Ottmann Henning

Corresponding members I. Department of Social Sciences
Ottmann Henning

Date of birth:

  • 1944

Place of birth:

  • Vienna, Austria

Emails:

Ottmann Henning

Corresponding members I. Department of Social Sciences

Academic titles:

  • professor Doctor of Science
  • professor emeritus

Membership in the Academy:

  • corresponding member – Department of Social Sciences (5/20/2010 – …)

Biography

Henning Ottmann, a German philosopher, was born on March 9, 1944 in Vienna. He graduated from the Humanities Gymnasium in Kempton, Germany, in 1963, and studied philosophy and political science at the University of Munich and Yale university  (1965-1971). At the University of Augsburg, he was elected professor of philosophy in 1986, and since 1987 he has been a professor of political philosophy and theory in Basel. In 1995 he became a professor of philosophy and political theory at  the Ludwig-Maximilian University  in Munich, where he worked until 2009. He was director of the University of Basel’s Philosophical Seminar, a member of the Senate of the University of Basel, director of the Geschwister-Scholl-Institut from 2002 to autumn 2004, and a senator at the Faculty of Political Science (Hochschule für Politika) from 2004 to 2009.

He is a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He has led the most important German political and philosophical journals, and in many publishing houses he is a member of the publishing council. He is the founder of important professional societies that care about the development of science.

He made a remarkable contribution to the study of the philosophy of law, the political tendencies of the late 19th century and the current analyses of the political-theoretical tendencies of the 20th century, and his greatest contribution lies in the presentation of the history of political theory and political philosophy from antiquity to the present day. He devoted almost his entire scientific life to the study and preservation of classical antiquity and its connection with the Christian tradition as a prerequisite for modernity. The undertaking of the presentation of political opinion from antiquity to modernity (more than 3000 pages) can only be achieved by a scientist of the highest rank, and this was done by Prof. Henning Ottmann.

Croatian President Stipe Mesić awarded him the Order of Merit for his successful cooperation between the intellectuals of Germany and Croatia and for supporting Croatia on the road to its independence. With his support to numerous Croatian scientists, he has enabled their training and scientific affirmation abroad. He is an extremely productive and innovative scientist who enjoys undivided recognition from the scientific public not only in Germany, but also in other Western European countries.

He was elected as a correspondent member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2010.

Henning Ottmann – personal page