Johannes Heinrichs

Johannes Heinrichs – Philosopher of Reflection

A Systematic Thinker for the 21st Century

Johannes Heinrichs (*1942) has achieved what philosophy has sought since Hegel: a new form of systematic thinking that is neither dogmatic nor arbitrary, neither reductionist nor irrational. His Reflection Systems Theory combines analytical precision with continental depth, Western rationality with Eastern wisdom, Enlightenment with spirituality – and culminates in concrete proposals for redesigning democracy and society.

A comprehensive introduction to Heinrichs’ thought is provided by Kai Froeb’s study Johannes Heinrichs: Reflection and Dialectics, which systematically opens up all the important works.

The Philosophical Breakthrough

In Paris in 1975, Heinrichs discovered the key to overcoming post-Hegelian fragmentation: the four-level structure of reflection. What began as an analysis of interpersonal encounter proved to be a universal ordering principle. Every meaningful act – from simple gesture to mystical experience – passes through the same four stages: object-directed intention, self-reflection, reciprocal communication, and meta-reflection on the common medium of meaning.

This discovery enables for the first time the systematic integration of all major philosophical traditions. Marx’s insight into the constitutive role of praxis, Kierkegaard’s emphasis on irreplaceable existence, Husserl’s phenomenological analysis of consciousness, Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language – they all grasp important moments of reflection, but only Heinrichs shows their systematic connection.

The Work

Over five decades, Heinrichs has unfolded his philosophical system in more than 40 books and 170 essays:

Action theory (Handlungen) lays the foundation: a systematic theory of human meaningful acts from the simplest gesture to religious experience – a “periodic table of action types.”

Philosophy of language in five volumes (Sigmatik, Semantik, Pragmatik, Syntax, Stilistik) develops a complete alternative to prevailing linguistics. The sentence construction formula shows how syntactic structures follow from the reflexive nature of consciousness itself.

Social philosophy (Logik des Sozialen) grounds a new theory of society that overcomes the unfruitful dilemma between action theory and systems theory.

Political philosophy takes concrete form in the proposal for a four-chamber parliament: domain-specific, independently elected bodies for basic values, culture, politics, and economy. The main work Revolution der Demokratie and the compact Demokratie-Manifest show how the structural deficits of modern democracies can be overcome through reflection-logically grounded institutional differentiation. For an international audience: Value-Levels-Democracy.

Philosophy of spirituality (Integrale Philosophie; English: Diamonds of Integral Philosophy) culminates in the vision of “theonomous autonomy”: Reason recognizes its own self-transcendence – mysticism and logic are no longer opposites.

NEW 2025: Dialectics and Reflection Logic

With his newest work Dialectics as Logic of Reflection, Heinrichs presents the systematic foundation of his entire thought. This book is the key to understanding reflection philosophy – both introduction and summation of a life’s work.

The Thinker

Born in 1942 in Duisburg-Rheinhausen, Heinrichs entered the Jesuit novitiate after his Abitur in 1962. From 1964 to 1967 he studied philosophy at the Jesuit college in Pullach near Munich, where he also served as teaching assistant. In 1972 he received his doctorate in Bonn with his analysis of the logic of Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit” summa cum laude; for this work he received the Geffrub Prize in 1973. The study (Die Logik der Phänomenologie des Geistes) became the foundation for his own development of dialectics and remains a standard work in Hegel scholarship.

The preceding scholastic training proved lastingly important: In Thomas Aquinas, Heinrichs had found an ontological foundation of reflection philosophy that modernity had forgotten – documented in his early study Intentio als Sinn bei Thomas von Aquin (1967). The distinction between implicit and explicit reflection became the basis for his analysis and further development of Hegelian dialectics.

After his diploma in theology at the Philosophical-Theological College Sankt Georgen, his ordination in 1974 at Frankfurt Cathedral, and research studies in Paris, he was habilitated at the same college in 1975. He engaged with Catholic social teaching in a novel way, in close personal contact with its doyen Oswald von Nell-Breuning.

In 1977, Heinrichs left the Jesuit order due to fundamental criticism of the institutionalized church, thereby relinquishing his professorship. This decision enabled him to develop his thinking without compromises – but due to the university concordat with the church, it also meant an unintended life outside established academic networks.

From 1998 to 2002, he was Rudolf Bahro’s successor at Humboldt University Berlin through an endowed professorship from the Schweisfurth Foundation, with a guest professorship in social ecology. He taught through guest lectures and talks worldwide, including at Indian universities, where he forged connections to the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the spiritual community of Auroville.

Since 2001, Heinrichs has been married to Christel Cleve-Heinrichs. He lives in Duisburg and Berlin.

His autobiographical interview book Das Recht nicht zu lügen (2023) offers insight into the path of a thinker who does not separate theory and life practice – on sexual hypocrisy, state-church relations, and the academic discourse disease.

Reflection as a Way of Life

Heinrichs’ philosophical work is not academic ivory tower play, but the existential expression of a way of life. Reflection, understood as dialogical relationality in all its forms, pervades thinking and acting, theory and practice. It is about a “lived reflection” that proves itself in personal existence as much as in shaping the social.

The Quiet Revolution

Johannes Heinrichs’ philosophical revolution took place quietly – almost unnoticed by the public and large parts of academia. This is characteristic of genuine intellectual revolutions: They do not begin with great fanfare, but with the consistent work of individual thinkers.

Xavier Tilliette of the Institut Catholique de Paris early recognized Heinrichs’ “unusual synthetic power” and his “penetration to the core of problems.” The recently emerged talk of “metamodernism” only gains philosophical substance beyond a fashionable label through Heinrichs’ work.

If his basic theses are correct, Johannes Heinrichs has indeed initiated a new epoch of philosophy – reflection logic would then be for the 21st century what Hegel’s dialectic was for the 19th century: the systematic framework in which an epoch orients itself philosophically.

Reflexivity Press is proud to make Johannes Heinrichs’ complete works available in digital form – for philosophers, for AI researchers, for all who seek systematic orientation in a fragmented world.

For an introduction to Heinrichs’ philosophy, we recommend Kai Froeb’s study Johannes Heinrichs: Reflection and Dialectics.

📚 Introduction to Reflection Philosophy

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📚 Introduction to Reflection Philosophy

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