Lenk was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, but it was his academic work that will remain: In 1969 he became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Karlsruhe, one of the most important representatives of contemporary German philosophy, and in 2005 he became the first German President of the Institut International de Philosophie.
His list of publications includes almost 150 books. Particularly noteworthy are his studies on responsibility in technology and science. Anyone who reads the FAZ interview from March 2015 again will realise, in these days when the German public is expecting Olympic medals again, why Lenk will also be missed as an observer in German sport.
He said at the time that “athletes – typically Germans – feel so under pressure that they fail, as they say. In this context, I always quote the words of Karl Adam, my spiritual father, who said: ‘Not winning is not failure.’ He told me that performance does not have to be just physical, psychological or egoistic, but also moral and ethical achievements are included, and of course I can get on board with that.” On Tuesday, July 30, Hans Lenk died in Karlsruhe at the age of 89.
