1800 studies of medicine at the universities of Freiburg, Würzburg and Göttingen; 1804 Dr.med.; 1805 Privatdozent; 1805-1807 lecturer at the University of Göttingen; 1807 associate professor of medicine, 1812 professor of natural history at the University of Jena; 1819 dismissed as a result of his political activities; 1828-1832 professor of philosophy at the University of Munich; 1832 forced to leave Germany; 1832-1851 professor of philosophy at the University of Zurich; founder of the journal Isis oder enzyklopädische Zeitung von Oken and of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte which first met at Leipzig in 1822; rector at the University of Zurich.