Erich von Kahler (October 14, 1885 – June 28, 1970) was a mid-twentieth-century European-American literary scholar, essayist, and teacher known for works such as The Tower and the Abyss: An Inquiry into the Transformation of Man (1957).

Kahler was born to a Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied philosophy, literature, history, art history, sociology, and psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, Heidelberg University, and the University of Freiburg before earning his doctorate at the University of Vienna in 1911.In 1911, von Kahler published his thesis "Über Recht und Moral" at his own expense. In response to a query to the University of Vienna library, in April 2011, Mag. Eva Ossinger replied, "In the print-version 1911, you will find no advisor. In the dissertation from 1910, you can read: Dr. Jodl / Dr. Müllner / -als Referenten Wien, am 12. Jäünner 1910." In 1912, he married his first wife, Josephine (née Sobotka). In 1933, deprived of his German citizenship by the Nazi regime, he left Germany, immigrating to the United States in 1938 after a period of residence in England. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944, where he was known as Erich Kahler.

In the U.S., he taught at The New School for Social Research, Black Mountain College, Cornell University, and Princeton University. He was a friend of Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Hermann Broch, who wrote Tod des Vergils at Kahler's home, One Evelyn Place in Princeton. Kahler's friends became known as the Kahler-Kreis (Kahler Circle). Like Einstein, Kahler was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study. He met and married his second wife, Alice (Lili) Loewy, while in Princeton. Kahler's entire family was very close friends with Einstein. Kahler, his wife Alice, and his mother Antoinette von Kahler corresponded with Einstein.

Kahler's many books often take up political themes, in addition to the relation of society to technology and science. He was an ardent Zionist, advocated world government, and was also involved in antiwar and anti-nuclear activism. In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.“Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” January 30, 1968 New York Post

Kahler died in 1970 at his home in Princeton, survived by his wife, Alice, and a stepdaughter, Hanna Loewy. Alice Loewy Kahler died in 1992.

Hanna Loewy Kahler exchanged letters with theoretical physicist David Bohm, with whom she was for some time engaged to be married, after he left the USA for Brazil and these, as well as other letters in her possession, have contributed to an understanding of historic events surrounding the Solvay Conference of 1927 and Bohm's exile in Brazil.Wolfgang Pauli, Wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel mit Bohr, Heisenberg u.a. - Wolfgang Pauli: Scientific correspondence with Bohr, Heisenberg, a.o., Band 4, Teil 1 / Volume 4 Part 1, Sources in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences 14, Springer, , p. 341 She became a psychiatric social worker, and is credited to have helped to preserve the papers of Albert Einstein.“Deaths: [...] Hanna Loewy, 81, on March 31. A psychiatric social worker, she helped to preserve the papers of Albert Einstein.” What's New in Princeton & Central New Jersey? Reprinted from the April 18, 2007, issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper

He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

Bibliography 1903: Books of poetry published 1916: Weltgesicht und Politik 1919: Das Geschlecht Habsburg 1920: Der Beruf der Wissenschaft 1936: Israel unter den Völkern 1937: Der deutsche Charakter in der Geschichte Europas 1943: Man the Measure: A New Approach to History 1944: The Arabs in Palestine (with Albert Einstein) 1952: Die Verantwortung des Geistes 1953: Editor: Hermann Broch, Gedichte 1957: The Tower and the Abyss 1960: Contributor: Symbolism in Religion and Literature 1962: Die Philosophie von Hermann Broch 1964: The Meaning of History 1964: Stefan George 1967: The Jews Among the Nations 1967: Out of the Labyrinth: Essays in Clarification (In the appendix of this book there is a reprint of "The Jews and the Arabs in Palestine: A Disputation with Philip K. Hitti" by Albert Einstein and Erich Kahler.) 1968: The Disintegration of Form in the Arts 1969: Orbit of Thomas Mann 1973: Die Verinnerung des Erzählens (The Inward Turn of Narrative) (posthumously) 1975: An Exceptional Friendship: The Correspondence of Thomas Mann and Erich Kahler

References

Erich Kahler's papers at the Princeton University Library. Papers of Erich Kahler at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York.