Hans Vaihinger

Hans Vaihinger (born Sept. 25, 1852, Nehren, Württemberg [Germany]—died Dec. 18, 1933, Halle, Ger.) was a German philosopher who, influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and F.A. Lange, developed Kantianism in the direction of pragmatism by espousing a theory of “fictions” as the basis of what he called his “as if” philosophy. (See as if, philosophy of.)

Vaihinger taught philosophy at the University of Halle from 1884 to 1906, when nearsightedness forced his retirement. His major work, Die Philosophie des Als Ob (1911; The Philosophy of “As If”), begun in 1876, went through many editions. Vaihinger began writing Kantstudien (“Kant Studies”) in 1896 with the assistance of international scholars and eight years later founded the Kant Society. He saw life as a maze of frustrations and searched for a philosophy to make life livable.