Gerd Pohlenz

* 1943, August

- After graduating from the Gymnasium Andreanum in Hildesheim in March 1963, recommendation for the German National Academic Foundation (not realized).

- 1963-1969/70: studies on philosophy, biology and Latin for the teaching profession at grammar schools at the University of Marburg/Lahn.

- In philosophy I attended the courses of the Old Kantian Klaus Reich, who was particularly impressive to me and who awakened my interest in the Pre-Socratics.

- Written thesis for the philosophical examination in philosophy in 1966 (with Wilhelm Luther): 'Gerechtigkeit und Freiheit bei Platon, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Politeia' (Justice and Freedom in Plato, with Special Consideration of the Politeia).

- Practical state examination paper in biology: 'Light and electron microscopic studies on the structure of the resting nuclear chromosomes of Prorocentrum micans'; examination topic in philosophy: Kant's KrV. - State examinations in all three subjects.

- To Klaus Reich (a former Nazi opponent, but a target of the Marburg student revolt), whom I found particularly impressive in his probing philosophical interest, I presented my Plato thesis in the advanced stages of my studies with a view to a possible doctorate. His verdict: "It's not a leg-break"; from his mouth, that's not discouraging. What irritated me, however, was his subsequent little lecture on the difference between the philosopher as the "individual (héis)" standing out from "the many (pollói)".

- Based on my biology studies, I already at that time considered the philosophical body-soul problem (and colour problem!) to be scientifically and practically fundamental, even if extremely difficult. Kant seemed to me to be particularly worth studying for this. So I combined a laborious study of the KrV with attendance at relevant lectures and courses by Professor Dr. Lüder Gäbe (Reich's student), then a private lecturer. Gäbe showed great interest in my wish to do a doctorate - also because of my specially prepared written attempt on the problem of consciousness and freedom. But to my surprise and disappointment, he considered the mind-body problem, which was not being discussed at all at German universities at the time, to be "obsolete"; he instead prefered a paper on Schelling.

- Practical grammar school examination in Bremen in December 1971. Written examination paper on a teaching unit in philosophy on the philosophical problem of freedom. (Associate teacher 1972 in Karlsruhe; see below).

- During my traineeship in Bremen I came across a relevant discussion by the Fink student Professor Dr. Ernst Oldemeyer (Karlsruhe) in an anthology on "Philosophy and Cybernetics" (ed.: Karl Steinbuch, Simon Moser, TU Karlsruhe). When I contacted him, he supported my interest in the mind-body problem.

- But in Oldemeyer's university-philosophical: natural-scientific, empiricist, critique-of-language environment, my dualistic standpoint proved to be academically as good as scientifically unserious (Hans Lenk: "stage theory of consciousness"; one also thinks of Ryle's/1949 influential bon mot „ghost in the machine“) in my opening paper on the philosophical problem of freedom, which was very uncertain in its presentation (in contrast to a later second paper). On the other hand, I received from Lenk the valuable reference to Herbert Feigl's so-called 'identity theory' (1958) as well as to Wittgenstein's "Sprachlehre" ((which at the time had little resonance in Germany, but did with Lenk and Gebauer, who interpreted it in a linguistic constructivist way and against the sweepingly understood dualistic concept of consciousness. From my point of view today, the turn to the phenomenal world is a central part of the problem-solving Wittgenstein was aiming at)). I also benefit from a 2½-year graduate fellowship.

- Marriage in December 1972 (Sylviane Fauchereau, *Paris; divorce 1983).

- During my doctoral studies, the seminars and guest lectures offered in Karlsruhe had no reference to the dualism problem or to Husserl's phenomenology. From a retrospective perspective, I have the impression: the burden of proof lies entirely with their representatives due to the theoretical difficulties involved. On the other hand, the fundamental-theoretical claim to exclusivity of 'the' natural sciences (biology) triumphs; modern theoretical physics plays a role in this topic that can hardly be overestimated, with its extremely obscure concepts of the structure of the universe (its intimidating influence can be read very well in Hannah Arendt's 'Vita activa', for example). - All this virtually closed my mouth at the time. In this sense, Wittgenstein's early commandment of silence hits on an important feature of the state of philosophy, which he later takes up again and modifies when doubts arise about his PU thesis of a "whole cloud of philosophy" condensed to a "droplet of linguistic doctrine": in his internal-philosophical greeting recommendation "Take your time!".

- Doctorate in philosophy at the Technical University of Karlsruhe 1975. Dissertation with a topic set and elaborated by myself: 'The parallelistic misunderstanding of the physical and the psychic'. In it I show the inner logical contradiction of psychophysical parallelism, including epiphenomenalism, and extend this refutation to Feigl's and W.Sellars' theories, which are somewhat misleadingly called 'identity theories' and thus obscure the disguised-dualistic character I have demonstrated and, conversely, the actual identity-theoretical character of the strictly physicalist (materialist) or biological-functionalist theory of consciousness.

- My hope of being allowed to continue academic research on this topic was not fulfilled.

- 1976-2006: Grammar school teacher in Bremen.

- Publication of the revised dissertation in 1977, in which I extend my refutation of parallelism further: to the hidden-parallelist structure of Kant's theory. Accordingly, I now emphasise what is still today, and even more so at that time, a scientific sacrilege ("horribile dictu"): my proof of the inner contradictoriness of parallelism implies a breaking through of brain-physiological determinism by our (intuitive-)conceptual thinking. Ernst Oldemeyer commented on this in a letter (certainly also in the sense of Hans Lenk): "You have let the cat out of the bag."

- It proved extremely difficult to get my research results published in journals. It was not until 1983 that I succeeded in getting an essay on the practical merits of a modified dualistic body-soul interactionism into the journal 'Philosophie und Theologie' (pp.1-33).

- In my extremely preparation-intensive) high school philosophy courses, I emphasised the primarily comparative-conceptual justification of dualism (other foci: early cultural history, modern philosophy of science, freedom-determinism; introduction to Marx). The fact that, despite my doctorate, I have no convincing body-mind theory to offer that takes into account the modern (molecular and evolutionary) biology with which I am thoroughly familiar, weighed on me.

- A ray of hope for me at this time was what I experienced as a discovery: my formulation of the concept of the necessarily (= conceptually compelling) tautological or circular core definition of the primary colours and other object qualia types. Nevertheless, relevant essays are repeatedly rejected by journals.

- Robert Spaemann helped me to achieve a breakthrough in this respect at the Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung (1990), for which I am infinitely grateful to him. Likewise, Spaemann mediates the acceptance of my Vorsokratiker essay at the "Perspektiven der Philosophie" (1990, 1991). During my visit to Munich, he asked me if I would like to habilitate with him and Lenk, to which I happily replied in the affirmative. However, there is also irritation on his part, which shifts my now decided plan for a habilitation entirely to Karlsruhe (Lenk, Oldemeyer). Our professional and personal contact, however, continued to deepen in mutual sincerity.

- Two essays on Descartes and his current discussion appeared in the Graz journal 'Conceptus' thanks to Lenk's mediation.

- Habilitation in philosophy at the TU Karlsruhe in 1992. Title of the habilitation paper: 'Phenomenal Reality and Cognition'. In Karlsruhe I received the facultas legendi, but not the venia legendi. In the course of my applications for rehabilitation at the universities of Oldenburg and Hamburg, I gave free-standing lectures on my concept of object qualia with its historical background, in Oldenburg followed by a successful discussion; in Hamburg the discussion failed right at the beginning when I am confronted with Aristotle's quite different category of quality.

- From 1996 to 2002, while teaching in Bremen, I successfully led students at the University of Bremen to the Small Latinum. In addition to four years of teaching biology in the upper school (especially advanced courses) at the Altes Gymnasium, this university teaching was one of the most interesting years of my teaching career, both from a subject and a pedagogical point of view.

- After my retirement, I published further books on the inner connection of history of thought (namely history of philosophy) on the one hand and political history on the other: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2016.

- 29 sketches to the results of this work in the form of advertisements in INFORMATION PHILOSOPHIE (ed. Peter Moser) from issue 4 / 2018 until issue 4 / 2021.

- In conclusion, the following phrases of Kant are quoted here; they concisely hit the core of the materialism prevailing in theoretical philosophy until today despite Kant: "soulless materialism" (KrV, B 421); "impudent and the field of reason narrowing assertions of materialism" (Proleg. § 60).