Hans Cornelius

Johannes Wilhelm Cornelius was a German neo-Kantian philosopher and psychologist.

Biography

Born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria on 27 September 1863, he originally studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry, graduating with a Ph.D. in 1886, before turning to philosophy. In 1894, he habilitated in philosophy and subsequently held a post in philosophy at the University of Munich. In 1910, Cornelius moved as a full professor to the Akademie für Sozialwissenschaften, which four years later would become a department of the newly founded Goethe [University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]. Among his doctoral students in Frankfurt were Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno.
His work was influenced by psychologist Max Wertheimer.
Cornelius, who was a consistent opponent of World War I, joined the Social [Democratic Party of Germany] in 1918 and in the 1920s, he promoted the plan of a European confederation. He supported the idea of a League of Nations in his paper Völkerbund und Dauerfriede.
Hans Cornelius married Emilie von Dessauer, a daughter of Heinrich von Dessauer, a physician and founder of the German hospital in Valparaiso, in 1887; Ingeborg Karlson, from Liljeholmen near Stockholm, in 1915, in his second marriage; and Friedrike Rosenthal, widowed Reissner, in 1925, in his third marriage. In 1941 he entered into a fourth marriage with Hedwig Krämer, widowed Drechsel. Four children came from the first marriage: the later geologist Hans Peter Cornelius, Wolfgang, Friedrich and Evi. The second marriage resulted in two sons, Yngor and Hans Wolfgang Amadeus.
Cornelius retired in 1928. He died in 1947 in Gräfelfing, Bavaria.