Name Rudolf Eisler Role Philosopher | Spouse Marie Fischer (m. 1896) Parents Ferdinand Eisler | |
Born 7 January 1873 Vienna, Austria Died December 14, 1926, Vienna, Austria Children Hanns Eisler, Gerhart Eisler, Ruth Fischer Siblings Gaston Eisler, Armand Eisler Similar People Hanns Eisler, Ruth Fischer, Georg Eisler, Hede Massing, Rosa Luxemburg | ||
Rudolf Eisler (7 January 1873 – 14 December 1926) was an Austrian philosopher.
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Biography
Rudolf Eisler was born in Vienna to a family of wealthy Jewish merchants.
As a student of Wilhelm Wundt, Rudolf Eisler studied philosophy at Leipzig University and earned his Ph.D. there. In addition to Immanuel Kant, his philosophical writings, particularly those concerning phenomenalism, were largely influenced by Wundt, as well as Hermann Cohen and Edmund Husserl.
Upon moving back to Vienna in 1901, he and his family settled in the "Matzos Quarter," a section of the city largely composed of working-class Jews. Due to his atheism, he was denied a teaching position at the University of Vienna. He found work as an editor for a series of books on philosophy and sociology for the publisher Werner Klinkhardt. His Grundlagen der Philosophie des Geisteslebens (Foundations of the Philosophy of the Spiritual Life, 1908) was an installment of that series. In 1907, along with the Marxist Max Adler, he founded the Vienna Sociological Society.
Eisler described his philosophical ideas as "objective phenomenalism," which he articulated as a combination of empirical realism and transcendental idealism. With a firm understanding of the writings of Kant, his musings generally concerned the origins and construction of reality and truth. In his later years he developed an interest in syncretism and his writings turned to problems of cognition.
His philosophical leanings were a great influence on the early education and political identities of his children and grandchildren.
Marriage and children
Ida Maria Fischer, the daughter of a Lutheran butcher, lived with Rudolf Eisler during his studies in Leipzig. She herself was an "irregular" student at the University of Leipzig. She became known locally as a journalist and poet. They were married and had three children: