Theodor Litt Add a review

Theodor Litt (27 December 1880 – 16 July 1962) was a German culture and social philosopher as well as a pedagogue.

In the debate with Dilthey, Simmel and Cassirer, Litt developed an independent approach in cultural philosophy and philosophical anthropology, which was determined by the dialectical view of the relationship between the individual and society, man and the world, reason and life. At the same time, he projected these thoughts into a geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik that had its starting point in progressive education at the beginning of the 20th century and, via Litt's student Wolfgang Klafki, extended into the discussion on educational reform in the 1970s. Litt identified with the Weimar Republic and, as rector of the University of Leipzig, came into conflict with National Socialism, was banned from lecturing in 1937 and retired early. Nevertheless, he continued to publish critically against the ruling ideology. After the end of the Second World War, he could not come to terms with the ideology of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and therefore moved to the Universität Bonn, where he founded the Institute for pedagogy.