Dietrich Tiedemann

Who was Dietrich Tiedemann?

Dietrich Tiedemann was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy born in Bremervörde. He was father to physiologist Friedrich Tiedemann.

He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Göttingen, and later was a professor at Collegium Carolinum in Kassel and at the University of Marburg.

Teidemann's belief system was based on the metaphysics of Leibniz and the epistemology of Locke. He was author of the six-volume Geist der spekulativen Philosophie von Thales bis Berkeley.

Tiedemann had strong disagreements in regards to the philosophic beliefs of Immanuel Kant, of which he critiqued in two publications; "On the Nature of Metaphysics: An Examination of Professor Kant's Principles-Against the Aesthetic" and "Continuation of the Examination of Professor Kant's Thoughts About the Nature of Metaphysics-Against the Analytic". Kant dismissed Tiedemann's arguments, which he reasoned were caused by a lack of understanding.

Tiedemann was a pioneer of empirical psychology, and an early practitioner in regards to scientific study of child development. He kept a journal of his son's sensory, motor, language, and cognitive behavior during the first thirty months of his life. Through empirical observation, he claimed that children possessed a "pre-linguistic knowledge".