Wolfgang Leidhold

The plural term of experience and the criticism of the empiricism play a crucial role in Leidhold’s works. In his book “Political Philosophy” Leidhold defines experience as “conscious reference” of something that is experienced to the experiencing subject and on this basis identifies five experiential dimensions: the experience of the senses, the imagination, the self-consciousness, the religious experience and the “speculative experience” or the power to reason. Because the structure of experience is not a culture-specific but universal phenomenon, Leidhold’s understanding of experience forms the foundation for an intercultural Hermeneutic.

Counter to Wolff’s and Kant’s thesis that metaphysics are founded on the basis of pure reason, Leidhold develops empirically consolidated metaphysics. Simultaneously he carries out a radical change away from classical philosophy of being by considering time instead of being the highest concept.

In addition, he assists the New York based Boris Lurie Art Foundation as a consultant in promoting the Jewish artist Boris Lurie. He initiated and coordinated two solo exhibitions of Boris Lurie's artwork and heritage at the NS-Documentation Center in Cologne (2014) and the Jewish Museum in Berlin (2016).

In his current project on the history of experience, Leidhold examines both the structure of experience and how it has evolved from the Palaeolithic to the present, as well as its effects on the dynamics of cultures and political orders. His main thesis advocates a paradigm shift: the structure of experience changes in the course of human history. This thesis runs against the general consensus that regards the architecture of experience as a universal constant. In contrast, Leidhold identifies eight transformations of experiential structure (including the discovery of imagination and contemplation, of spiritual experience and the unconscious) that have developed in different regions at different times. He shows how the particular mix of experiential structures determines both the characteristics of cultures and their respective design of political order. This "history of experience" includes both an interdisciplinary theory of experience that combines neurological, philosophical-systematic and historical aspects—as well as a detailed intercultural analysis of historical material from the Palaeolithic up to the present.

Leidhold studied social sciences, philosophy and East Asian studies at the Ruhr University Bochum. His teachers included Norbert Elias, Günter Gawlick, Jürgen Gebhardt, Leo Kofler, Eric Voegelin and Peter Weber-Schäfer. After his graduate degree with a thesis on René Descartes (unpublished) and studies at the Stanford University, CA, he received his doctorate in 1982 with a work on “Ethics and Politics in Francis Hutcheson’s works”. From 1978 to 1992 he was Assistant at the University Erlangen. During the 1990s his research focused on International Relations, especially in cooperation with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Several research stays in the USA followed, among others at the Georgetown University and the University of Hawaii as well as in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific. Leidhold’s habilitation for the political sciences followed in 1989 with a thesis on “Security Policy related Problems in the Pacific Island Region” (1991). After lectureships at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt he accepted a professorship at the University of Cologne in 1992. In 1997 Wolfgang Leidhold initiated and organized a prototype of ILIAS, the first Learning Management System, within the VIRTUS project at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne. His dedication to the project was rewarded with the ILIAS speedwell in 2015. In 2001 Leidhold was awarded the Karl-Carstens-Preis for his remarkable accomplishments in giving a predominately young audience an understanding of the complex connections in modern security policy by means of an interactive simulation.

From 1972 to 1975 Leidhold completed his artistic training under the supervision of painter Hans-Jürgen Schlieker. After group exhibitions in Bochum and his move to the University of Erlangen he continued his artistic engagement in Eberhard “Pinsl” Königsreuther’s Studio. In his painting he developed a trans-historic metaphysic realism that combines artistic techniques, way of composition and coloring of the Renaissance with contemporary abstract formulations, whereby he picks up classical Themes in particular. His work was inspired by Duccio and Lorenzo Monaco as well as by Michelangelo and Raffael. In the modern era besides Carlo Carrà, Giorgio De Chirico, Max Ernst and Willi Baumeister also Dubuffet and Cy Twombly played a role in Leidhold’s occupation with their mythological and metaphysical Themes.

Wolfgang Leidhold (born December 12, 1950 in Dortmund) is a German political scientist, philosopher and artist.