Beneke

Beneke, FRIEDRICH EDUARD, professor of philosophy in Berlin, was born in that city in 1798, and studied theology and philosophy, first at Halle, and then at Berlin. In 1820 he commenced lecturing in the latter university, but his lectures were soon interdicted by the minister Altenstein, as his philosophical views were quite opposed to those of Hegel. For three years he taught at Göttingen, but in 1827 his lectures at Berlin were again allowed, and in 1832, on Hegel's death, he was appointed extraordinary professor of Philosophy. In March 1854 Beneke disappeared suddenly from his residence, and nothing more was heard of him until June 1856, when his body was found in the canal at Charlottenburg. Beneke has more affinity with British thinkers than any other German philosopher. His most important works are on psychology, which he insists must be founded on the facts of our consciousness. His system of psychology is therefore what the Germans call 'empirical,' and his method is the Baconian as pursued in natural science.