Archive Helmuth Plessner

Brief overview

Name of the archive: Archive Helmuth Plessner

Provenance: Plessner, Helmuth (1892-1985)

Dated: 1918-1975

Size: around 10 metres

Summary:

Scientific and personal archive of the sociologist and philosopher Helmuth Plessner, containing correspondence, notes, speeches and publications.

Collection number: UBG001

Call number: uklu PLESSNER

Provenance and acquisition

Biography

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). From 1965 until 1972, he was a professor of philosophy at the university of Zurich. 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. The ‘excentric position’ of the human is one of his core ideas: people have a body but also are a body. On the one hand, a person can distance themselves from their physical body; on the other hand they are inextricably linked. In relation to the outside world, humans always have a two-fold position: natural-artificial, direct-indirect and connected-separate. 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.

A selection of published works:

• Die wissenschaftliche Idee. Ein Entwurf über ihre Form, Heidelberg 1913.

• Die Einheit der Sinne. Grundlinien einer Ästhesiologie des Geistes, Bonn 1923.

• Grenzen der Gemeinschaft. Eine Kritik des sozialen Radikalismus, Bonn 1924.

• Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch. Einleitung in die philosophische Anthropologie, Berlin 1928.

• Macht und menschliche Natur. Ein Versuch zur Anthropologie der geschichtlichen Weltansicht, Berlin 1931.

• Das Schicksal des deutschen Geistes im Ausgang seiner bürgerlichen Epoche, Zürich/Leipzig 1935 (republished in 1959 entitled Die verspätete Nation)

• Lachen und Weinen. Eine Untersuchung nach den Grenzen menschlichen Verhaltens, Bern 1941.

• Is er vooruitgang in de wijsbegeerte? Groningen 1946.

• Mit anderen Augen. Aspekte einer philosophischen Anthropologie, Stuttgart 1953. Zwischen Philosophie und Gesellschaft. Ausgewählte Abhandlungen und Vorträge, Bern 1953.

• Die verspätete Nation. Über die Verführbarkeit bürgerlichen Geistes, Stuttgart 1959.

• Conditio humana, in G. Mann & A. Heuss, Propyläen Weltgeschichte, Berlin etc. 1961, Bd. I.

• Gesammelte Schriften, 10 vols., Frankfurt a.M. 1980-1985.

• H. Struyker Boudier (ed.), Filosofische wegwijzer. Correspondentie van F.J.J. Buytendijk met H. Plessner, Zeist 1993.

Works about Plessner:

• L.W. Nauta, 'H. Plessner, wijsgerig antropoloog', Wijsgerig Perspectief 4 (1964), pp. 253ff.

• F. Hammer, Die exzentrische Position des Menschen, Bonn 1967.

• M. Plessner, Die Argonauten auf Long Island, Berlin 1995.

• H. Redeker, Helmuth Plessner of de belichaamde filosofie, Delft 1995.

• J. Sperna Weiland, 'Helmuth Plessner', in: H. Achterhuis et al. (eds.), De Denkers. Een intellectuele biografie van de twintigste eeuw, Amsterdam 1999, pp. 235-244

Portrait

A portrait of Plessner, painted by Paul Citroen (1951) is on display in the ‘Engelse zaal’ of the Academy building at the University of Groningen (2001). For more information, please refer to R.E.O. Ekkart and J. Schuller tot Peursum-Meijer, Groninger Academieportretten (Groningen 1978), nr. 183.

Further information can be found on the website of the Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft.

Retainer

University Library Groningen, Special Collections department.

A (brief) inventory is available.

Access ways

This archive contains letters, notes, offprints and copies of articles, speeches, lecture notes, and official documents concerning Plessner’s roles as both a professor and as the director of the Sociologisch Instituut, among others. The archive also contains personal documents, such as newspaper clippings, postcards and pictures.

Letters from this archive are being added to the library catalogue. Some letters are available on microfiche (inventory numbers 141-143).

Acquisition

The archive was gifted to the University Library in 1982 by Plessner himself. The organization of the archive has been kept the same way Plessner had organized it.

Accessibility

Materials from this collection can be requested by sending an email to Special Collections Department or through Smartcat, the online library catalogue.

Limitations to use

The materials in this archive are available for viewing only, . They cannot be borrowed. To view these materials, please contact the Special Collections department.

Copyright

The copyright on this archive is held by the Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft, for enquiries please contact their president Volker Schürmann.

As owners of the archive, the University Library holds the right to publish (parts of) the archive.

Citations

University Library Groningen, Archive Plessner