# Hugo Dingler > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hugo_Dingler > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hugo_Dingler.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Dingler > Source revision: 1353653189 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|German scientist and philosopher (1881–1954)}} '''Hugo Albert Emil Hermann Dingler''' (July 7, 1881, [Munich](/source/Munich) – June 29, 1954, Munich) was a German [scientist](/source/scientist) and [philosopher](/source/philosopher). ==Life== Hugo Dingler studied [mathematics](/source/mathematics), [philosophy](/source/philosophy), and [physics](/source/physics) with [Felix Klein](/source/Felix_Klein), [Hermann Minkowski](/source/Hermann_Minkowski), [David Hilbert](/source/David_Hilbert), [Edmund Husserl](/source/Edmund_Husserl), [Woldemar Voigt](/source/Woldemar_Voigt), and [Wilhem Roentgen](/source/Wilhem_Roentgen) at the [University of Göttingen](/source/University_of_G%C3%B6ttingen) and the [Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München](/source/Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit%C3%A4t_M%C3%BCnchen). He graduated from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München with a thesis under [Aurel Voss](/source/Aurel_Voss). Dingler earned his Ph.D. in mathematics, physics and astronomy in 1906. His doctoral advisor was [Ferdinand von Lindemann](/source/Ferdinand_von_Lindemann). In 1910, Dingler's first attempt to earn a [Habilitation](/source/Habilitation) failed. His second try in 1912 was successful. Dingler then taught as a [Privatdozent](/source/Privatdozent) and hold lectures on mathematics, philosophy and the history of science. He became a professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in 1920. Dingler obtained a position as Professor ordinarius at the [Technische Universität Darmstadt](/source/Technische_Universit%C3%A4t_Darmstadt) in 1932. In 1934, one year after the Nazis took power Dingler was dismissed from his teaching position for still unclear reasons. Dingler himself told several interviewers that this was because of his favorable writings concerning [Jew](/source/Jew)s. In fact, both philo-semitic and anti-semitic statements by Dingler had been noted.Eckart Menzler-Trott, ''Gentzens Problem. Mathematische Logik im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland.'' Basel 2001, {{ISBN|3-7643-6574-9}}; ''Opportunismus als Naturanlage: Hugo Dingler und das „Dritte Reich“.'' In: Peter Janich (Hrsg.): ''Entwicklungen der methodischen Philosophie.'' Frankfurt a. M. 1992, S. 270 From 1934 to 1936, he again held a teaching position. In 1940, Dingler joined the [Nazi](/source/Nazi) Party and was again given a teaching position. Of Dingler's 1944 book ''Aufbau der exakten Fundamentalwissenschaft'' only thirty copies survived wartime bombing. ==Thought== Dingler's position is usually characterized as "[conventionalist](/source/Conventionalism)" by [Karl Popper](/source/Karl_Popper) and others. Sometimes he is called a "radical conventionalist" (also referred to as "[critical voluntarism](/source/critical_voluntarism)" in the secondary literature),[Peter Janich](/source/Peter_Janich), ''Protophysics of Time: Constructive Foundation and History of Time Measurement'', Springer, 2012. as by the early [Rudolf Carnap](/source/Rudolf_Carnap). Dingler himself initially characterized it as "critical conventionalism", to contrast it with the "naïve conventionalism" of other philosophers such as [Poincaré](/source/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9), but he himself later ceased to call his position conventionalist. Dingler agrees with the conventionalists that the fundamental assumptions of [geometry](/source/geometry) and physics are not extracted empirically and cannot be given a [transcendental](/source/Transcendence_(philosophy)) [deduction](/source/Deductive_reasoning). However, Dingler disagrees with conventionalists such as Henri Poincaré in that he does not believe there is freedom to choose alternative assumptions. Dingler believes that one can give a foundation to mathematics and physics by means of operations as building stones. Dingler claims that this [operational](/source/Operation_(mathematics)) analysis leads one to [Euclidean geometry](/source/Euclidean_geometry) and [Newtonian mechanics](/source/Newtonian_mechanics), which are the only possible results. Dingler opposed [Albert Einstein](/source/Albert_Einstein)'s [relativity theory](/source/relativity_theory) and was therefore opposed and snubbed by most of the leaders of the [German](/source/Germany) physics and mathematics community. This opposition, at least to the theory of [general relativity](/source/general_relativity), remains in the work of his follower [Paul Lorenzen](/source/Paul_Lorenzen). ==Influence== Paul Lorenzen, noted for his work on constructive foundations of mathematics was a follower of Dingler, at least with respect to the foundations of geometry and physics. The so-called Erlangen School of followers and allies of Lorenzen, including [Kuno Lorenz](/source/Kuno_Lorenz), [Wilhelm Kamlah](/source/Wilhelm_Kamlah), and [Peter Janich](/source/Peter_Janich), and more indirectly, [Jürgen Mittelstraß](/source/J%C3%BCrgen_Mittelstra%C3%9F), is thus in large part pursuing a modernized version of Dingler's program which claims to incorporate [relativity](/source/theory_of_relativity), [quantum theory](/source/Quantum_mechanics) and [quantum logic](/source/quantum_logic). ==Works== *''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der infinitesimalen Deformation einer Fläche'' (thesis directed by Aurel Voss), Amorbach, 1907. *''Grundlinien einer Kritik und exakten Theorie der Wissenschaften'', 1907. *''Grenzen und Ziele der Wissenschaft'', 1910. *''Die Grundlagen der angewandten Geometrie'', Leipzig, 1911 / ''Die Grundlagen der Geometrie'', Stuttgart, 1933.{{cite journal|last1=Church|first1=Alonzo|authorlink=Alonzo Church|title=Book Review: ''Die Grundlagen der Geometrie, ihre Bedeutung für Philosophie, Mathematik, Physik und Technik''|journal=Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society|volume=41|issue=1|year=1935|pages=9–10|issn=0002-9904|doi=10.1090/S0002-9904-1935-06012-4|doi-access=free}} *''Die Grundlagen der Naturphilosophie'', 1913{{cite journal|author=Sheldon, W. H.|title=Review of ''Die Grundlagen der Naturphilosophie''|year=1914|volume=23|issue=3|pages=355–357|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GT7kAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA355}} *''Die Kultur der Juden – Eine Versöhnung zwischen Religion und Wissenschaft'', Leipzig 1919. *''Die Grundlagen der Physik – Synthetische Prinzipien der mathematischen Naturphilosophie'', Berlin/Leipzig 1919. *''Physik und Hypothese – Versuch einer induktiven Wissenschaftslehre nebst einer kritischen Analyse der Fundamente der Relativitätstheorie'', Berlin/Leipzig 1921. *''Kritische Bemerkungen zu den Grundlagen der Relativitätstheorie'', ''Physikalische Zeitschrift'', vol 21 (1920), 668–675. Reissued as pamphlet in Leipzig, 1921. *''Der Zusammenbruch der Wissenschaft und der Primat der Philosophie'', Munich, 1926. *''Das Experiment – Sein Wesen und seine Geschichte'', Munich, 1928 *''Metaphysik und Wissenschaft vom Letzten,'', Munich, 1929 *''Das System – Das philosophisch-rationale Grundsystem und die exakte Methode der Philosophie'', Munich, 1930. *''Philosophie der Logik und Arithmetik'', Munich, 1931. *''Geschichte der Naturphilosophie'', Berlin, 1932. *''Das Handeln im Sinne des höchsten Zieles'', Munich, 1935. *''Die Methode der Physik'', Munich, 1938. *''Max Planck und die Begründung der sogenannten modernen theoretischen Physik'', Munich, 1939. *''Vom Tierseele zur Menschenseele'', Leipzig, 1941. *''Lehrbuch der Exakten Naturwissenschaften'', Berlin, 1944. Edited posthumously by Paul Lorenzen as ''Aufbau der Fundamentalwissenschaften'', Munich, 1964. *''Grundriss der methodischen Philosophie'', Fuessen, 1949 *''Ergreifung des Wirklichen'', Munich 1955. Reprinted (with intro. by Kuno Lorenz and Jürgen Mittelstrass), Frankfurt, 1969. ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== *Ceccato, Silvia, Silvio, "Contra-Dingler, pro Dingler" ''Methodos'', Vol. 4 (1952) English transl. 266–290, and Dinger, reply, 297–299. *Toretti, Roberto,"Hugo Dingler's Philosophy of Geometry," Dialogos, vol. 32, (1978), 85–118. *Wolters, Gereon, "The First Man Who Almost Wholly Understands Me: Carnap, Dingler, and Conventionalism," in [Nicholas Rescher](/source/Nicholas_Rescher), ed., *''The Heritage of Logical Positivism'', Lantham MD: University Press of America, 1985, 93–107. *Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, "Geometrie und Physik," in C. P. Enz and [Jagdish Mehra](/source/Jagdish_Mehra), eds., *''Physical Reality and Mathematical Description'', Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1974, esp. 60–63. *[Jürgen Mittelstraß](/source/J%C3%BCrgen_Mittelstra%C3%9F): ''Dingler, Hugo'' in: ders.: ''Enzyklopädie Philosophie und Wissenschaftstheorie.'' Zweite Auflage. Band 2, Metzler 2005 {{ISBN|978-3-476-02101-4}} S. 218–220 *[Peter Janich](/source/Peter_Janich) (Hrsg.): ''Wissenschaft und Leben – Philosophische Begründungsprobleme in Auseinandersetzung mit Hugo Dingler.'' Bielefeld 2006, {{ISBN|3-89942-475-1}}. *Wilhelm Krampf: ''Die Philosophie Hugo Dinglers.'' München 1955. *Wilhelm Krampf: ''Hugo Dingler – Gedenkbuch zum 75. Geburtstag.'' München 1956. *Peter Schroeder-Heister / Gereon Wolters: ''Der wissenschaftliche Nachlaß von Hugo Dingler (1881-1954)''. Verzeichnis mit einer Bibliographie der Schriften Dinglers. Konstanz 1979. *Bruno Thüring: ''Dr. Hugo Dingler, Universitätsprofessor, München.'' In: ''Aschaffenburger Jahrbuch für Geschichte, Landeskunde und Kunst des Untermaingebietes.'' 3, 1956, S. 408–411. *Jörg Willer: ''Relativität und Eindeutigkeit – Hugo Dinglers Beitrag zur Begründungsproblematik.'' Meisenheim 1973. *Gereon Wolters: ''Opportunismus als Naturanlage: Hugo Dingler und das ‚Dritte Reich''', in: Peter Janich (Hrsg.), Entwicklungen der methodischen Philosophie, Frankfurt a. M. 1992, S. 257–327. *Kirstin Zeyer: ''Die methodische Philosophie Hugo Dinglers und der transzendentale Idealismus Immanuel Kants.'' Hildesheim 1999. {{ISBN|3-487-10812-7}}. ==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Hugo Dingler}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dingler, Hugo}} Category:1881 births Category:1954 deaths Category:20th-century German philosophers Category:German philosophy academics Category:German philosophers of science Category:German science writers Category:Scientists from Munich Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:LMU Munich alumni Category:German male non-fiction writers Category:Relativity critics Category:20th-century German male writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hugo Dingler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Dingler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Dingler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.