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Biography on Wikipedia: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolai_Hartmann 

HARTMANN AUTO-PRESENTATION http://www.formalontology.it/hartmannn.htm

"The projects in ontology constitute a special chapter, although only one of these was actually brought to completion in our period. The famous work of Martin Heidegger, Sein und Zeit, which had evoked great interest both in and out of Germany, was never finished. But its influence has been great even up to the present. (...) On the other hand, Nikolai Hartmann, after Grundlegung der Ontologie (1935) had opened up a new line of development, proceeded to publish two larger works?M?glichkeit and Wirklichkeit (1938) and Der Aufbau der realen Welt. Grundriss der allgemeinen Kategorienlehre (1940). The third volume of this set, the Spezielle Kategorienlehre (philosophy of nature), could not be published. Nevertheless, the two published writings contain the gist of the scheme, which is further elaborated in a smaller writing, Neue Wege der Ontologie (in Systematische Philosophie, 1942. 2nd ed., 1947). The first of these books presents a new analysis of the modal categories. The main thesis is that the essence of reality, which is so difficult to conceive, if it is understood as the kind of being possessed by the world in which we live, can actually be so conceived in terms of the relation of the modes which govern it. The study shows that the traditional conception of these modes cannot account for the kind of being which reality possesses, and so the modes themselves must be interpreted in a completely new manner. The new interpretation consists of a thorough analysis of their mutual relations ? the " intermodal relations "; and the conclusions lead directly to new determinations of the nature of becoming, obligation, the puzzling character of aesthetic objects, etc. Also a new formulation and justification of the principle of sufficient reason is developed. Consequences are also found for the problem of ideal being, the realm of logic and knowledge, the general conclusion being that these modes and their interrelations vary with each of these realms. The second work develops the new ontological conception of the categories, and applies it to the group of " basic categories " (Fundamental kategorien) ? that is, those categories which are common to all levels, spheres and realms of being, and which are articulated even in the highest levels of being. In this connexion we find a great many " categorial laws ", which underly the stratification of the real world and determine its inner structure. As a result we are led to the so called " laws of dependence ", and eventually to the controversial problem of moral freedom?for which a new solution is proposed." (pp. 421-422) 

From: Nicolai Hartmann - German philosophy in the last ten years - (Translated by John Ladd) - Mind, 58, 1949, pp. 413-433.