Theodor Gomperz

Gomperz, Theodor 

Born Mar. 29, 1832, in Brünn; died Aug. 29, 1912, in Baden. German positivist philosopher and philologist; historian of Greek and Roman philosophy. Professor of classical philology at Vienna beginning in 1873.

In his main work on classical philosophy, Greek Thinkers (vols. 1–3, 1893–1909; Russian translation, vols. 1–2, 1911–13), Gomperz strove to study ancient Greek philosophy in connection with the development of Greek culture. He stressed the value of the physical theories of antiquity, although he did not appreciate the value of classical dialectics. Drawing an analogy between antiquity and modern times, Gomperz modernized Greek and Roman philosophy somewhat. As a philologist, he is best known for deciphering the Herculaneum papyruses (Herculanean Studies, 1865) and for commentary on some texts of Greek and Roman authors.

WORKS

Zu Heraklit’s Lehre und den Überresten seines Werkes. Vienna, 1887.
Zu Aristoteles Poetik. Vienna, 1888.
Über die Charaktere Theophrast’s. Vienna, 1888.
Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, vol. 1. Vienna, 1936.
In Russian translation:
Zhizneponimanie grecheskikh filosofov i ideal vnutrennei svobody. St. Petersburg, 1912.

REFERENCE

Zelinskii. F. “T. Gomperts.” Russkaia Mysl’, 1912, no. 9.