Max Scheler and Kurt Schneider. Scientific influence and personal relationship

Abstract

Two years after Kurt Schneider had finalised his thesis qualifying him as a lecturer at Cologne University, he completed his doctorate dissertation in philosophy, also at Cologne University. His advisor was Max Scheler. Schneider published the results of his researches in a short monograph. It appears that at this time Scheler's phenomenology began to influence psychiatry. However, Kurt Schneider made only passing references to Max Scheler in this regard. Nevertheless, Scheler's influence on Schneider remained noticeable even in his most famous book "Clinical Psychopathology". Years after their academic contacts, Scheler, on several occasions, asked Schneider's advice concerning his psychically disturbed son Wolfgang. Schneider's diagnosis amounted to a case of a severely psychopathic personality. He informed Max Scheler on this and, subsequently, Wolfgang Scheler was interdicted, i.e. legally incapacitated.