Roman Ingarden: Encyclopedia II - Roman Ingarden - Life

Roman Ingarden - Life

Born on February 5, 1893 in Kraków, as an Austrian subject during Austria'a last occupation of Southern Poland, he initially studied mathematics and philosophy under the guidance of Kazimierz Twardowski in Lwów, and in 1912 moved to Göttingen to study philosophy under Edmund Husserl. Husserl considered Ingarden one of his best students, and Ingarden followed him to Freiburg, where he submitted his doctoral dissertation in 1918 with Husserl as director. The two remained in close touch until Husserl's death in 1938.

After receiving his doctoral degree, Ingarden returned to Poland for most of his academic career. At first he taught mathematics, psychology and philosophy in schools and worked on his Habilitationschrift, Essentiale Frage, which achieved some attention in the English speaking philosophical community. He was given a position at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv and in 1933 promoted to Professor. During this professorship he published most widely known work, The Literary Work of Art.

Ingarden's career was interrupted by World War II (1941-1944), as Lwów university was closed. During this time, he secretly taught philosophy and mathematics to school children at an orphanage. Simultaneously, and despite the bombing of his house, he continued to work on his newest work, The Controversy over the Existence of the World.

After the war in 1945 Ingarden moved to Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he was offered a position. In 1949, however, he was banned from teaching due to his alleged idealism (a philosophical position that Ingarden fought against most of his life) and for being an "enemy of materialism". The ban ceased in 1957 and Ingarden was reappointed at Jagiellonian University. There, he continued to teach, write, and publish.

Roman Ingarden died suddenly from cerebral hemorrhage on June 14, 1970.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki