Mauthner, Fritz

Mauthner, Fritz, b. Horicče, Czech Republic (then Horitz), Nov. 22, 1849, d. Meersburg at Lake Constance (Germany), June 29, 1923, writer and philosopher. Came from a Jewish family in Bohemia; from 1873 studied law in Vienna, attended lectures of famous teachers like F. A. O. Benndorf and A. W. Ambros. During his successful career as a journalist also wrote outstanding literary works and studied philosophical problems of language, on which he finally concentrated exclusively from the turn of the century onwards. His sceptical views of language make him a predecessor of L. Wittgenstein.

Works: Die große Revolution, 1872 (poems); Anna, 1874 (drama); Nach berühmten Mustern, 1878 (parodies); Dilettantenspiegel, 1884 (satire); Xantippe, 1884 (novel); Credo, 1892 (essays); Lügenohr, Fabeln und Gedichte in Prosa, 1892 (essays); Der letzte Tod des Gautama Buddha, 1913 (novel). Philosophical publications: Beiträge zu einer Kritik der Sprache, 3 vols., 1901-1902; Wörterbuch der Philosophie, 2 vols., 1910/1911; Der Atheismus und seine Geschichte im Abendlande, 4 vols., 1920-1923. - Edition: Das philosophische Werk, 1997ff.

Literature: J. Kühn, Gescheiterte Sprachkritik, 1975; W. Eschenbacher, F. M. und die deutsche Literatur um 1900, 1977; E. Leinfellner (ed.), F. M., 1995; H. Henne and C. Kaiser (ed.), F. M. Sprache, Literatur, Kritik, 2000; ÖBL.