  Hans (born Johannes) Vaihinger’s early life was in many ways that of a typical intellectual in nineteenth-century Germany. Born on 25 September 1852 near Tübingen, the son of the pastor Johann Georg Vaihinger, Hans was intended for the clergy. He began his studies in theology at the University of Tübingen in 1870, but, never especially devout, he soon turned his attentions to other subjects, primarily philosophy and natural science. Throughout the next four years, Vaihinger’s course of study emphasized the classics of German philosophy—Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Schleiermacher—but he also devoted himself intensely to the independent study of Schopenhauer and Darwin. In 1874, Vaihinger completed his dissertation under the supervision of the logician Christoph von Sigwart with a prize-winning essay, entitled Recent Theories of Consciousness according to their Metaphysical Foundation and their Significance for Psychology.