AVENARIUS

avenarius, richard heinrich ludwig (1843-1896), german philosopher, was born in paris on the 19th of november 1843. his education, begun in zuerich and berlin, was completed at the university of leipzig, where he graduated in 1876. in 1877 he became professor of philosophy in zuerich, where he died on the 18th of august 1896. at leipzig he was one of the founders of the _akademisch-philosophische verein_, and was the first editor of the _vierteljahrsschrift fuer wissenschaftliche philosophie_. in 1868 he published an essay on the pantheism of spinoza. his chief works are _philosophie als denken der welt gemaess dem princip des kleinsten kraftmasses_ (1876) and the _kritik der reinen erfahrung_ (1888-1890). in these works he made an attempt to co-ordinate thought and action. like mach, he started from the principle of economy of thinking, and in the _kritik_ endeavoured to explain pure experience in relation to knowledge and environment. he discovers that statements dependent upon environment constitute pure experience. this philosophy, called empirio-criticism, is not, however, a realistic but an idealistic dualism, nor can it be called materialism. see wundt, _philos. stud._ xiii. (1897); carstanjen and willy in _zeitsch. f. wiss. philos_. xx. (1896), 361 ff.; xx. 57 ff.; xxii. 53 ff.; j. petzoldt's _einfuehrung in d. philos. d. reinen erfahrung_ (1900).