Paul Natorp

Vocation

Notable

German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Paul Gerhard Natorp was one of the most prominent philosophers in Germany at the turn of the 20th century. In 1885 he became extraordinary professor and in 1893 became ordinary professor in philosophy and pedagogics at Marburg University, a position he retained until his retirement in 1922. In 1887 he married his cousin Helene Natorp; they had five children. Natorp was an ambitious composer, who wrote chiefly chamber music. He also wrote some 100 songs and two choral works. He conducted a correspondence with Johannes Brahms, who dissuaded him from becoming a professional composer. During his long and prolific tenure at Marburg, Natorp came into contact with a number of illustrious scholars and writers. Boris Pasternak, Karl Barth, and Ernst Cassirer were among his students; Rabindranath Tagore was his friend. He died 17 August 1924, Marburg. Link to Wikipedia biography