philosopher university professor
He studied theology and philosophy under Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg at Berlin, and eventually became Professor of Philosophy in the new University of Strasbourg.
Laas in reality was a disciple of David Hume. Throughout his philosophy he endeavours to connect metaphysics with ethics and the theory of education.
In his Analogien der Erfahrung (Analogies of Experiences, 1876) he keenly criticized Immanuel Kant"s transcendentalism, and in his chief work Idealismus und Positivismus (Idealism and Positivism, 1879–1884, 3 vols), he drew a clear contrast between Platonism, from which he derived transcendentalism, and positivism, of which he considered Protagoras the founder.
