Paul Mongré as a Philosopher

Abstract

As a student at Leipzig University, Hausdorff pursued very wide-ranging interests in his studies, which extended far beyond the standard courses in mathematics and natural sciences. In like manner, his path to philosophy was anything but straight and narrow. In this respect, he was an autodidact, even if he probably picked up ideas and influences from some of his academic courses. The only surviving autobiographical statement written by Hausdorff regarding his own individual road to philosophy appears in a letter written on 22 February 1904, thus more than ten years after he began that journey. He wrote about this in answer to an inquiry from a young librarian in Jena by the name of Franz Meyer. Already as a schoolboy, Meyer had discovered the writings of Paul Mongré and struck up an epistolary exchange with Hausdorff.