Laas, Ernst
LAAS, ERNST (1837-1885), German philosopher, was born on the 16th of June 1837 at Furstenwalde. He studied theology and philosophy under Trendelenburg at Berlin, and eventually became professor of philosophy in the new university of Strassburg. In Kant's Analogien der Erfahrung (1876) he keenly criticized Kant's transcendentalism, and in his chief work Idealismus und Positivismus (3 vols., 1879-1884), he drew a clear contrast between Platonism, from which he derived trans cendentalism, and positivism, of which he considered Protagora the founder. Laas in reality was a disciple of Hume Throughout his philosophy he endeavours to connect meta physics with ethics and the theory of education.
His chief educational works were Der deutsche Aufsatz in den obern Gymnasialklassen (1868; 3rd ed., part i., 1898, part ii., 1894) and Der deutsche Unterricht auf hohern Lehrans fallen (1872; 2nd ed 1886). He contributed largely to the Vierteljahrsschr. f. wiss. Philos (1880-1882); the Litterarischer NacMass, a posthumous collection was published at Vienna (1887). See Hanisch, Der Positivismus von Ernst Laas (1902); Gjurits, Die Erkennlnistheorie des Ernst Laas (1903); Falckenberg, Hist, of Mod. Philos. (Eng. trans., 1895).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
