Paul Natorp - Biography

Paul Natorp was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, January 24 1854. He died August 17, 1924 in Marburg, Germany. Natorp was known as a Neo-Kantian philosopher and pedagogue.

Son of a clergyman, Paul Natorp began his studies in 1871 focusing on classical philology, music, and history in both Berlin and Bonn. He then enrolled at the University of Strasbourg under the supervision of the positivist Ernst Laaas and obtained his degree in 1876. Four years later Natorp decided to study philosophy and went to Marburg in order to study under Hermann Cohen, the founder of the Neo-Kantian “Marburg School.” In the following year, 1881, he completed his Habilitation dissertation entitled Descartes’ Erkenntnistheorie (Descartes's theory of knowledge). He was appointed associate professor four years later in 1885. Later, Natorp was granted a tenured professorship in philosophy and pedagogy, a position which he held from 1893 until his retirement in 1922.

Paul Natorp engaged with many influential figures, among his colleagues was Nicolai Hartmann and, being a composer himself, he corresponded with Brahms. He was also quite influential on a growing generation, among his students were Ernst Cassirer and Boris Pasternak. He served as the doctoral supervisor for Hans-Georg Gadamer in 1922, and in the following year he brought Martin Heidegger, whose work he highly valued, to Marburg as “Extraordinary” Professor.

In the beginning of his career Natorp focused his research primarily on Cohen’s interpretation of Kant as well as on dedicated pursuit to the history of philosophy in general. This is reflected in Die logischen Grundlagen der exakten Wissenschaften (The logical foundations of the exact sciences, 1910), and in his subsequent work Die Philosophie. Ihr Problem und ihre Probleme (Philosophy. Its problem and its problems, 1911). Whereas the latter focuses on critical idealism, in the former Natorp elaborates on logic, which, as he affirms, can be attained only by means of a philosophical investigation of science. This logic provides a “new level of reflection” able to examine the laws of how a particular object constitutes itself, while these laws are themselves the foundation of a scientific understanding of phenomena.

Given his intention to explore the ideas of science, Natorp is generally labelled as a methodical idealist. In accordance with the Marburgian conception, which conceives Kant’s central idea as being the transcendental method, Natorp considers it [the transcendental method] the only proper philosophical method that can be based on the sciences. Here it is clear that Natorp conforms to Cohen’s conception of science as being the most fundamental question for philosophy. For Natorp philosophy is a philosophy of science. However, this science is to be a science in progress. Convinced of the objective character of philosophy, Natorp regards knowledge (Erkenntnis) as not at all permanent, but rather as constantly malleable, moving.

Natorp is said to have had a great impact on Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology. Arguing that the-thing-in-itself, though indispensable for reasoning, is an experience-limiting concept, he furthermore distinguishes between a subjective phenomenon, which is a mere Vorstellung and, therefore, not part of science, and the actual phenomenon, which is to be seen as such—as objective, not subjective. Accordingly, Natorp claims that philosophy has to ground its investigations on an understanding of the latter.

In 1903, Paul Natorp published Platos Ideenlehre (Plato's Theory of Ideas), which is often considered his most important work. In it Natorp tries to re-interpret Plato, who, in his opinion, had been misunderstood ever since Aristotle. In contrast to the predominant perception of Plato’s ideas as things or substances, Natorp asserts that they are to be understood as laws or methods, and thus as being foundational for science. Consequently, he thinks of Plato as the founder of critical idealism.

In the years after 1918, Natorp began to broaden his perspective and focus of interests. He started to write on ethics, the philosophy of psychology, as well as social pedagogy. Already in 1912 Natorp had published Allgemeine Psychologie nach kritischer Methode (General psychology according to a critical method), where he argues that only (philosophical) psychology, not philosophy, is capable of exploring the Verfasstheit (constitution) of the transcendental object through subjective experience. And yet, psychology comes “after” philosophy, as the subjective needs to be approached from an objective point of view - namelyphilosophy.

Paul Natorp also conceived of pedagogy as a philosophical question. Equally defending Neo-Kantian ideas, he developed a concept of social pedagogy wherein education and Bildung takes place solely in and through community. The ultimate goal of education, which is always social education, is it to participate in the building of communities. In this context, Natorp anticipated many aspects of socialist education policy, such as free primary schools.

Among Natorp’s most important books are Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der Humanität (Religion within the bounds of humanity, 1894/1908); Sozialpädagogik. Theorie der Willensbildung auf der Grundlage der Gemeinschaft (Social pedagogy. A theory of the cultivation of the will on the basis of community, 1899); Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Sozialpädagogik (1907); Pestalozzi. Sein Leben und seine Ideen (1909); Sozialidealismus. Neue Richtlinien sozialer Erziehung (Social idealism. New outlines for social education, 1920); Beethoven und wir (1920/21); and Individuum und Gemeinschaft (Individual and society, 1921).

Throughout his life, Paul Natorp actually never gained much prominence and prestige in academia. He is more often than not reduced solely to his book on Plato. However, he was influential with his students and in particular greatly influenced his student Ernst Cassirer, who continued his work with Natorp’s work after his death in 1924.

Posthumous publications include Vorlesungen über praktische Philosophie (Lectures on practical philosophy, 1925) and Philosophische Systematik (Philosophical systematics, 1958).