Helmuth Plessner

Helmuth Plessner was born 4 September 1892 in Wiesbaden. He was the son of medical doctor Fedor Pleszner (1861-1833) and Elisabeth Eschmann (1859-1941). Plessner passed away 12 June 1985 in Göttingen.

Between 1910 and 1916, Plessner studied various subjects at various universities. He studied medicine in Freiburg, zoology and philosophy in Heidelberg and phenomenology in Göttingen. In 1918, he obtained his doctorate and in 1920, he habilitated, qualifying for a full professorship in the German university system. He worked as Privatdozent in Cologne between 1920 and 1933, being fired for his Jewish lineage. From 1934 until 1951, Plessner worked at the University of Groningen, first as a privaat-docent, but from 1939, he served as a professor of sociology at the faculty of Law. In 1943 he was fired once again and he spend the war hiding in Amsterdam and Utrecht. In 1946, he returned to Groningen, now as a professor of philosophy. In 1951, he moved back to Germany, accepting a professorship of sociology and philosophy in Göttingen. He fulfilled this position until 1961. Then he moved to New York to teach at the New School for Social Research, a chair sponsored by the Theodor-Heuss-Stiftung (1962-1963). The University of Groningen awarded Plessner an honorary doctorate in 1964.

Plessner is one of the founding fathers of philosophical anthropology, researching the foundations of people and the fundamental characteristics of humanity and human behavior. In this context, he focused mostly on problems from the discipline of zoology, animal physiology, aesthetics, the history of ideas, knowledge sociology as well as sociological and political theory. During his time in Göttingen, Plessner focused mainly on cultural sociology and social philosophy. Here, he gained attention and fame for his work, leading to recognition of his accomplishment and republication of many of his works.