Ludwig Klages

Ludwig Klages (1872 to 1956) was a German philosopher, psychologist, graphologist, poet and lecturer, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Hannover, he began as a research chemist to satisfy his family, receiving his doctorate in chemistry from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in 1900, before returning to poetry, philosophy and classical studies. In 1905 he founded the Psychodiagnostisches Seminar in Munich, which closed with the outbreak of the First World War, and in 1915 he moved to neutral Switzerland, where he wrote much of his mature work. He was a central figure of characterological psychology and of the Lebensphilosophie school of thought. His psychology centred on expression, including handwriting analysis, and he opposed life-affirming soul to life-denying mind. His place in modern psychology has been compared to that of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and his influence on German psychology and psychiatry was wide.