Lange, Friedrich Albert (1828–75)

Lange, F.A. (1851) Quaestiones metricae [Metrical Questions], Bonn: Formis F.P. Lechneri. (Lange’s PhD dissertation on Greek poetry, after graduating in philology.)

Lange, F.A. ([1855] 1894) ‘Über den Zusammenhang der Erziehungssysteme mit den herrschenden Weltanschauungen verschiedener Zeitalter’ [‘On the Connection of the Education Systems with the Dominant Worldviews of Various Epochs’]. Monatshefte der Comenius-Gesellschaft 3: 106–127. (Lange’s inaugural lecture after obtaining the habilitation as Privatdozent in 1855 at Bonn University. An anticipation of the kind of historical analysis then provided in the History of Materialism.)

Lange, F.A. (1862) Die Stellung der Schule zum öffentlichen Leben [The Role of School for Public Life]. Duisburg: F.H. Nieten. (Transcription of the speech given at the school celebration for the birthday of the king. Lange argues in favour of political engagement by teachers, defending himself after contrasts with the school authorities due to his activism.)

Lange, F.A. (1865a) Die Arbeiterfrage in ihrer Bedeutung für Gegenwart und Zukunft [The Question of the Worker and Its Significance for the Present and the Future]. Duisburg: W. Falk & Volmer. (Lange’s major political writing explains the condition of the working class through the Malthusian–Darwinian notion of the struggle for existence. The book had a second and a third revised edition in 1870 and 1875, to cope with the growing political debate on these issues).

Lange, F.A. (1865b) Die Grundlegung der mathematischen Psychologie. Ein Versuch zur Nachweisung des fundamentalen Fehlers bei Herbart und Drobisch [The Foundation of Mathematical Psychology. An Attempt to Demonstrate the Fundamental Mistakes of Herbart and Drobisch]. Duisburg: W. Falk & Volmer. (Lange was very interested in the recent development of scientific psychology, what he called ‘psychology without a soul’. Herbart and his follower Moritz Drobisch had tried to establish it on metaphysical-mathematical grounds, in contrast with the physiological-experimental approach of Gustav Theodor Fechner.)

Lange, F.A. ([1866] 1973/75) Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart [History of Materialism and Criticism of Its Present Importance]. Iserlohn: J. Baedeker. (Lange’s widely read book is split into two parts, following the evolution of philosophical materialism before and after Kant. In 1873–1875 the book had a second edition with major revisions, such as a more thorough discussion of the philosophical debate about Darwin’s theory of evolution.)

Lange, F.A. (1877) Logische Studien. Ein Beitrag zur Neubegründung der formalen Logik und der Erkenntnisstheorie [Logical Studies. Contribution for a New Foundation of the Formal Logic and the Theory of Knowledge]. Iserlohn: J. Baedeker. (Unfinished book published posthumously. Lange takes part in the so-called Psychologismusstreit (controversy on psychologism), concerning whether logic and epistemology can be reduced to psychological processes. As in his History of Materialism, Lange tries to reconcile the psychological-factual and the transcendental-normative reading of cognitive functions.)

Lange, F.A. (1881) History of Materialism and Criticism of Its Present Importance, trans. Thomas, E.C., 3 vols. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trübner. (First edition of the English translation.)

Lange, F.A. (1925) History of Materialism and Criticism of Its Importance, trans. Thomas, E.C., with an Introduction by Bertrand Russell, 3rd ed., London: Trübner & Company. (Translation conducted on the 2nd edition of Lange’s book. The first part of the book is split into two volumes. Russell’s introductory essay, ‘Materialism, Past and Present’, analyses the topics covered by Lange in the light of the last advances of science.)

Lange, F.A. (1968) Über Politik und Philosophie: Briefe und Leitartikel 1862 bis 1875 [On Politics and Philosophy. Letters and Editorials from 1862 to 1875], Eckert, G. ed., Duisburg: Walter Braun. (The first half contains a sample of Lange’s correspondence, with letters to, but mostly from, various individuals, such as philosophers, scientists, publishers, and political activists. The second half is a collection of the articles Lange published for the popular press.)

Lange, F.A. (1975a) Pädagogik zwischen Politik und Philosophie [Pedagogy between Politics and Philosophy], Knoll, J.H. ed., Duisburg: Walter Braun. (A collection of Lange’s essays on pedagogical issues, and of the entries he wrote for an encyclopedia of pedagogy. It contains a useful Introduction to Lange and his pedagogical ideas written by Joachim H. Knoll.)

Lange, F.A. (1975b) Die Arbeiterfrage; Jedermann Hauseigenthümer. Sozialpolitik zwischen Liberalismus und Sozialismus [The Question of the Worker; Everyman a Homeowner. Social Politics between Liberalism and Socialism], Schoeps, J.H. ed., Duisburg: Walter Braun. (A reprint of Lange’s political book, along with a pamphlet he published in 1865, translating part of an 1845 English book by Theodore Jones about how workers could buy a house with a rent. It contains also an introductory essay by Julius H. Schoeps on Lange and the German labour movement.)

Beiser, F.C. (2014) The Genesis of Neo-Kantianism, 1796–1880, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (The chapter on Lange is the place to go for a comprehensive introduction on his thought, if one is not interested in the political and pedagogical aspects of his philosophy.)

Cohen, H. (1914) Einleitung mit kritischem Nachtrag zur neunten Auflage der Geschichte des Materialismus von Friedrich Albert Lange [Introduction and Critical Supplement to the Ninth Edition of Friedrich Albert Lange’s History of Materialism]. Leipzig: Brandstetter. (Starting with the 4th ed. in 1882, the posthumous editions of Lange’s book featured an essay by the founder of Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, Hermann Cohen. This is the offprint of the last version of this essay, from the 9th edn.)

Edgar, S. (2015) ‘The Physiology of the Sense Organs and Early Neo-Kantian Conceptions of Objectivity: Helmholtz, Lange, Liebmann’, in Padovani, F., Richardson, A., and Tsou, J. eds. Objectivity in Science: New Perspectives from Science and Technology Studies, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science. Cham: Springer. (A useful source for a brief contextualisation of Lange’s ideas in the larger picture of the philosophical debate sparked by the nineteenth-century advances in physiological psychology.)

Ellissen, O.A. (1894) Friedrich Albert Lange: Eine Lebensbeschreibung [Friedrich Albert Lange. A Biography]. Leipzig: Julius Baedeker. (Despite being a very old book, this is still the primary source of biographical information on Lange’s life.)

Freimuth, F. (1995) Friedrich Albert Lange: Denker der Pluralität: Erkenntnistheorie, Pädagogik, Politik [Friedrich Albert Lange. Thinker of Plurality. Theory of Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Politics]. Frankfurt am Main and New York: P. Lang (The most thorough resource on Lange and the only monography that provides an overall presentation of the various aspects of his thought.)

Knoll, J.H. and Schoeps, J.H., eds. (1975) Friedrich Albert Lange. Leben und Werk [Friedrich Albert Lange. Life and Work]. Duisburg: Walter Braun. (A collective volume with essays covering various aspects of Lange’s work and legacy. It contains a bibliography of Lange’s publications.)

Köhnke, K. Ch. (1991) The Rise of Neo-Kantianism: German Academic Philosophy between Idealism and Positivism, trans. Hollingdale, R.J. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. (Contains a detailed chapter on Lange and his role for the development of Marburg Neo-Kantianism.)

Stack, G.J. (1983) Lange and Nietzsche, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. (There are various studies on the relationship between these two thinkers, but this is the most comprehensive and detailed one, even though it raised some criticism for having overestimated the role of Lange’s influence on Nietzsche.)

Patton, L. (2011) ‘Anti-Psychologism about Necessity’, History and Philosophy of Logic 32: 139–152. (One of the few accounts of Lange’s posthumous book on logics.)

Weikart, R. (1999) Socialist Darwinism: Evolution in German Socialist Thought from Marx to Bernstein, San Francisco: International Scholars Publications. (A useful resource to put Lange into the broader context of the socialist reception of Darwinism in Germany.)