Die Mitte zwischen Holz und Theologie

Abstract

These autobiographical fragments, published here for the first time, depict the legal theorist and lawyer Ralf Dreier (1931–2018) in an entirely new light: his childhood and adolescence in Nazi Germany, his studies at university during the Adenauer period (Hamburg and Freiburg), his years as an university assistant in Münster (when ‘the student movement reached the provinces’) and his decades of professorship at the University of Göttingen. He also looks back on his time as President of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR) and the debate he initiated on civil disobedience in a constitutional state. Prof. Dreier’s memories, both sober and laconic but sometimes also surprisingly personal, lead to reflections in hindsight about his intellectual influences and his attitude towards life as an ‘existential outsider’. These memoires provide a detailed insight into an engrossing life story and a fascinating chapter in academic history. Ralf Dreier authorised Horst Meier (www.horst-meier-autor.de), a former postgraduate student of the eminent professor, to be his editor.