Ebook: Eugen Duhring (1833-1921) And The Freedom Of Teaching And Research

In 1877, the Prussian Minister of Culture, on application of the Faculty ofPhilosophy of the University of Berlin, removed Dr Eugen Du¨hring’s venialegendi, the permission to teach, and the related status of Privatdozent. Thisrather unique act at one of the world’s preeminent universities, which involvedstill-today famous figures, and which attracted widespread attention, will bestudied as a case in this essay. The attempt is to see, to the extent that thisis possible, what really happened – for which some contextual explanation isnecessary – and whether, by the standards of 1877, the remotion wasboth legal and legitimate. Using a simple version of the latter dichotomy(see Creifelds, 1996, ‘‘Legalita¨ t’’, p. 770), I mean by legal, in accordance with theexisting laws, both ‘‘in letter and spirit’’, and by legitimate, in accordance withan ethical-normative standard, preferably that of the protagonists. Jurgen Backhaus Previously published in: Journal of Economic Studies, Volume 29, Number 4/5, 2002