Richard Kroner (; 8 March 1884, Breslau – 2 November 1974, Mammern) was a German neo-Hegelian philosopher, known for his Von Kant bis Hegel (2 vols., 1921âÂÂ1924), a history of German idealism written from a neo-Hegelian point of view.
He was a Christian, from a Jewish background. He is known for his formulation of Hegel as 'the Protestant Aquinas'.
Kroner earned his doctorate at the University of Freiburg under Heinrich Rickert in 1908.
In 1924, Victor Klemperer supported a call for Kroner to a new chair for theoretical pedagogics and philosophy at Technische Hochschule Dresden, where he became friends with Paul Tillich.
Under Nazi legislation Kroner's Jewish ancestry as well as his principled democratic stance led to his "suspension" (dismissal) from his university position at Kiel in 1934. He was replaced briefly by Hans-Georg Gadamer, a personal friend.
The American philosopher Otis Lee studied with Kroner for the academic year 1933âÂÂ1934 and helped him escape to the United States and find a new academic position at Manhattan's Union Theological Seminary.<blockquote>Kroner's ideas on Hegel, including his slant via Kierkegaard, were taken up by some existentialist thinkers, including Lev Shestov and Nikolai Berdyaev.</blockquote>In 1952 Richard Kroner retired to Elkins Park, Pennsylvania before moving to Switzerland. He was awarded the GroÃÂe Bundesverdienstkreuz.
The Kroners are buried at Richmond Cemetery.