Klages

NAME: Klages, Ludwig

ACHIEVEMENT(S): Graphology

NICKNAME/ALIAS:

None

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:

10 December 1872, Hanover, Germany

DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH AND AGE AT DEATH:

29 July 1956, Kilchberg, nr Zurich, Switzerland. Aged 84

DISCIPLINE:

Psychologist and philosopher

FIELD:

Graphology

LANGUAGE:

German

PARENTS:

?

SIBLINGS:

?

SPOUSE:

?

CHILDREN:

?

EDUCATION:

University of Munich

ACHIEVEMENTS:

MAJOR WORK:

"Principles of Characterology" (1910)

"Spirit and Life" (1935)

"Language as the Source of Knowledge of the Soul" (1948)

LIFE AND TIMES:

After studying chemistry, physics and philosophy, Klages stayed on at Munich University as a teacher.

He was one of the leaders of the Vitalist movement in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. Followers of Vitalism believed that there was a vital force within every living organism which dictated the form and development of the organism and directed its activities. They claimed that this force differed from all other natural forces,  and could not be measured.

The movement faded away in the first two decades of the twentieth century as more scientists accepted the experimental research carried out by <ideas opposed by> Muller* and others during the nineteenth century which had revealed new knowledge of chemical and physiological processes within the body.

In 1905 Klages founded an institute for the study of characterology (in which hand-writing was used as a way of identifying the individual’s character) in Monaco. The technique was used by the SS to screen candidates for officer rank.

Klages also believed that human beings were set apart from other animals by the possession of a spirit. This spirit, he maintained, also alienated humans from the rest of the natural world, and was the source of the human desire for immortality and of the human ego.

In his studies, Klages set out to define and describe the characteristics possessed by different egos.

ASSESSMENT: Klages is remembered as the founder of modern graphology.

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Met <met> George*.

One of his admirers was <a fan was> Spengler*

ONELINER: Ludwig Klages , inventor of graphology

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Encyclopedia Britannica