Dieter Henrich


Dieter Henrich is a German philosopher. A contemporary thinker in the tradition of German idealism, Henrich is considered "one of the most respected and frequently cited philosophers in Germany today," whose "extensive and highly innovative studies of German Idealism and his systematic analyses of subjectivity have significantly impacted on advanced German philosophical and theological debates."

Education and career

Henrich studied philosophy between 1946 and 1950 at Marburg, Frankfurt and Heidelberg. He completed his PhD dissertation at Heidelberg in 1950 under the supervision of Hans-Georg Gadamer. The title of his thesis was Die Einheit der Wissenschaftslehre Max Webers. A professor at the universities of Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg, he has also been a visiting professor to universities in the United States, such as Harvard and Columbia.

Philosophical work

Henrich introduced the idea that I-thoughts imply a belief in the existence of a world of objects.
He introduced the term "Fichte's original insight" to describe Johann Gottlieb Fichte's idea that the self must already have some prior acquaintance with itself, independent of the act of self-reflection. Henrich noted that Fichte saw the transcendental subject as a primordial selfhood and identified its activity as prior to self-reflection. He also introduced the term "Kantian fallacy" to describe Immanuel Kant's attempt to ground the self in pure self-reflection, positing the moment of self-reflection as the original source of self-consciousness.

Honors