Proto-sociologist Moritz Lazarus within the context of German-Jewish Life-Worlds

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Proto-Sociologist Moritz Lazarus (1824-1903) was a prominent figure in German public life of of the second half of the nineteenth century - as popular philosopher, founder of the "Völkerpsychologie" (a folk, or social, psychology) as well as representative of German Reform Jewry. During the process of the previous project phase, the sheer amount of material about him that was found in the contemporary press showed that he was even more well-known than already assumed in the beginning. The goal of the study continues to be the question how the contemporary and posthumous public perceived, interpreted and evaluated him, his work and his intervention into society. Thus, it will be reconstructed how his self-perception and his public image has been formed. The project analyzes the cycles of this self- and external construction within the context of political, social and biographic developments and through that contributes to the understanding of the complex history of reception and influence of a German Jew whose modern social theory, after his death, for a long time continued to influence others only anonymously. Subject of the study are seven key episodes in his life, mostly around some of his lectures or books - captured in publications and selected correspondence. The continuation of the project is necessary for two reasons: Prior to the actual exploration and evaluation of the corpus of material it was not foreseeable what extent his public presence really had. And the extension has become necessary even more because his popular-philosophical book "Das Leben der Seele" had turned out to be much more important for the contemporaries than expected prior to the analysis of the material. It had thus to be inserted as a new center of the study.