Skip to Content

AVENARIUS, RICHARD.

Der menschliche Weltbegriff. - [INTRODUCING THE CONCEPT OF INTROJECTION - PRESENTATION-COPY]

Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn48957
Leipzig, Reisland, 1891. 8vo. Bound with the original front wrapper in a contemporaryhalf leather binding with gilding to spine. Spine with some wear and corners bumped. Internally fine. Bookplate to inside of front board. Inscription to front wrapper. XXIV, 133, (1) pp.

Scarce first edition, presentation-copy, of one of Avenarius' main works, his foundational "The Human Concept of the World", which constitutes one of the greatest expositions of the radical positivist doctrine of "Empiriocriticism" (or "empirical criticism") and which introduced the theory of 'Introjection' (a certain theory of a fundamental difference between the 'inner' and 'outer' experiences, with different consequences. The term has later become fundamental in psychoanalysis). The work was extremely influential and is considered one of the main works of empiriocriticism, which after WWI evolved into logical positivism. The work directly influenced thinkers such as Ernst Mach and Ber Borochov and had an immense impact upon positivist thought, both philosophical and scientific. The book is inscribed to the famous Danish philosopher Harald Høffding: "Herr Professor H. Hoffding/ mit herzl. Gruss u. in dankbar Erinnerung/ an Skodsborg/ hochachtungsvoll/ d. Verf.", dated 1895. Harald Høffding (1843-1931) was one of the leading Danish philosophers of the turn of the century. His philosophy is greatly inspired by positivism, which around 1900, mainly due to Avenarius and Mach, came to be synonymous with empiriocriticism. Høffding had met Avenarius for the first time in Zürich and met him again in 1895 in Skodsborg (the time for which Avenarius thanks him in the presentation-inscription), a small city along the coast North of Copenhagen. Høffding describes this encounter in his "Contemporary Philosophers" from 1904. He describes how Avenarius sought ease in cities of water and writes how their meeting in Skodsborg constituted the first time that Avenarius made him acquainted with "pure experience", when walking around together in the garden of acclimatization. Avenarius died two years later. Høffding clearly admired the great thinker and describes Avenarius' character as "a rare energy of thought united with an artistic taste and an open and calm character". Avenarius' philosophy is further described by Høffding in his great work "The History of Newer Philosophy" (1894-95). The German philosopher Richard Avenarius (1843-1896), most famous for his formulation "empirical criticism", was not only read and studied in France and Germany, but also greatly influenced Russian philosophy; his "The Human Concept of the World" was severely criticized by Lenin in his extremely influential "Materialism and Empirio-criticism" (1909), which became an obligatory subject of study in all institutions of higher education in the Soviet Union, as a seminal work of dialectical materialism. In the text Lenin argued against Avenarius' concept of "Introjection" and stated that human perceptions correctly and accurately reflect the objective external world. Avenarius believed that scientific philosophy must be concerned with purely descriptive definitions of experience, which must be free of both metaphysics and materialism. In his "The Human Concept of the World", Avenarius formulates his first natural idea of the universe, which forms the basis of all of his thought."WHEN Richard Avenarius, Professor of Philosophy at the University, died at Zürich on 18th August, 1896, only a very small circle of philosophers and pupils knew what a powerful mind had been snatched from amongst them; for he was a man whose unique thought was unappreciated by his contemporaries solely because it was unique, and diverged too much from what was previously familiar." (Friedrich Carstanjen: Richard Avenarius and his General theory of Knowledge, Empiriocriticism. In: Mind, N.S., Vol. 6 (1897): pp. 449-475). "An especially new point in this paper is the theory of 'Introjection,' by which Avenarius explains the growth and formation of the theory that a fundamental difference exists between the 'inner' and 'outer' experiences. Avenarius does not find in these two kinds of experience any 'incomparability' or any 'fundamental dualism'. The idea of their essential difference has been derived, according to his opinion, from a kind of false materialism, which believed in the enclosure of the soul in the body or in a part of it, and, later, in the enclosure of the faculties of the soul in the soul's substance. From this belief sprang the notion that the soul was something enclosed from the 'outer world,' into which enclosure every impression from without could come only through a putting-in, or 'introjection'. The whole modern psychology, psycho-physics and most of philosophical theories contain such opinions, and therefore serve to strengthen the artificial wall between the inner and outer experiences which makes the sciences of the 'inner world' always more inaccessible to exact methods of investigation, and consequently more sterile." (D. Josepha Kodis, in the Psychological Review, vol. iii., 6, p. 609). "The Philosophy of Avenarius attracts more and more attention from thinkers who are striving for new views, and it gains ground steadily. England still holds aloof from it, and this is to some extent strange, since it is in England that we find the origin of the Association Psychology and of a Common-Sense Philosophy; it is true that taken as wholes neither of these has anything to do with Empiriocriticism, but in detail they would find many of their propositions in Empiriocriticism. It must not indeed be concealed that the difficulties of penetrating into Avenarius' works are very serious, chiefly because of the entirely new terminology introduced by him." (Friedrich Carstanjen: Richard Avenarius and his General theory of Knowledge, Empiriocriticism. In: Mind, N.S., Vol. 6 (1897): pp. 449-475).
Address:
Silkegade 11
DK-1113 Copenhagen
Denmark
Phone:
CVR/VAT:
DK 16 89 50 16

Recently Added From Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S

Anmärkiningar Om biåsestenen. (In:
More Photos
BERGIUS, PETER JONAS
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62692
(Stockholm, 1777). 8vo. As extracted from "Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademiens handlingar", uncut unopened. Fine and clean. Pp. 304-309.
Medicinische und philosophische Schrifften von…
More Photos
ALBERTI, MICHAEL.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62695
Halle im Magdeburgischen, Hendel, 1721. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with four raise bands and richly gilt spine. Traces from old paper-label to upper part of spine. Leather on spine cracked, spine-ends slightly chipped. Internally nice and clean. (14), 620, (28) pp. First collected edition of Alberti’s essays. Alberti (1682–1757), professor of medicine and philosophy at Halle and later rector of the university, was a leading disciple of Georg Ernst Stahl who considered the soul as having control on the body. Therapies involved dealing with the internal senses and feelings.
More info
O Capital. (i.e. Portuguese:
More Photos
MARX, CARLOS [KARL] (+) GABRIELLE DEVILLE (+) [Translator:] ALBANO DE MORAES.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62679
Lisboa, De Francisco Luiz Goncalves, 1912. 8vo. In the original red printed cloth-binding with black and white lettering. Spine with loss of the white lettering. Paper-label pasted on to lower inner margin of front board. Very light wear to extremities, Internally very fine and clean. 240 pp. The exceedingly scarce first Portuguese edition of the most important abridged version of Marx's Capital ever to have appeared, published fifty-six years before the first full Portuguese (but published in Brazil) translation and whole sixy-two years before the first full translation published in Portugal. Curiously, two translations of the present work were made 1912 but the present translation seems to have priority (see Bastien, "Readings and Translations of Karl Marx in Portugal"). After the 1933 rise of Salazar's dictatorial Estado Novo regime, suppression of the relatively newly founded Communist party grew. Members were arrested, tortured, and executed and many were sent to the Tarrafal concentration camp in the Cape Verde Islands. Communist literature suffered an equally repressive fate, hence the rarity of the present work. Marxism and especially Marxist writing caught on comparatively late in Portugal: "As for the Socialist Party - supposed to be the main expression of Marxism -, it revealed itself unable to stimulate effective theoretical and doctrinal efforts. Its existence was an example of ambiguity and inconsequence. Its political programme went on mixing Marxian elements, associationist tradition and positivist thinking. Its strategy balanced continuously between an alliance with republican politicians and the maintenance of political autonomy. Its tatics balanced between electoral abstencionism and an involvement in election processes, that never led it to a relevant position in parliament. Even its international relations showed a lasting ambiguity: it had been created according to the instructions of the Marxist majority at the Hague Congress, when most of its members tended to support political abstencionism. When the formation of the Second lnternacional was taking place in Paris in 1889 Portuguese socialists tried to join the Marxist congress, after being present at the possibilist congress. In 1920 they decided to join the Third lnternacional (what was not accomplished), at the same time that an internal reformist turn was taking place." (Bastien, "Readings and Translations of Karl Marx in Portugal"). "The epitome, here translated, was published in Paris, in 1883, by Gabriel Deville, possibly the most brilliant writer among the French Marxians. It is the most successful attempt yet made to popularize Marx's scientific economics. It is by no means free from difficulties, for the subject is essentially a complex and difficult subject, but there are no difficulties that reasonable attention and patience will not enable the average reader to overcome. There is no attempt at originality. The very words in most cases are Marx's own words, and Capital is followed so closely that the first twenty-five chapters correspond in subject and treatment with the first twenty-five chapters of Capital. Chapter XXVI corresponds in the main with Chapter XXVI of Capital, but also contains portions of chapter XXX. The last three chapters-XXVII, XXVIII, and XXIX-correspond to the last three chapters-XXXI, XXXII, and XXXIII-of Capital." (ROBERT RIVES LA MONTE, Intruductory Note to the 1899 English translation). Capital de Marx also had a Portuguese edition at this time, or better, two different editions, both in 1912, but only in translation of the survey of Book I published in France by Gabriel Deville in 1883 (Marx, 1912a and Marx, 1912b). This version omitted material dealt with in at least four chapters of the original text and was not particularly appreciated by Engels. It was a simplified text, aimed at supporting the training of socialist militants and that made it possible for them to have access, indirect, to the work of Marx. The other summaries and anthologies of Capital, which, with a purpose similar to that of Deville, circulated in Europe during this period or ignored in Portugal, as was the case with Carlo Cafiero, or were only occasionally mentioned, as was the case with Paul Lafargue and Karl Kautsky, in its French versions. OCLC list two copies, both in the US.
More info
His Pokhodzhennia vydiv cherez pryrodnyi dobir,…
More Photos
DARWIN, CHARLES.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62681
(Kharkiv), Derzhavne medychne vyd-vo (State Medical Publishing House), 1936. 8vo. In publisher's original grey cloth binding with black lettering to spine with Darwin's portrait embossed on front board. Wear to extremities, corner bumped and light spoling to back board. Inner hinges split and first 3 leaves partly detached. Last 20 ff. slighly creased due to dampstain, otherwise internally a nice and clean copy. 674 pp. + frontispiece, portrait of Darwin and 1 plate with genealogical tree. The exceedingly rare first Ukranian translation of Darwin's landmark 'Origin of Species'. OCLC only list two copies (Library of Congress and The Huntington Library, USA) Freeman F797.
More info
Om Krigen med England. Med Tanker om samme…
More Photos
BOYE, JOHANNES.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62687
Fridericia, S. Elmenhoff, 1809. 8vo. In nice recent marbled paper covered boards with leather title-label with gilt lettering to spine. Ex-libris (Bent W. Dahlstrøm) to verso of front board. A nice and clean copy. 40 pp. Biblioteca Danica III, 572.
Regras methódicas para se aprender a escreuer o…
More Photos
VENTURA DA SILVA, JOAQUIM JOSE.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62100
Lisboa, Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, 1803. Folio-oblong (365 x 255 mm). In contemporary half calf. Wear to extremies, upper part of spine with loss of leather. Ex-libris pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. With, primarily marginal, brownspotting throughout. Dampstain to inner margin and upper outer margin of last 10 ff. 32 ff. Rare first edition of the most celebrated Portuguese treatise on calligraphy. Joaquim José Ventura da Silva (1777–1849), regarded as one of Portugal’s finest calligraphers and teachers of writing, composed this methodological guide to handwriting in which he combines a historical survey of scripts used in Portugal with practical instruction for teaching and learning penmanship.Ventura da Silva is reffered to by Innocencio (Diccionario Bibliographico) as "one of the best Portuguese Calligraphers". A second edition was published in 1819, a third in 1841, and a facsimile was published in Porto in 1899.
More info