Friedrich Theodor Vischer in Tübingen

Fighting spirit and rhetorical skills

Both Vischer's life and his academic work often brought him back to Tübingen. His theological training took him twice to the Tübingen Seminary – once as a pupil, once as a teacher – and after obtaining his post-doctoral degree he was able to treat audiences to the first samples of his extraordinary oratory skills and energetic rhetoric when he was made Associate Professor at the university in 1837. Whether it was Faust, Aesthetics or Philosophy – Vischer was always meticulous in his preparation, identified completely with his subject matter and always lectured and spoke freely into ripe old age, often using dramatic phrases spiced with his unique humour.

As a disputatious spirit, he made both friends and enemies in the University Senate, but his lectures were so popular with the students and so well attended that he could no longer be refused a Full Professorship in 1844 when he applied for the fourth time. He started his time as Full Professor in typical dramatic style and in his inaugural speech overstepped all the limits imposed by the Church and state. The "Vischer affair" became a political issue extending far beyond the state borders. To restore the peace the authorities banned him from teaching for two years. During this enforced break he set about writing his two ambitious works on aesthetics.