Carrière,_Moritz

Carrière, Moritz (1817-1895), German philosopher and historian, was born at Griedel in Hesse Darmstadt on the 5th of March 1817. After studying at Giessen, Göttingen and Berlin, he spent a few years in Italy studying the fine arts, and established himself in 1842 at Giessen as a teacher of philosophy. In 1853 he was appointed professor at the university of Munich, where he lectured mainly on aesthetics. He died in Munich on the 19th of January 1895. An avowed enemy of Ultramontanism, he contributed in no small degree to making the idea of German unity more palatable to the South Germans. Carrière identified himself with the school of the younger Fichte as one who held the theistic view of the world which aimed at reconciling the contradictions between deism and pantheism. Although no obstinate adherent of antiquated forms and prejudices, he firmly upheld the fundamental truths of Christianity. His most important works are: Aesthetik (Leipzig, 1859; 3rd ed., 1885), supplemented by Die Kunst im Zusammenhang der Kulturentwicklung und der Ideale der Menschheit (3rd ed., 1877-1886); Die philosophische Weltanschauung der Reformationszeit (Stuttgart, 1847; 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1886), and Die sittliche Weltordnung (Leipzig, 1877; 2nd ed., 1891), in which he recognized both the immutability of the laws of nature and the freedom of the will. He described his view of the world and life as “real-idealism.” His essay on Cromwell (in Lebensskizzen, 1890), which may be considered his political confession of faith, also deserves mention. His complete works were published at Leipzig, 14 vols., in 1886-1894.

See S.P.V. Lind in Zeitschrift f. Philos. (cvi, 1895, pp. 93-101); W. Christ in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie (1903).

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