Othmar Spann
Othmar Spann
Othmar Spann (
October 1,
1878 -
July 8,
1950) was a conservative
Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist whose radical anti-liberal and anti-Socialist views, expressed at length in his books and lecture courses, helped antagonise political factions in Austria during the interwar years. Repeatedly, Spann tried to draw the ruling powers' attention to his authoritarian theory of a
corporate state which, as he saw it, could, and should, be introduced immediately for the benefit of all. However, although to a large degree in tune with the
zeitgeist, he repeatedly met with disapproval until, in
1938, right after the
Anschluss, he was briefly imprisoned by the
Nazis and eventually barred from his
professorship at the
University of Vienna, which he had held since
1919. Living as a recluse till the end of the war, Spann tried to get his university post back in
1945, aged 67. However, he was not allowed to resume his teaching and died in
1950, disappointed and embittered.
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