Martin Foss was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1889 and studied philosophy and law at German and French universities.
The Jewish family left Germany in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came into power, and for the next four years Martin Fuchs commuted secretly between Paris and Berlin.
Dr. Foss' own brand of "Phil-Foss-ophy" has, of necessity, been responsible for such well-known phrases as "Yes, my dear, but you see..." and "the stream of life, the flux".
In his seminal book Symbol and Metaphor In Human Experience, for which he is primarily known, Foss explains the difference between the Self as a maker of things and the creative process of personality.
In Foss’s view, the significance of Greek tragedy involves the discovery of the "creative and dynamic personality and man's sacrificial and intercessional nature."
The theme of death, sacrifice, and tragedy is the basis for his view of ethics which supplants the modern humanist perspective that is limited to pragmatic man using his environment solely for fulfilling the needs and desires of the body.
This world is the sphere of value "where no things, no accomplishments, no possessions as such count, but where works and achievements manifest a loving communion and nothing else."
Through sacrifice and the creative process of personality, man is lifted into this world of intensive reality which shapes his destiny.
Stuck in this deficient sphere, man desires a more meaningful life, which involves seeking the higher realm of creation.
While other great thinkers in the early 20th century such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud concentrated their research on defining the human unconscious, Martin Foss took on its natural counterpoint, consciousness.
Both scholars were writing in parallel (during the same period of time) about similar concepts, although Foss highlights the creative process as the central element of life in a way that Jung does not.
In Foss's view, the metaphoric process of life is a continuous, ongoing creative force that is always working to "move beyond" (and destroy) the static state of the symbol.