Julius Friedrich August Bahnsen (30 March 1830 – 7 December 1881) was a German philosopher who is often credited with creating characterology and a real dialectical method of philosophical reflection, which he outlined in his two-volume Beiträgen zur Charakterologie (Contributions to Characterology, 1867) and developed in his subsequent works, including his magnum opus Der Widerspruch im Wissen und Wesen der Welt (The Contradiction in Knowledge and Being in the World, 1880/82).