The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

MUELLER, GUSTAV EMIL (1898–1987).

An internationally renowned philosopher, Gustav Mueller was born in Bern, Switzerland, on May 12, 1898. Educated in his native land, he received a doctorate in philosophy in 1923 from the University of Bern, and he also studied at the University of Heidelberg and at the British Museum. After teaching in European universities and joining the faculty of the University of Oregon in 1925, he became a professor of philosophy at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 1930 and gained U.S. citizenship in 1934.

Remaining at OU for thirty-eight years, Mueller published extensively, his books including The History of American Philosophy (1936), in German, and The Philosophy of Our Uncertainties (published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1936), both of which received awards from the Lucerne Foundation. Other works included Philosophy of Literature (1948), Dialectic: A Way Into and Within Philosophy (1953), The Interplay of Opposites, A Dialectical Ontology (1956), and Plato, The Founder of Philosophy as Dialectic (1965). Hegel: The Man, His Vision, and His Work (1959), is considered to be his most important contribution. He also wrote and published poetry and drama, composed music, and played guitar. Mueller ended his tenure as George Lynn Cross Professor Emeritus in Philosophy on May 31, 1968, and with his wife, René, returned to Switzerland. He died in July 1987. His collected papers are housed at the University of Oklahoma Western History Collections.

Dianna Everett