Ernst Platner

Who was Ernst Platner?

Ernst Platner was a German anthropologist, physician and philosopher born in Leipzig. He was father to painter Ernst Zacharias Platner.

He received his education at the University of Leipzig, where in 1770 he became an associate professor of medicine. Later at Leipzig, he was appointed a full professor of physiology and philosophy.

Platner was a follower of the teachings of Leibniz. He was the author of "Anthropologie für Aerzte und Weltweise", one of the more important anthropological works of the Spätaufklärung. This work was influential to scholars that included Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Schiller and Karl Philipp Moritz. He believed in treating modern anthropology as a medico-philosophical science of the whole individual — a viewpoint that can be considered as a precursor of psychosomatic medicine.

Platner is credited with originally coining the term Unbewußtseyn.