Bollnow, Otto Friedrich

Born Mar. 14, 1903, in Stettin. German philosopher, pedagogical theorist. Follower of the philosophy of life. Professor in Giessen (1939) and Tübingen (1953).

Influenced by E. Husserl and W. Dilthey, Bollnow developed philosophical anthropology, striving to examine the whole “totality of life” in human existence. He criticized the pessimistic solution to the problem of personality in existentialism, stressing a positive attitude toward life with the purpose of “security” in “space lived in.” The intimate relationship between an individual and his habitable refuge and limited dwelling, conceived as the “center of the world,” according to Bollnow, gradually grows into a connection with the homeland and the universe. Life, after gaining “confidence” and “hope,” acquires meaning. Thus, asserting the given, Bollnow artificially avoided the social contradictions of reality.