Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 16, 2026

Lorenz Bruno Puntel

Lorenz Bruno Puntel was a Brazilian-born German philosopher who established the school of structural-systematic philosophy. Professor emeritus at LMU Munich, Puntel was named as one of the great contemporary philosophers, articulating his ideas from the most varied traditions.

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Lorenz Bruno Puntel
Puntel in 2018
Born
Lourencinho Bruno Puntel

(1935-09-22)22 September 1935
Sobradinho, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Died16 July 2024(2024-07-16) (aged 88)
Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany
Education
EducationLMU Munich (Ph.D., 1968)
University of Innsbruck (Dr. Theol., 1969)
Karl Rahner
Philosophical work
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
Continental philosophy (early)
Analytic philosophy (later)
Structuralism
InstitutionsLMU Munich
Main interests
Philosophy of science
Philosophy of religion
Notable ideas
Structural-systematic philosophy
Philosophical theory of everything

Lorenz Bruno Puntel (born Lourencinho Bruno Puntel /ˈpʊntəl/; German: [ˈpʊntəl];1 Brazilian Portuguese: [pũˈtɛw]; 22 September 1935 – 16 July 2024) was a Brazilian-born German philosopher who established the school of structural-systematic philosophy.23 Professor emeritus at LMU Munich, Puntel was named as one of the great contemporary philosophers, articulating his ideas from the most varied traditions.4567

Biography

Puntel studied philosophy, theology, philology and psychology at LMU Munich, the University of Innsbruck, the University of Vienna, the University of Paris, and the Sapienza University of Rome. He obtained a doctorate in philosophy from LMU Munich (1968) and in Catholic theology (1969) from the University of Innsbruck. He became a professor at the Institute of Philosophy at LMU Munich in 1975. He was a student of Karl Rahner and studied with Martin Heidegger, whose philosophy concerned him throughout his life.8

Puntel died in Augsburg, Bavaria on 16 July 2024, at the age of 88.9

Philosophical work

Puntel established the school of structural-systematic philosophy which tries to reconstruct the systematics of philosophy from a unique viewpoint: it involves the elaboration of a theoretical language, abandoning the idea of a language of predicates. Puntel drew on sources ranging from G. W. Leibniz, German idealism, Heidegger's phenomenology, and even analytic philosophy.10

Awards

From 1983, Puntel was a visiting professor at Pittsburgh, Harvard and Princeton. Retired in 2001, in 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Munich School of Philosophy.11

He also received the Findlay Book Prize in 2011.12

Bibliography

Bibliography

  • Analogy and Historicity: Philosophical-Historical-Critical Attempt at the Basic Problem of Metaphysics. Herder Verlag, Freiburg, 1969.
  • Presentation, Method and Structure: Investigations in the Unity of Systematic Philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel. Bouvier Verlag, Bonn, 1973.
  • Theories of Truth in Modern Philosophy: A Critical and Systematic Presentation. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1978, ISBN 3534072588. 3rd edition, 1993.
  • (ed., introduction) The Concept of Truth: New Attempts at Explanation. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1987, ISBN 3-534-02134-7.
  • Basics of a Theory of Truth. W. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 1990, ISBN 3-11-012079-8.
  • Structure and Being: A Theoretical Framework for a Systematic Philosophy. Mohr Siebeck Verlag, Tübingen, 2006, ISBN 3-16-148963-2.
  • Being and God: A Systematic Approach in Dealing with M. Heidegger, E. Levinas and J.-L. Marion. Mohr Siebeck Verlag, Tübingen, 2010, ISBN 978-3-16-150146-3.
  • (with Emmanuel Tourpe) Philosophy as a Systematic Discourse: Dialogues About the Basics of a Theory of Beings. Karl Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2014.
  • Being and Nothing: The Primordial Question of Philosophy, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2925.
References

References

  1. Laudatio auf Prof. Dr. Lorenz B. Puntel - Prof. Dr. Godehard Brüntrup SJ on YouTube
  2. Lawrence, Joseph P. "Structure and Being: A Theoretical Framework for a Systematic Philosophy." The Review of Metaphysics 63.4 (2010): 937.
  3. Puntel, Lorenz B. Structure and being: a theoretical framework for a systematic philosophy. Penn State Press, 2010.
  4. LMU München: Schwerpunkte in Forschung & Lehre (retrieved 24 November 2014)
  5. Negarestani, Reza. Intelligence and Spirit. Urbanomic/Sequence Press, 2018. p.72
  6. White, Alan. Toward a Philosophical Theory of Everything: Contributions to the Structural-systematic Philosophy. A&C Black, 2014. p.4–25
  7. de Oliveira, M. A. A metafísica do ser primordial: L.B. Puntel e o desafio de repensar a metafísica hoje, Loyola, 2019, ISBN 8515045788
  8. Selbstauskunft, Vortrag "Heidegger", WWU Münster. 15 December 2010.
  9. Die Hochschule trauert um Prof. Dr. Lorenz Bruno Puntel (retrieved 25 July 2024)
  10. version française de Emmanuel Tourpe, Philosophie als systematischer Diskurs, Fribourg- Munich, Karl Alber, 2014 pp. 3–4
  11. LMU München: Curriculum Vitae (retrieved 24 November 2014)
  12. "Metaphysical Society - Awards & Prizes".
External links