(born Aug. 22, 1874, Munich, Ger.—died May 19, 1928, Frankfurt am Main) German philosopher. He is remembered primarily for his contributions to phenomenology. His Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values (1913–16) contains a detailed critique of the ethics of Immanuel Kant. In Man's Place in the Universe (1928), he advanced a rather grandiose metaphysical doctrine with affinities to American pragmatism: humanity, God, and world are one cosmic process, with two “poles,” spirit and “life-urge”; the ideas of spirit become real through human life and history.

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