Trendelenburg, Friedrich Adolf

Trendelenburg, Friedrich Adolf a German philosopher, was born at Eutin, near Lubeck, Nov. 30, 1802; and was educated at the gymnasium of his native town, and at the universities of Kiel, Leipsic, and Berlin. From 1826 to 1833 he was private tutor in the family of postmaster-general Von Nagler, and in the latter year was appointed professor extraordinary of philosophy at Berlin. This position was exchanged, in 1837, for that of professor in ordinary. He was elected a member of the Berlin academy in 1846, and was its secretary in the "historico-philosophical" section from 1847 until his death, Jan. 24, 1872. "On that very day the journals announced his decoration by the king as a knight of the Order of Merit, for his eminence in science and art." "The foundation of Trendelenburg's doctrine is essentially Platonic and Aristotelian." He terms his philosophy the "organic view" of the world; and according to it each lower stage in existence is the basis of the higher stages, and necessarily involved in the higher. The soul is the self-realizing idea of man. God is the unconditioned, not directly demonstrable, but implied, with logical necessity, in the whole fabric of the universe and of human thought. Among Trendelenburg's works are, Elementa Logices Aristotelice (Berlin, 1837; 6th ed. 1868): — Logische Untersuch ungen (ibid. 1840; 3d ed. 1870): — Erl1uterungen zu den Elementen der z aistotelischen Logik (2d ed. 1861): — Naturrecht auf dem Grunde der Ethik (2d ed. 1868). See Bonitz, Zur Erinnerung an F. A. Trendelenburg (Berlin, 1872); Bratuschek, Adolf Trendelenburg (ibid. 1873); Prantl, Geddchtnissrede auf F. A. Trendelenburg (Munich, 1873); Ueberweg, Hist. of Modern Phil. (see Index).