Dietrich Tiedemann

Dietrich Tiedemann (1748-1803)

Dietrich Tiedemann (1748-1803) was a German philosopher who was a native of Bremervörde. He was a student at the University of Göttingen, and later a professor at Collegium Carolinum in Kassel (from 1776) and at the University of Marburg (from 1786). He was father to physiologist Friedrich Tiedemann (1781-1861).

Tiedemann was author of the six-volume Geist der spekulativen Philosophie von Thales bis Berkeley (The Spirit of Speculative Philosophy from Thales to Berkeley). Tiedemann had strong disagreements regarding the philosophic beliefs of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), of which he critiques in two publications; "On the Nature of Metaphysics: An Examination of Professor Kant's Principles-Against the Aesthetic" and "Continuation of the Examination of Professor Kant's Thoughts About the Nature of Metaphysics-Against the Analytic". Kant dismissed Tiedemann's arguments, which he reasoned were caused by a lack of understanding.

Tiedemann was a pioneer of empirical psychology, and an early practitioner concerning the scientific study of child development. He kept a journal of his son's sensory, motor, language, and cognitive behavior during the first thirty months of his life. Through his empirical observations he claimed that children possessed a "pre-linguistic knowledge".

Selected publications

• Versuch einer Erklärung des Ursprunges der Sprache (1772)
• System der stoischen Philosophie, three volumes (1776)
• Über die Natur der Metaphysick, zur Prüfung von Herrn Prof. Kants Grundsätzen (1785)
• Geist der spekulativen Philosophie von Thales bis Berkeley (1791-97)
• Theätet; oder, Über das menschliche Wissen; ein Beitrag zur Vernunft-Kritik (1794)

References

• Manchester.edu, Professors at Kassel (Collegium Carolinum)

Persondata
Name	Tiedemann, Dietrich
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Date of birth	1748
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Date of death	1803
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