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Albert, Hans

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Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy

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Introduction

Hans Albert, born in 1921, is one of the leading exponents of critical rationalism, a prominent variety of analytical philosophy that has gained influence especially in the social sciences and humanities. The philosopher of science Karl Popper (1902–1994) is regarded as the founder of this line of thought, which Popper developed as a countermodel to the logical positivism of the “Vienna Circle” of philosophers and natural scientists in the 1920s and 1930s. Hans Albert transferred critical rationalism to the social sciences and systematically elaborated it into a system of thought that can be applied in all areas of human activity.

Critical Rationalism

Critical rationalism can be seen as a form of philosophical skepticism, a line of thought that goes back all the way to antiquity. All our attempts to solve problems are in principle fallible; there is no such thing as secure knowledge. This applies to both the natural sciences and the humanities. Albert characterized...

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References

  • Albert H (1968) Traktat über kritische Vernunft, 5th edn. 1991, engl. “Treatise on critical reason”, translated by Mary Varney Rorty, 1985

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  • Albert H (1978) Traktat über rationale Praxis

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  • Albert H(1993) Rechtswissenschaft als Realwissenschaft. Das Recht als soziale Tatsache und die Aufgabe der Jurisprudenz

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  • Albert H (1994) Das Ideal der Freiheit und das Problem der sozialen Ordnung

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  • Bohnen A, Musgrave A (eds) (1991) Wege der Vernunft. Festschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstag von Hans Albert

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  • Franco G (ed) (2019) Begegnungen mit Hans Albert. Eine Hommage

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  • Gadenne V, Neck R (eds) (2021) Hans Albert und der kritische Rationalismus: Festschrift zum 100. Geburtstag von Hans Albert

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  • Hilgendorf E (1997) Hans Albert zur Einführung, 2nd edn. in preparation for 2022

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  • Hilgendorf E (2006) Wissenschaft, Religion und Recht. Hans Albert zum 85. Geburtstag

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  • Hilgendorf E (2020) Kritische Rationalismus und Recht, in Festschrift für Reinhard Merkel

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  • Waschkuhn A (1999) Kritischer Rationalismus

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Juristische Fakultät, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Eric Hilgendorf

Authors
  1. Eric Hilgendorf
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Correspondence to Eric Hilgendorf .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Regents Professor of the University, System of Maryland and Director of the University of Baltimore Center for International and Comparative Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, USA

    Mortimer Sellers

  2. Professor for Legal and Social Philosophy, Department of Legal Theory International and European Law, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Stephan Kirste

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Law, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Gianfrancesco Zanetti

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Hilgendorf, E. (2023). Albert, Hans. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6519-1_581

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