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The First Latvian Philosopher Jēkabs Osis and the Search for Substance

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The First Latvian Philosopher Jēkabs Osis and the Search for Substance TRAMES, 2015, 19(69/64), 2, 95–108 THE FIRST LATVIAN PHILOSOPHER JĒKABS OSIS AND THE SEARCH FOR SUBSTANCE Andris Hiršs University of Latvia Abstract. Jēkabs Osis (1860–1920) is the first academically educated Latvian philosopher and one of the founders of the University of Latvia. However, Osis never worked there. His academic life was closely tied with the University of Tartu, where he studied theology, philosophy and eventually became a professor of philosophy. Inspired by his mentor, professor of philosophy, Gustav Teichmüller, Osis turned his attention to the works of Leibniz, most notably those about the nature of substance. Osis aspired to unify the under- standing of the notion of substance with the necessity to substantiate the immortality of individual entities. Osis criticized the philosophy of Leibniz and verified a new under- standing of substance that is found in the works of Teichmüller. Keywords. Jēkabs Osis, Teichmüller, Leibniz, metaphysics, personalism, substance, individual, history of philosophy, epistemology, University of Tartu DOI: 10.3176/tr.2015.2.01 1. Introduction Jēkabs Osis is known in the Latvian history of philosophy as the first academically educated Latvian philosopher. His works and academic accomplish- ments influenced the development of Baltic intellectual thought during the first half of the 20th century. Even though Latvian philosophical thought only started developing at the beginning of the 19th century, Osis already had a solid founda- tion for his philosophy. Nevertheless, the comprehensive study of his legacy remains a work in progress. Osis spent most of his life in Tartu. Initially, he studied theology at the University of Tartu and later taught religion at a local gymnasium. However, not long after Osis resigned and decided to study philosophy instead. His choice was influenced by Gustav Teichmüller (1832–1888), who was professor of philosophy 96 Andris Hiršs at the University of Tartu. After Teichmüller passed away, Osis became the pro- fessor of philosophy. From 1893 to 1905, Osis was the dean of history and philology, intermittently fulfilling responsibilities as head of the university. Osis taught logic, psychology, epistemology, history of philosophy and conducted seminars. His contemporaries described the professor as a true scholar, devoting his life to intellectual pursuits, adhering to a strict daily regimen (Jurevičs 1948:8). As evidenced by the published works of Osis, as well as the lecture notes of his students, the philosopher represented what he described as a branch of thought pioneered by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), Rudolph Hermann Lotze (1817–1881) and Teichmüller (Oze 1890:83). In Tartu Osis found himself among other followers of Teichmüller, such as Evgenij Aleksandrovič Bobrov (1867–1933), the Polish philosopher, Vincet Lutosławski (1863–1954) and the Lithuanian philosopher, Wladimir Szyłkarski (1884–1960). The aforementioned thinkers by Latvian and Russian philosophy historians are often referred to as the ‘Tartu school of personalism’ (Priedīte 1991:9). Osis defined personalism as a worldview whereby the subject assumes a critical point of view and comes to a new understanding of cognition. He realizes that the external, seemingly existing world is merely a projection of himself (Oze 1896:14). Philosophers representing personalism were united in the search of new metaphysics that could serve as a theoretical foundation for the acknowledgement of personality as the highest value. Personalists focused on the history of philosophy and acknowledged Leibniz as one of their predecessors. However, after analysing the teachings of Leibniz on the subject of substance, Osis rejected his insights. This paper focuses on Osis’ critique of Leibniz, revealing why Osis opposed the philosopher’s work, and how he thus demonstrated the necessity of Personalism philosophy. 2. The Tartu school of personalism Russian and Latvian historians of philosophy tend to refer to Osis as a repre- sentative of the Tartu school of personalism. However, to place the contemplations of the philosopher in a broader context, it is important to ask – who were the personalists of Tartu? The arrival of German philosopher Teichmüller in Tartu can be considered as the beginning of the Tartu school of personalism. Heiner Shwenke noted personal considerations as one of the main motives behind his arrival. Teichmüller was in need of a larger salary than one offered by the University of Basel, in order to provide for his family (Schwenke 2006:49). However, the question can also be framed from another angle by asking why Teichmüller was offered a position at the University of Tartu, which was part of Czarist Russia at the time. During the 18th century there was no university network in Czarist Russia. However, the emperor Peter the Great, inspired by Leibniz and other thinkers, supported the proliferation of universities, academies and scientific societies. In The first Latvian philosopher Jēkabs Osis 97 this process, one of the main issues was the lack of prospective students, as well as academic personnel. Students were invited mainly from Russian religious seminaries, but professors were sought from other countries, primarily Germany (Bezlepkin 1999:19). In the search for teachers, representatives from Russian universities developed ties with Göttingen, Jena and other German universities (Petuhov 1902:398). The influx of German professors to Russian universities significantly con- tributed to the development of science in general, and philosophy was no excep- tion. For example, Johann Gottlieb Buhle (1763–1821) arrived in Moscow from the University of Göttingen. The philosophy professor promoted interest in antique philosophy, and was one of the first to introduce Russian students to the philosophy of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854). In the 18th century, Pavel I issued a ban on sending the younger generation to study abroad, which conflicted with the interests of the Baltic nobility. In order to solve the issue, Pavel I offered to create a new university in the region. It was one of the reasons behind the foundation of a university in Tartu (Guļevskis 2011:24). There were some discussions about the location in those days. Although, the University of Tartu already then had a long history, being established in 1632 as Academia Dorpatensis (Academia Gustaviana), the university was founded in Jelgava where it existed for about 100 days, because after the death of Pavel I, the new tsar Alexander gave an order to relocate the university in Tartu, stipulating that it must promote development of science in Vidzeme, Kurzeme and the Estonian provinces. The German-Baltic philosopher Gottlob Benjamin Jäsche (1762–1842), the first philosophy teacher at the renewed University of Tartu, stressed the local importance of the university in his opening speech. Tartu had to enlist the descendants of local landlords to prevent the younger generation from leaving the Baltic region (Jäsche 1802:8). At the same time, the university could establish the values of Western European scientific achievements in Czarist Russia. When Teichmüller was offered the opportunity to become a professor at the University of Tartu, the philosopher had already achieved recognition for his research on the philosophy of Aristotle. Since his student years, Teichmüller worked with antique texts, visiting lectures of Adolf Trendelenburg (1802–1872) in Berlin. Trendelenburg became a professor at the University of Berlin one and half years after the passing of Hegel. This is a noteworthy fact, as many researchers consider the year when Hegel died as the beginning of the downfall of German idealism or, as some refer to it, the beginning of the “breakdown of German idealism”. Following the death of Hegel, philosophy as a field of study became fragmented, ties between the various schools of philosophy weakened and public interest in philosophical questions consequently diminished (Falckenberg 1905:518). Frederick Beiser (1949), an American philosopher, in his monograph titled “Late German Idealism” (2012), states that the time of Trendelenburg can be con- sidered as the start of an identity crisis for the whole philosophy, at the heart of which lies the rapid development of empirical science. At the time, representatives 98 Andris Hiršs of the natural sciences regarded the speculations of philosophers with suspicion, “Philosophy had given birth to all sciences; but now that her children have grown up, she seems to have no purpose anymore” (Beiser 2013:23). A notable critic of the idealism branch of philosophy was Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932). He was teaching at the University of Tartu at the same time as Teichmüller. Ostwald professed a resurgence of interest in philosophy during the 19th century. However, this interest no longer focused primarily on the philosophy of nature, which, by his account, had lapsed into baseless speculation and brought the study of natural sciences as a whole in Germany down to its lowest point (Ostwald 1902:3). Ostwald considers the development of “a philosophy for the natural sciences” a necessity, separate from the academic, “specialist” philosophy, with an intrinsic dependence on the scientific method, trust in the progress of science and a commitment to continuously develop new tools to improve living standards for the betterment of mankind (ibid: 8–13). Philosophers had to search for a new purpose and a new way to justify their own existence. A period of search began and multiple new branches
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