Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolf Lepenies
Sociologist, Cultural Scientist
Freie Universität Berlin (em.)
former rector or Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (1986-2001)
Curriculum vitae
Academic career
- Studies in Sociology, Philosophy and Journalism in Munich, Münster und Berlin
- Doctorate degree in Sociology at the University of Münster (1967)
- Habilitation at Freie Universität Berlin (1970)
- Professor for Sociology at Freie Universität Berlin (ab 1971)
- Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (several research stays between 1979 and 2004)
- Full Professor for Sociology at Freie Universität Berlin (since 1984, emeritus since 2006)
- Rector of the Institute for Advanced Study Berlin (1986-2001)
- Holder of the Chaire Européenne at the Collège de France, Paris (1991/1992)
- Permanent Fellow (em.) of the Institute for Advanced Study Berlin
Memberships (selected)
- Chairman of the Advisory Scientific Council of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation Cologne
- Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Académie Universelle des Cultures (Paris)
- Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
- Academia Europaea (London)
- Aspen Institute (Berlin)
- Deutsche Nationalstiftung
- Royal Swedish Academy of Science and Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (both Stockholm)
- Member of Leopoldina
- Co-founder of the Collegium Budapest
Awards (selected)
- Alexander von Humboldt Prize for German-French cooperation (1983)
- Karl Vossler Prize (1988)
- Joseph Breitbach Prize (1999)
- Theodor Heuss Prize (2000)
- Leibniz Medal from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2003)
- Officer of the French Legion of Honour (2004)
- Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (2006)
- State Prize North-Rhine Westfalia (2007)
- Schader Prize (2010)
- Honorary doctorate from Sorbonne, Paris
Publications (selected)
- Melancholie und Gesellschaft, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1969 (at the same time doctoral thesis at the University of Münster 1967 with the title: Melancholie, Langeweile und Reflexion).
- Soziologische Anthropologie. Materialien, Carl Hanser, Munich 1971.
- Das Ende der Naturgeschichte. Wandel kultureller Selbstverständlichkeiten, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1978.
- Geschichte der Soziologie (in vier Bänden), Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1981.
- Nemesis Divina, by Carl von Linné (ed. with Lars Gustafsson), Carl Hanser, Munich/Vienna 1981 (and Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main u.a. 1983).
- Die drei Kulturen. Soziologie zwischen Literatur und Wissenschaft, Carl Hanser, Munich 1985.
- Autoren und Wissenschaftler im 18. Jahrhundert. Linné - Buffon - Winckelmann - Georg Forster - Erasmus Darwin, Carl Hanser, Munich 1988.
- Folgen einer unerhörten Begebenheit. Die Deutschen nach der Vereinigung, Siedler Verlag, Munich 1996.
- Aufstieg und Fall der Intellektuellen in Europa, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/New York 1992.
- Sainte-Beuve. Auf der Schwelle zur Moderne, Carl Hanser, Munich 1997.
- Benimm und Erkenntnis, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/Main 1997.
- Kultur und Politik. Deutsche Geschichten, Carl Hanser, Munich 2006.
- The Seduction of Culture in German History, Princeton University Press 2006.
- Auguste Comte: die Macht der Zeichen. (Edition Akzente, Band 505) Carl Hanser, Munich 2010.