Otto Liebmann, the German neo-Kantian philosopher, was born at Löwenberg (Lwowek Slaski), Silesia, and became successively Privatdozent at Tübingen (1865), extraordinary professor at Strassburg (1872), and professor at Jena (1882). He served as a volunteer during the siege of Paris in 1870 and 1871 and published a memoir of his experiences.

In a Festschrift dedicated to Liebmann on his seventieth birthday, various thinkers discussed the aspects of his work that were of particular interest to them. Each interpreted him differently; for example, Bruno Bauch stressed transcendental-methodological aspects, Erich Adickes empirical openness, Wilhelm Windelband critical-metaphysical insight. Such variegated criticism was not without foundation, for Liebmann's thought had many facets and did not evolve so much as oscillate between impulsive outbursts and great restraint, passing from problem to problem.

In his notable early book, Kant und die Epigonen (1865), Liebmann swept aside the academic philosophy of his day and preached...