SOURCE: "Autobiographical" in The Philosophy of 'As If': A System of the Theoretical, Practical and Religious Fictions of Mankind, translated by C. K. Ogden, Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. 1924, pp. 23-48.

In the following essay, Vaihinger explains his reasons for and method of writing The Philosophy of "As If."

I was born in a Swabian parsonage near Tubingen in 1852 and so I grew up in a very religious atmosphere. It was not exactly bigoted, but it had a limited horizon, for instance, the names of the Liberal Hegelian theologian Baur of Tübingen, the so-called "Heathen Baur" and his disciple, David F. Strauss, were spoken of with horror in our home. My father, who was the author of a good many theological works, had written a pamphlet against Strauss. When I was twelve years old I was given into me charge of an excellent master and teacher in Leonberg...