Bloch, Ernst

Bloch, Ernst, 1885–1977, German Marxist philosopher. He taught at the Univ. of Leipzig (1918–33), drifting toward Marxist thought during the 1920s. He fled the Nazis after 1933, moving first to Switzerland and then to the United States. Bloch's first major work, The Principle of Hope, which was published in German (3 vol., 1952–59; tr. 1960), emphasized the role of hope as a human drive. He returned to Leipzig in 1948, where he remained until conflict with Communist Party officials compelled him to defect to West Germany (1961). There, he taught at the Univ. of Tübingen.