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The 1915 Reichenbach–Wyneken Correspondence: Between the Ethical Ideal and the Reality of War
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The 1915 Reichenbach–Wyneken Correspondence: Between the Ethical Ideal and the Reality of War

Flavia Padovani
Logischer Empirismus, Lebensreform und die deutsche Jugendbewegung: Logical Empiricism, Life Reform, and the German Youth Movement
2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84887-3_16
url
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84887-3View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84887-3_16View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Europe—History History and Archaeology Life Reform Movement Logical Empircism Mathematics and Science Pure sciences. Philosophy and theory Science Science: general issues Science—Philosophy The German Youth Movement The Logical Structure of the World Vienna Circle Europe European History History Nonfiction Philosophy Philosophy of Science
The correspondence presented in this Appedix, which comprises four letters that Hans Reichenbach and Gustav Wyneken exchanged in the spring of 1915, originated following Wyneken’s controversial public lecture Der Krieg und die Jugend, which he delivered to the Munich Free Students (Freie Studentenschaft) on 25 November 1914. In the lecture, Wyneken defended a contentious position in support of war that many interpreted as contradicting views expressed in previous writings. Wyneken’s position was based on the idea that a war, however cruel, still represented an opportunity for a positive societal transformation through the “emancipation” of youth that would necessarily result from it; this was an idea that several Freistudenten, who admired his earlier notion that the essence of youth was meaningful in and of itself, would never subscribe to. The extensive debate that arose from his provocative stance involved several Free Students. How meaningful it must have been for so many of them is clearly exemplified by the Reichenbach-Wyneken exchange, which captures the contrast between the reality of war as embraced by Wyneken and Reichenbach’s own “ethical ideal”.

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