Karl Aschenbrenner

Karl W. Aschenbrenner (November 20, 1911 – July 4, 1988) was an American philosopher, translator (into English of works in Latin and German) and prominent American specialist in analytic philosophy and aesthetics, author and editor of more than 48 publications including five monographs, 27 articles and 16 book reviews. His principal academic post was at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Philosophy. Aschenbrenner co-edited, with Arnold Isenberg, a collection of essays on the subject of aesthetic theory. As co-translator with William B. Holther, Aschenbrenner published the principal work of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten and, with Donald Nicholl, assisted in completing the second edition of an important work of the Polish philosopher Joseph M. Bocheński. He is particularly noted for his authoritative commentary on the Kritik der Reinen Vernunft of Immanuel Kant as well as the commentary he and Nicholl supplied in their translation of Baumgarten's "Meditationes philosophicae de nonnullis ad poema pertinentibus" introducing that work. Except for his sabbaticals, Aschenbrenner resided in Berkeley, California from 1943 to 1986 and in Los Angeles from 1986 to 1988. During sabbatical leaves Aschenbrenner taught at the Universität Wien, University College London and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He remained Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley until his death in 1988. Aschenbrenner died in Budapest while doing research and is buried in Farkasréti Cemetery in that city. The Aschenbrenner papers are held by the Doe Library of the University of California at Berkeley.