Wolf Lepenies

Wolf Lepenies (born 11 January 1941) is a German sociologist, political scientist, and author.

Biography Lepenies was born near Allenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztyn, Poland). In 1945 his family fled from the Soviet Army's assault on East Prussia to Schleswig-Holstein and from there to North Rhine-Westphalia. He eventually grew up in Koblenz. He studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia and graduated with a promotion in 1967. In 1970 he habilitated at the Free University of Berlin. He traveled abroad, first to the Maison des sciences de l'homme in Paris, then to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 1984 he joined the faculty of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin before becoming a professor of sociology at the Free University of Berlin. He frequently returned to Princeton to conduct research. In 1986 he succeeded Peter Wapnewski as president of the Wissenschaftskolleg. In 2001 he was succeeded by Dieter Grimm. In 2006 he became a professor emeritus.

Lepenies is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Since 2004 he has been a member of the supervisory board of Axel Springer AG.

Selected awards and honors 1984 - Gay-Lussac-Humboldt-Prize 1986 - Kulturpreis der Stadt Koblenz 1988 - Karl-Vossler-Preis 1998 - Leibniz Ring Hannover 1999 - Joseph Breitbach Prize 2000 - Theodor Heuss Prize 2003 - Leibniz Medal from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences 2003 - Prix Chartier, for Sainte-Beuve, au seuil de la modernité 2004 - Legion of Honour 2006 - Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (awarded by Andrei Plesu) 2007 - Staatspreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen 2010 - Schader Award 2015 - Adam-Mickiewicz-Preis 2016 - Kythera Prize 2017 - Order of the Star of Romania, Commander

Works Melancholie und Gesellschaft, 1969 (his 1967 doctoral dissertation) Orte des wilden Denkens. Zur Anthropologie von Claude Levi-Strauss (with Hans Henning Ritter), 1970 Soziologische Anthropologie. Materialien, 1971 Das Ende der Naturgeschichte. Wandel kultureller Selbstverständlichkeiten, 1976 Geschichte der Soziologie (a history of sociology in four volumes), 1981 Die drei Kulturen. Soziologie zwischen Literatur und Wissenschaft, 1985 Autoren und Wissenschaftler im 18. Jahrhundert. Linné - Buffon - Winckelmann - Georg Forster - Erasmus Darwin, 1988 Gefährliche Wahlverwandtschaften. Essays zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 1989 Folgen einer unerhörten Begebenheit. Die Deutschen nach der Vereinigung, 1992 Aufstieg und Fall der Intellektuellen in Europa, 1992 Sainte-Beuve. Auf der Schwelle zur Moderne, 1997 Benimm und Erkenntnis, 1997 Sozialwissenschaft und sozialer Wandel. Ein Erfahrungsbericht, 1999 Kultur und Politik. Deutsche Geschichten, 2006 The Seduction of Culture in German History, 2006