| This volume on Zionism by Hugo Bergmann is a reprint of the the first edition. Shmuel Hugo Bergmann (1883-1975) was a Czech-born German and Israeli philosopher. He studied philosophy in Prague and Berlin. As a student in Prague he became involved with the Bar Kochba group of Zionist students and came under the influence of Martin Buber.
Bergman was librarian at the University Library in Prague, 1907-1919, except during World War I, when he served in the Austrian Army. He came to Eretz Yisrael in 1920 and became first director of the National and University Library, a position he held until 1935. In 1928, he became a lecturer in philosophy at the Hebrew University, in 1935, he became a professor, and was the university's first rector from 1935-1938.
Bergman was the general philosophy editor for the Encyclopaedia Hebraica and was an editor of "Iyyun," the philosophical quarterly. He was also a member of HaPoel HaZair and later of Brit Shalom. In this capacity he headed the Jewish delegation to the Pan-Asiatic Conference in New Delhi in 1947.
Bergman's two main interests were science and religion. He wrote in Hebrew on Kant, Maimon and other major thinkers of the 20th century. He was awarded the Israel Prize for Humanities in 1954, particularly for his work "Introduction to Logic."
Bergman's views on faith and religion were influenced by Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, as well as Christian and Indian philosophers. His thoughts on religion are expressed in his book, "Thinkers and Believers." He also wrote an introduction to modern Jewish thought called "Faith and Reason." His other writings include: Worte Mosis (1913), Maimon und Cohen (1939) and Ba-mish`ol (1976). |
