he already began to show signs of illness, cancer, which would be responsible for his death on November 21, 1875..

It should be noted that despite his last years being ill this did not prevent him from working on his work, trying to finish the second edition of "History of Materialism", which would be published in two volumes published in 1873 and 1875.

The pedagogy of Friedrich Albert Lange

Lange was always very interested in the theoretical questions about what should be the purpose of education, and what was the best method to achieve it.and what was the best method to achieve it. In fact, even before he started teaching at a Gymnasium in Cologne he was already considering what the method should be for reforming the German educational system of his time.

He was especially concerned about the importance being given to the classics, too much, in his opinion, while the study of the classics was being ignored. the study of the natural sciences was being neglected.which were becoming increasingly important.

Despite his interest in this question, and even having contributed articles on pedagogy to the Encyklopädie des gesammten Erziehungs- und Unterrichtswesens of Karl Schmid, Lange does not seem to have had a great impact on his contemporaries or on the history of pedagogy.although his vision of pedagogy turns out to be something really interesting. When he started working as a privatdozent at the University of Bonn, he tried to lecture on pedagogy, but unfortunately did not succeed in generating much interest among his students.

However, there are those who consider that this initial lack of interest in Lange's pedagogy was only temporary, since there are many great German thinkers contemporary to this philosopher who claim to have been influenced by his work.. Among the most notable are Max Weber, Friedrich Paulsen, Paul Natorp and Hans Vaihinger.

Friedrich Albert Lange asserted that the purpose of education should be to make the to make students become rational and culturalized persons once they reach adulthood..... To this end, it was necessary to look back at the history of both education and pedagogy, and thus obtain the keys to achieve such a purpose. The history of education would provide an understanding of how social, political and cultural conditions interact in ways that generate specific types of educational environments.

In order to achieve free citizens who act with great leadership, it is necessary for teachers themselves to feel that they are free. it is necessary for teachers themselves to feel actively involved in their community.. That is, teachers should not be isolated from the political situation they are living in or the socio-cultural context that is taking place in their town or region. Only politically involved teachers will be able to foster in their students a love of freedom and an appreciation of the motherland.

Freethought at school

Friedrich Albert Lange believed that a crucial aspect of a society that allowed free thinking was that every social entity should have the right to decide what it wanted to teach in school.. However, this does not mean that any kind of ideology should be allowed. Lange believed that the state should restrict the appearance of certain schools if what is taught poses a real threat to the legitimacy of the state or promotes criminal activities.

While Lange considered Christian values to be an essential part of education, he also believed that there should be no single, predetermined religious instruction for all German schools. He considered that each school, and along the same lines with respect to freethought and the subjects to be taught in class, religion should be chosen by those entities that were behind the overture of the school.

Lange considered Christian values to be an essential part of education, although he would later give greater importance to the idea that philosophy acquired an important role in achieving an effective educational process. In addition, he came to believe that the Christian religion should not be imposed, but rather that it should be taught in a way that is not imposed.

In Lange's pedagogical method it is held that a balance should be sought between the student's natural talentthat is, those strengths that he demonstrates, and the social stimuli from his family and community environment. He believes that the environment plays a significant role in the type of learning demonstrated by the learner, and can help the learner to focus and direct his or her learning abilities, especially in what he or she is good at.

He is critical of social Darwinism, since he thinks that there is no need to pay attention to the developmental barriers created by socioeconomic inequalities.

Bibliographical references:

• Lange, F. A. (1857) Raumers Geschichte der Pädagogik, Neue Jahrbücher für Philologie und Pädagogik, 76: 107-133.
• Lange, F. A. (1858), Die Prinzipien der gerichtlichen Psychologie, mit Berücksichtigung von Idelers Lehrbuch, Adolph Henke's Zeitschrift für die Staatsarzneikunde.
• Reichesberg, N., (1892), Friedrich Albert Lange als Nationalökonom, Bern: K. J. Wys.