Award winners
2006
Wolf Lepenies
The Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has chosen the German sociologist and former director of the Wissenschaftskolleg (Centre for Advanced Study) in Berlin, Wolf Lepenies, as this year’s winner of the Peace Prize. The award ceremony took place during the Frankfurt Book Fair on Sunday, October 8, 2006 at the Church of St. Paul (Paulskirche) in Frankfurt.
Reason
The German Publishers and Booksellers Association awards the 2006 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to Wolf Lepenies. In so doing, the association is honouring an erudite scientific author, an eloquent biographer and a thought-provoking essayist who has demonstrated in both word and deed the indissoluble link between knowledge and actions, between morality and science. In the midst of the opposing postures of enthusiasm and scepticism so popular in art and science today, Wolf Lepenies chose a “third way” – the pursuit of a form of intellectual integrity once represented by Diderot. He sought out the ‘active intellectual’ in history and held him up as a model of civic courage and concern for public welfare. Lepenies' 15 years as the head of the ‘Wissenschaftskolleg’ in Berlin made it one the most energising and open institutions in Europe. The institute combined Western rationality and Eastern wisdom and became a centre of art and science, as well as a home for modern music and literature. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Lepenies enthusiastically planted the seeds of this open and liberal worldview in other cities and institutions, for example in St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest and Mali. He brought peoples and cultures together to engage in peaceful and intellectual exchange. Instead of a threatening “clash of civilisations,” Lepenies proposed a cultural community of learning (Lerngesellschaft), founding such communities in an exemplary manner along the way. Indeed, he provided the fertile ground necessary for the foundation of peace among all citizens of the world. And for this, we thank him.
Biography
Wolf Lepenies was born on January 11, 1941 in Deuthen (Allenstein), East Prussia, and raised in Koblenz, West Germany. In 1967, he completed his studies in sociology and philosophy at the University of Münster. His dissertation on "Melancholy and Society" was published as a book in 1969, and in 1970 he became a professor at the Free University of Berlin. Lepenies was Directeur d'études associé at the Maison sciences de l'homme in Paris starting in 1977. In 1982, after a previous residency in 1979/80, Lepenies became a member of the School of Science at the renowned Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1984, he declined an offer to remain there as a permanent member and instead took up an appointment at Berlin’s Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study) and a professorship in sociology at the Free University of Berlin. Lepenies maintains close ties to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton – most recently with a research residency in 2002-2004. In 1991/92, Lepenies held the Chaire européenne at the Collège de France in Paris.
In 1986, Lepenies succeeded Peter Wapnewski as Director of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. The Wissenschaftskolleg was created in 1981 on the initiative of Peter Glotz, West Berlin’s then-Senator for Science, and was designed as a "leading research institute and site of productive scientific exchange." After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Lepenies recognised the critical necessity of engaging in a programme of common learning with the East. His goal was the transformation of traditional Western “instructional communities” (Belehrungsgesellschaften) into fruitful "learning communities" (Lerngesellschaften). As the head of the Wissenschaftskolleg, Lepenies pursued this goal throughout the 1990s and worked tirelessly for the renewal and strengthening of scientific and research facilities abroad. An initial result of this pan-European support network was the Collegium Budapest, the first Institute for Advanced Study in Central and Eastern Europe and one that Ralf Dahrendorf called a "unique European success story." The development of other outstanding institutions soon followed, including the New Europe College – a multidisciplinary research centre for the humanities and social sciences in Bucharest –, the Bibliotheca Classica in St. Petersburg and the Centre for Advanced Study in Sofia. As well, the POINT Sud - Muscler le savoir local research centre was established in Bamako, the capital of Mali in West Africa. The research project "Europe in the Middle East" at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem was initiated by the Wissenschaftskolleg in 1994 with the goal of bringing together young German, Israelis and Palestinian researchers. The project continued up until the beginning of second Intifada six years later. In 1994, the Wissenschaftskolleg initiated "Modernism and Islam," an international working group responsible for the organisation of summer schools in Middle Eastern countries and research residencies in Berlin attended by scientists and researchers from Muslim countries as well as scholars of Islam and from all over the world. Also in 1994, Wolf Lepenies read a laudatory speech entitled "What a beautiful Sunday!" for Jorge Semprún, that year’s winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, in the Church of St. Paul (Paulskirche) in Frankfurt.
Lepenies handed over the directorship of the Wissenschaftskolleg to Dieter Grimm in 2001, although he continues to act as a "Permanent Fellow" there. From 2000 to 2004, Lepenies wrote for the prominent German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. In 2004, he became a member of the Supervisory Board of Axel Springer AG and since then has written exclusively for publications issued by the "Welt" group.
Lepenies has received several prominent awards and honours for his work. In his books and essays, which have been translated into many languages, Lepenies deals extensively with the opportunities and limits of intellectual commitment. His "Melancholy and Society" (Melancholie und Gesellschaft, 1969) and "The End of Natural History" (Das Ende der Naturgeschichte, 1976) are important contributions to the self-understanding of modernity. In 1981, he published his four volume work "History of Sociology" (Geschichte der Soziologie), a comprehensive study of sociology’s cognitive, social and historical identity. His “Between Literature and Science: the rise of Sociology" (Die drei Kulturen. Soziologie zwischen Literatur und Wissenschaft, 1985) is considered to be his principle work and deals with the emergence of the social sciences and their respective national characteristics in England, France and Germany. In his book "Consequences of an Unbelievable Occurrence" (Folgen einer unerhörten Begebenheit, 1992), Lepenies takes stock of German reunification in the context of West German presumptuousness and East German resentment. Lepenies received much praise for his study "Sainte Beuve. On the Threshold of Modernism" (Saint-Beuve. Auf der Schwelle zur Moderne, 1997), an engrossing study of the French literary critic whom Lepenies sees as an influential intellectual on the threshold of the modern. In its book "Behaviour and Realisation" (Benimm und Erkenntnis, 1997), Lepenies describes the differentiation of the academic disciplines during the last centuries as a process of "demoralisation" and pleads for a return of values to the sciences. In 2006, he published "The Seduction of Culture in German History" in English. His latest book "Culture and Politics. German Stories" (Kultur und Politik. Deutsche Geschichten) will appear in July. His lectures at the Collège de France will be published under the title "Qu'est ce qu'un intellectuel européen? La Politique de l'esprit" in the fall of 2006.
Wolf Lepenies has received several honours including the Alexander of Humboldt Award for his commitment to Franco-German scientific co-operation (1984), the Karl Vossler Award (1998), the Leibniz Ring (1998), the Joseph Breitbach Award from the Mainz Academy of Science for his life's work (1998), the Theodor Heuss Award together with Andrei Pleşu for their commitment to democracy and Europe (2000), as well as the Leibniz Medal from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science (2003). Wolf Lepenies is Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation in Cologne and a member of a number of national and international academies. He is an honorary doctor at the Sorbonne in Paris and an Officer of the French Legion of Honour. He holds the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary as well as the Medal of the Swedish Royal Order of the Polar Star.
Wolf Lepenies is married and has three children. He lives in Berlin.
Bibliography
Author
»Autoren und Wissenschaftler im 18. Jahrhundert«
Buffon – Winckelmann – Linné – Georg Foster – Erasmus Darwin
Carl Hanser Verlag, München 1988, Broschur, 168 Seiten, 17,90 €
ISBN 3-446-15160-5, ISBN13 978-3-446-15160-4
»Benimm und Erkenntnis«
Über die notwendige Rückkehr der Werte in den Wissenschaften. Die Sozialwissenschaften nach dem Ende der Geschichte. Zwei Vorträge.
Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1998 (2.Aufl.), es 2018, Broschur, 100 Seiten, 7,50 €
ISBN 3-518-12018-2, ISBN13 978-3-518-12018-7
»Die drei Kulturen«
Soziologie zwischen Literatur und Wissenschaft
S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, (Erstv. 1985) Fischer Taschenbuch 15518, Broschur, 576 Seiten, 14,95 €
ISBN 3-596-15518-5
»Jorge Semprún«
Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels 1994. Ansprachen aus Anlaß der Verleihung.
Mit der Laudatio »Was für ein schöner Sonntag« von Wolf Lepenies
MVB Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 1994, Broschur, 68 Seiten, 9,00 €
ISBN 3-7657-1833-5, ISBN13 978-3-7657-1833-5
»Kultur und Politik«
Deutsche Geschichten
Carl Hanser Verlag, München 2006, gebunden, ca. 448 Seiten, 29,90 €
ISBN 3-446-20807-0, ISBN13 978-3-446-20807-0
(erscheint im Juli 2006)
»Melancholie und Gesellschaft«
Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998 (2. Auflage, Erstveröffentlichung 1969), stw 967, Broschur, 336 Seiten, 13,50 €
ISBN 3-518-28567-X, ISBN13 978-3-518-28567-1
»Sainte-Beuve«
Auf der Schwelle zur Moderne
Carl Hanser Verlag, München 1997, gebunden, 649 Seiten, 34,90 €
ISBN 3-446-19121-1, ISBN13 978-3-446-19121-1
»Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869)«
Auf der Schwelle zur Moderne. Ein Vortrag
Verlag Schwabe, Basel 1998, Broschur, 40 Seiten, 10,00 €
ISBN 3-7965-1066-3, ISBN13 978-3-7965-1066-3
»The Seduction of Culture in German History«
Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 2006 (2. Auflage), gebunden, 260 Seiten
ISBN 0-691-12131-1
»Sozialwissenschaft und sozialer Wandel«
Ein Erfahrungsbericht.
BIS-Verlag, Oldenburg 1999, geheftet, 51 Seiten, 3,10 €
ISBN 3-8142-1105-7, ISBN13 978-3-8142-1105-3
Editor
»Entangled Histories and Negotiated Universals«
Centers and Peripheries in a Changing World
hrsg. von Wolf Lepenies
Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003, gebunden, 345 Seiten, 34,90 €
ISBN 3-593-37280-0, ISBN13 978-3-593-37280-8
»Functions and Uses of Disciplinary Histories«
hrsg. von Loren Graham, Wolf Lepenies & P. Weingart
Verlag Springer Netherland, Berlin 1983, gebunden, 336 Seiten, 160,45 €
ISBN 90-277-1520-3, ISBN13 978-90-277-1520-3
Verlag Springer Netherland, Berlin 1983, Broschur, 336 Seiten, 101,60 €
ISBN 90-277-1521-1, ISBN13 978-90-277-1521-0
»Geschichte der Soziologie«
Studien zur kognitiven, sozialen und historischen Identität einer Disziplin
hrsg. von Wolf Lepenies, übersetzt von Wolf Hagen Krauth
Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, gebunden, 1811 Seiten, 72,00 €
ISBN 3-518-57091-9, ISBN13 978-3-518-57091-3
Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, stw 367, Broschur, 1811 Seiten, 24,50 €
ISBN 3-518-27967-X, ISBN13 978-3-519-27967-0
Georges Canguilhem
»Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Epistemologie«
Gesammelte Aufsätze
hrsg. von Wolf Lepenies, übersetzt von Michael Bischoff & Walter Seitter
Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001, stw 286, Broschur, 155 Seiten, 9,00 €
ISBN 3-518-27886-X, ISBN13 978-3-518-27886-4
Laudator
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