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Clinical medicine in Heidelberg has always had its base in anthropology and philosophy to a certain extent, even when the impact of natural science was greatest, from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Thus, highly respected Heidelberg clinicians and scientists such as J. W. Conradi (1780–1861), A. Kussmaul (1822–1907), W. B. Erb (1840–1921) among others, always remained open to psychological and social questions. In 1902 L. Krehl (1861–1937), who came to Heidelberg in 1907, had already begun to analyze possible relationships between Freud's psychoanalytic theories and functional diseases. The young Viktor von Weizsäcker (1886–1957) began working in Heidelberg in 1910. Although von Weizsäcker had been trained as an experimental physiologist in Freiburg by V. Kries, he was able to secure the support of his superior, L. Krehl, for his philosophical, psychological and even theological inclinations. Soon after his arrival he found access to a Heidelberg working group from which emerged philosophers such as K. Jaspers (1883–1969), scientists such as O. Meyerhof (1884–1951) and psychoanalysts such as A. Kronfeld (1886–1941), among others (cf. Henkelmann 1985, 1986). V. von Weizsäcker's interest in anthropological and philosophical questions was deepened by the experiences he and L. Krehl had in a field hospital during World War I. As a result of these experiences, they began to search for a new direction in a then explosively developing medical science. When V. von Weizsäcker became the head of Neurology at the Medical University Clinic in 1920, his interest also shifted from physiology of the heart and internal medicine to neurology.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-322-87859-5_3

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