View source for Biography:Richard Avenarius

{{Short description|German-Swiss philosopher (1843–1896)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region      = [[Philosophy:Western philosophy|Western philosophy]]
| era         = [[Philosophy:19th-century philosophy|19th-century philosophy]]
| image       = Avenarius Richard philosopher.png
| caption     =
| name        = Richard Avenarius
| birth_date  = 19 November 1843
| birth_place = [[Place:Paris|Paris]]
| death_date  = {{d-da|18 August 1896|19 November 1843}}
| death_place = Zurich
| alma_mater  = [[Organization:University of Zurich|University of Zurich]]<br>University of Berlin<br>[[Organization:Leipzig University|Leipzig University]]
| institutions = [[Organization:Leipzig University|Leipzig University]]<br>[[Organization:University of Zurich|University of Zurich]]
| school_tradition = Empirio-criticism<br>(Critical positivism)<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/471865/positivism/68570/The-critical-positivism-of-Mach-and-Avenarius "The critical positivism of Mach and Avenarius"]: entry in the Britannica Online Encyclopedia</ref>
| main_interests   = [[Philosophy:Empirical knowledge|Empirical knowledge]], [[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|philosophy of science]]
| influences = [[Biography:Immanuel Kant|Kant]], [[Biography:David Hume|Hume]]
| influenced = [[Biography:Ernst Mach|Ernst Mach]], Anatoly Lunacharsky, [[Biography:Alexander Bogdanov|Alexander Bogdanov]], [[Biography:William James|William James]], Josepha Kodis
| notable_ideas = [[Philosophy:Empiricism|Empirical]] criticism
}}

'''Richard Ludwig Heinrich Avenarius''' (19 November 1843 – 18 August 1896) was a {{wipe|Germany}}-{{wipe|Switzerland}} [[Biography:Philosopher|philosopher]]. He formulated the radical positivist doctrine of "[[Philosophy:Empiricism|empirical]] criticism" or empirio-criticism.

==Life==
Avenarius attended the Nicolaischule in Leipzig and studied at the [[Organization:University of Zurich|University of Zurich]], Berlin, and the University of Leipzig. At the University of Leipzig, he received the [[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|Doctor of Philosophy]] in 1868 with his thesis on [[Biography:Baruch Spinoza|Baruch Spinoza]] and his [[Philosophy:Pantheism|pantheism]], obtained the [[Social:Habilitation|habilitation]] in 1876 and taught there as ''[[Social:Privatdozent|Privatdozent]]''.  One year later, he became professor at the [[Organization:University of Zurich|University of Zurich]]. He died in Zurich in 1896.

==Work==
Avenarius believed that [[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|scientific philosophy]] must be concerned with purely descriptive definitions of experience, which must be free of both [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]] and [[Philosophy:Materialism|materialism]]. His opposition to the materialist assertions of Carl Vogt resulted in an attack upon empirio-criticism by [[Biography:Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Lenin]] in the latter's ''[[Philosophy:Materialism and Empirio-criticism|Materialism and Empirio-criticism]]''.

Avenarius' principal works are the famously difficult ''Kritik der reinen Erfahrung'' (''Critique of Pure Experience'', 1888–1890) and ''Der menschliche Weltbegriff'' (''The Human Concept of the World'', 1891) which influenced [[Biography:Ernst Mach|Ernst Mach]], [[Biography:Ber Borochov|Ber Borochov]] and, to a lesser extent, [[Biography:William James|William James]].<ref>David C. Lamberth, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gKbt8c5y0EkC&dq= ''William James and the Metaphysics of Experience''], Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 86.</ref>

He taught Anatoly Lunacharsky and was also influential on [[Biography:Alexander Bogdanov|Alexander Bogdanov]] and Nikolai Valentinov.

==Family==
Avenarius was the second son of the German publisher Eduard Avenarius and Cäcilie née Geyer, a daughter of the actor and painter Ludwig Geyer and a (step-)sister of Richard Wagner. However, there is speculation that her father was the biological father of Richard Wagner too. Richard Avenarius's brother, Ferdinand Avenarius, led the cultural organization Dürerbund and belonged to the initiators of a culture reform movement in Germany. Wagner was Avenarius's [[Social:Godparent|godfather]].{{ref|Wagner}}

==Bibliography==
*''Ueber<!--[sic]--> die beiden ersten Phasen des Spinozischen Pantheismus und das Verhältnis der zweiten zur dritten Phase''. Eduard Avenarius, Leipzig 1868.
*''Philosophie als Denken der Welt gemäß dem Prinzip des kleinsten Kraftmaßes. Prolegomena zu einer Kritik der reinen Erfahrung''. Fues, Leipzig 1876; 2nd ed. 1903.
*''Kritik der reinen Erfahrung'', (Critique of Pure Experience) 2 vols. Fues, Leipzig 1888/1890; 2nd ed. 1907/1908.
*''Der menschliche Weltbegriff''. Reisland, Leipzig 1891; 2nd ed. 1905; 3rd ed. 1912.

==Notes==
{{note|Wagner}} See John Deathridge, "Introduction" p.&nbsp;XXXIII in Richard Wagner. ''The Family Letters of Richard Wagner'', University of Michigan Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-472-10292-3}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Richard Heinrich Ludwig Avenarius}}
*{{DNB portal|116389311}}
*{{Cite ADB|46|147|149|Avenarius, Richard|Max Heinze|ADB:Avenarius,_Richard}}
*{{NDB|1|468|468|Avenarius, Richard|Wolf Strobl}}
*Friedrich Carstanjen, ''Richard Avenarius and His General Theory of Knowledge, Empiriocriticism'' (1906)

{{Positivism}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Avenarius, Richard}}
[[Category:19th-century philosophers]]

{{Sourceattribution|Richard Avenarius}}