Background
Soll was a student of renowned Nietzsche scholar and translator Walter Kaufmann while at Princeton University. Soll completed his A.B. at Princeton University in 1960 with a senior thesis titled "Futility, Freedom and Freud: A Critical Triptych on the Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre". He then pursued graduate studies in philosophy at Harvard University, the University of Munich, and Princeton University where he received his Ph.D. in 1966 with a dissertation titled "Hegel’s Search For Absolute Knowledge".
Soll taught the majority of his academic career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He came to UW-Madison as an Instructor in Philosophy in 1964, and taught there until his retirement in May 2011. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1966, promoted again to associate professor with tenure in 1969, and to full professor in 1973. He has also held visiting professorships at Justus-Liebig University (Germany), the University of Auckland, and the Bosphorus University, Istanbul. His philosophical interests include continental philosophy - especially German philosophy, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and existentialism generally. He also focused on the intersections of philosophy and literature, the history of philosophy, aesthetics, philosophical psychology, and philosophy of life.
He has published widely in aesthetics, and complements his academic knowledge with expert proficiency in the manufacture of fine art books. Ivan has exhibited his hand-crafted art books in many galleries around the world, and he has integrated the experience in doing so with his academic work. In the area of German philosophy, he has written the influential Introduction to Hegel's Metaphysics, has authored more than 50 scholarly articles, and has given nearly 130 talks at various national and international venues.
Soll has been the recipient of NEH, ACLS, and UW-Madison IRH fellowships, as well as a Bellagio fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation and a German D.A.A.D award. He has frequently been the lead professor at UW-Madison study abroad programs: in London (twice), Florence (five times) and Budapest (twice).
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