Herman Van Breda
Herman Leo Van Breda (born Leo Marie Karel; 28 February 1911, in
On 19 August 1934, he was ordained as a priest and in 1936 he started studying philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he obtained a PhD degree in 1941 with a dissertation on the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. Later he became a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he stayed until his death in 1974.
Husserl archives
Van Breda saved the extensive writings and manuscripts of
For the preparation of his PhD thesis he traveled to
Van Breda also was able to convince Husserl's former assistants, Eugen Fink and Ludwig Landgrebe, to collaborate on the editing of these documents in Leuven. At the beginning of World War II the documents were being kept in the university library in Leuven, which burned to ashes on 17 May 1940. Fortunately, one week before the fire, Van Breda decided to bring the documents to the Higher Institute of Philosophy.
In 1943 the documents were, for safety, distributed over different locations in Leuven, including a shelter in the cellar of the Institute of Philosophy and the Abbey of Postel. After the war they were brought back to the Institute of Philosophy, where they form the basis for the Husserliana, the complete works of Edmund Husserl.
For his work on spreading Husserl's work he was awarded an
See also
References
- Toon Horsten, De pater en de filosoof. De redding van het Husserl-archief. Uitg. Vrijdag, Antwerpen 2018. ISBN 978 94 6001 651 6.
- Jörgen Vijgen (2005). "Herman Van Breda". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 25. Nordhausen: Bautz. cols. 1405–1407. ISBN 3-88309-332-7.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
