He was born at Munich. Originally destined for the priesthood, he studied theology from childhood. The writings of Spinoza and Lorenz Oken attracted him to philosophy, and it was in philosophy that he "habilitated" (1854) in the university of his native place, where he ultimately became professor (extraordinarius, 1859; ordinarius, 1864). With Döllinger and others he attracted a large amount of public attention in.1869 by the challenge to the Ultramontane promoters of the First Vatican Council in the treatise Der Papst und das Koncil, which appeared under the pseudonym of "Janus," and also in 1870 by a series of letters (Römisclse Briefe, a redaction of secret reports sent from Rome during the sitting of the council), which were published over the pseudonym Quirinus in the Allgemeine Zeitung. He died suddenly of heart disease at Munich.
Works
He also published adverse criticisms of Charles Darwin, David Strauss, Hartmann and Hackel; pamphlets on Des Papsttum und der Staat (1870), and Die Freiheiten der französischen Kirche (1871); and a volume of Kleine Schriften (1871).
See E Zirngiebl, Johannes Huber (1881); and M Carrière in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, xiii. (1881), and in Nord und Süd (1879).
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.