[Rokitansky as patho-philosopher]

In memory of the 200th anniversary of the eminent Austrian pathologist Carl von Rokitansky (1804-1874) this paper deals with his outstanding thoughts on general pathology as well as his own papers on different aspects of organised matter and some other general problems of life. In the first line Rokitansky wanted to be a medical practitioner, but the insufficiency of the medical practice of his time led him to seek a way of reform by putting pathology on a new rationalistic basis. Thus he eliminated all speculative elements, which had dominated pathology up to his time. Opposite to Rudolf Virchow, Rokitansky used materialistic methods only as working tools in order to bring about new results in research, but never became himself a materialist in thinking. Being influenced by Kant and Schopenhauer, Rokitansky's private philosophy tended more to idealism.