European Philosophy

It is a remarkable thing to find oneself suddenly surprised by an author after having spent years analysing, interpreting, and teaching their works. And yet, that is precisely the experience of many Kant specialists in recent times, as greater attention than ever has been placed on Kant’s discussions of gender and race. Part of the disorientation for Kantians surely comes from the way in which these investigations—oriented as they are by questions of empire as opposed to say, metaphysics—are able to (...) make a body of work that has been long-familiar seem strange and new. It is in this vein that I want to use my discussion here as an opportunity to reconsider one of Kant’s most familiar texts, the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, in order to focus on the case of moral failure presented by the person who has chosen an easy path in life: one who has ‘seine Talente verrosten ließ’ (4:423; let their talents rust, 75), to use Kant’s phrase.1 With this in focus, I will identify four subsequent counter examples offered up by Kant, each meant to offer specific cases of non-Europeans in a manner that can provide further moral instruction on this point. What this approach should reveal is not only Kant’s unsurprising consistency regarding the need for self-improvement, but also the compatibility he evidently saw between engaging his readers in moral guidance, on the one hand, and identifying non-European others as counterexamples of a morally worthless existence, on the other. (shrink)

Autobiography of Barry Smith; emphasizes the role of Dummett and Husserl, Austrian philosophy and economics, and the Munich-Göttingen-Kraków school of realist phenomenology.

С тех пор как был сформулирован новый способ прочтения Платона, осно- ванный на «неписаном учении», он стал предметом споров. Однако свидетель- ства его существования неоспоримы. Выражение Платона «неписаное учение» было использовано Аристотелем в «Физике», а описание этого учения можно найти как у Аристотеля, так и у других классических мыслителей. Есть три ключевых момента, имеющих решающее значение для «неписаного учения» Платона, т. е. его устных лекций, прочитанных в Академии, — это, во-первых, учение о принципах, т. е. о Едином и неопределенной Двоице, (...) во-вторых, тезис о геометрическом построении мира и, в-третьих, учение об идеальных числах. Эти числа упоминаются как в прямой, так и в косвенной традиции. Полемика по вопросу о «неписаном учении» возникла в немецких академических кругах, где интенсивное изучение Платона имеет давнюю и хорошо развитую тради- цию. В англосаксонском мире эта дискуссия, по-видимому, не была хорошо принята и иногда даже вызывала отвержение (особенно в кругу Г. Черниса и его последователей). Однако из этого, конечно, нельзя сделать вывод о том, что исследования, опирающиеся на «неписаное учение» Платона, не появи- лись в англоязычном мире, в котором также искали новые пути понимания смысла его философии. Сначала мы оценим различные прочтения, а также их аргументы относительно важности «неписаного учения» для реконструкции философии Платона, а затем аргументируем свою позицию в этих дискуссиях. (shrink)

In this article, the foundations of a new principle of international relations are discussed. They are traced back to the idea of the human being as a culturally living being (homo culturalis). The new principle of harmonic power is conceptualized in the first segment by way of contrasting it with the original meaning of the concept of ‘soft power’ by Joseph S. Nye Jr. In the next part, a portion of the intension of a new concept of culture is established. (...) It serves as a conceptual background and context for the idea of harmonic power. This foundation for a new and more comprehensive concept of culture is inspired by ancient Chinese elements of thought but also by comparable elements of Indian and Graeco-Roman philosophy. In the following step, a conceptual extension of culture in four major areas, respec-tively, mutually permeable “focus fields” is outlined. The accompanying discussion in view of ancient Chinese philosophy and elements of other traditions then leads to a completion of the intension of the concept of culture. This is achieved in view of the aspect of morality in relation to the Golden Rule. In a final step, further reflec-tions are provided regarding the interrelation of the advanced concepts of harmonic power and culture discussed in the this article. Harmonic power means the essential prerequisite for the shift away from the conflict-ridden desire for monopolar world hegemony—a yearning that has revealed itself as an impasse over and over again—towards a peace-bearing, transformative future of multipolar world participation. Harmonic power is the foundation of the cultivation of a mutually beneficial socio-cultural co-evolution on a global scale. (shrink)

Concerning Nicolaus Cusanus’ (Nicholas of Cusa, 1401–1464) mysticism of the intellect, his approach to the problem of ineffability deserves the special attention of researchers. Preceded by a general exposition on the topic of the inconceivability of the experience of the foundational autopoietic self-reference of thinking and speaking, this article shows how Nicolaus Cusanus has developed a complex approach to the problem of an “ineffable way of speaking” (ineffable fari). Cusanus developed a set of approaches to non-negatable cataphatic “pointing rods” (Max (...) Scheler) and apophatic ways of thinking about what is to be understood as ineffable in the sense of a philosophical form of mysticism. Both are still inspiring and highly relevant for the discussion today. In terms of the overall interior development of his philosophical way of “eloquent silence” (German: beredtes Schweigen), it is notable that Cusanus eventually referred to both ways of affirmative and negative theology in their dialectic interdependence. Eventually, he found increasingly simple ways to point the way towards the “likeness of the path along which the seeker must walk.” In his later works, Cusanus developed a unique understanding of the problem of ineffability about philosophical mysticism, the potential of which remains to be explored further in the future. (shrink)

The basic question of this article is: “What is understanding?” The objective is to initiate a process and a state of self-reflexivity which might best be defined as an understanding of understanding. In this self-referential philosophical setting, it cannot be our aim to attempt to produce any (alleged) final answers, because cognitive self-referentiality, taken as a source principle of mind, is without beginning and end. However, it is feasible to explore possibilities of a continuously increasing convergence and insight regarding the (...) objective. In addition, the basic question of an understanding of understanding is taken into consideration from a transcultural angle here. Direct samples of ancient Greek, later German as well as pre-modern Chinese philosophies are included in one systematic context here. The topic is developed in four basic steps. At first, a semantic and philosophical analysis of the English word “understanding” is developed in perspective of philo- sophical-anthropological thoughts by J. G. Herder, Aristotle, and the anthropo-cosmic foundations of the ancient Confucian classic Liji . In a second step, the meaning of “understanding” is analysed in the extended sense of a philosophical metaphor. Selective references are made to Kongzi , Martin Heidegger, Plato, and Zhuangzi . In a third step, the discussion of the semantics of the German philosophical terms “Verstehen” and “Verstand” is explored on the basis of the preceding reflections. In the fourth segment of this contribution, further references are made to the Daodejing and to a model of the structure of consciousness and understanding in the context of Wang Yangming’s philosophy. From various angles of different times and places, the problem of an understanding of understanding points to the most basic layers of human existence, personal experience, human cultures, and civilisations. (shrink)

While it is now accepted in the secondary literature to treat Frühromantik - early German Romanticism - as a philosophical movement in its own right, the exact determination of the philosophical nature of this movement still remains one of the central stumbling blocks faced by interpreters. At the heart of this debate is the question of the relationship between the early romantics and Fichtean idealism. One point of rupture with Fichte and his theory of nature seems particularly obvious at first (...) glance: Novalis's substitution of the pronoun "you" for the Fichtean "Not-I". This occurs in one of Novalis’s most famous expressions: "(You). Instead of the Not-I – You.” ((Du). Statt Nicht-Ich – Du). For most commentators, when analyzing the romantic relationship between the human being and nature, this substitution becomes the clearest expression that Novalis rejects the supposed subjectivism of Fichte's philosophy. Here the Nicht-Ich, the Not-I, - i.e. nature – is often read in Fichte as something negative, as an abstract antithesis of the I - as everything that is not human or the subject. - Whereas Novalis, on the other hand, reinjects the human element, the "you", back into nature. It is furthermore argued by these commentators that this radical substitution is motivated by the romantic call to realize not only the inseparability of the human being and nature, but to recognize their equal value. It indicates a necessary departure from transcendental idealism in favor of a rapprochement with Schelling's philosophy of nature. However, could such an interpretation be based on a preconception, or even on a prejudice? I argue that it is; and that it is based on the assumption that Novalis breaks with Fichte’s philosophy. In contrast, I defend the view that the idea of Nature as a “You” is already to be found implicitly in Fichte and that Novalis’s above well-known expression should be read as in continuity with Fichte’s transcendental epistemology and as an original dialogical extension of it. To see this, one needs to retrace the context and the philosophical chain of events from Novalis back to Fichte, and from Fichte back to Jacobi. (shrink)

Introduction to: "The Edinburgh Edition of the Complete Philosophical Works of François Hemsterhuis", vol. 2: "The Dialogues of Francois Hemsterhuis, 1778-1787", edited and translated by Jacob van Sluis, Daniel Whistler (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022), pp. 22-41.

Issue number 4 of "SYMPHILOSOPHIE: International Journal of Philosophical Romanticism" is devoted to the Dutch philosopher François Hemsterhuis and 250th anniversary of the birth of the German romantics Novalis and Friedrich Schlegel. This fourth issue of the journal contains nearly 600 pages of new research articles, translations, review-essays, and book reviews. The main section on Hemsterhuis among the German Romantics was guest edited by Daniel Whistler (Royal Holloway, University of London).

本文通过对德国著名汉学家、翻译家卫礼贤的最后一部哲学论著《中国哲学导 论》(1929)的翻译和研究,整理归纳了卫礼贤对中国哲学的核心词“道”的五种不同译法, 深入剖析了他如何用“一词多译”的方法,对中国哲学史上不同文本、不同哲学家、不同时代 及不同思想维度中的“道”进行诠释。同时,本文以术语学(Terminologie)为研究方法,聚焦 于卫礼贤用来翻译“道”的几个德语哲学术语,并对这些词汇进行溯源。以此为切入点, 本文 分析了卫礼贤作为对中国哲学与德国哲学均有深刻理解的汉学家,有意识地从跨文化比较哲学 的角度出发,将“道”转换为德国哲学中与之相匹配的哲学概念,并将其介绍给德国思想界的 路径。重新审视卫礼贤对“道”的“一词多译”,在加强当今中外文化互鉴和中文著作外译方面 具有积极且重要的作用。[This contribution is based on the translation and study of the book Chinesische Philosophie: Eine Einführung (Chinese Philosophy: An Introduction, 1929). It is the last philosophy-related work by the famous German sinologist and translator Richard Wilhelm. The article provides a compilation, summary, and in-depth analysis concerning Wilhelm's handling of the translation of "Dao", the "Urwort" (Heidegger) of Chinese philosophy. The study provides insight into how Wilhelm has used a poly-perspective method to (...) interpret the word “Dao" by using five different translation terms in relation to divergent texts, various philosophers, and different periods in the history of Chinese philosophy. Some of the German philosophical terms that were applied in these translations are investigated by tracing their etymological origins and general semantics. Richard Wilhelm was a sinologist with a deep understanding of both Chinese and German philosophical traditions. He deliberately imparted the different philosophical meanings of "Dao" in a way that was compatible with the context of the contemporary German intellectual community. In parts, he presented this semantic field from the perspective of transcultural philosophy. We believe that a re-examination of Richard Wilhelm's variational approaches to translate the term "Dao" can provide important methodological inspirations for the translation of complex Chinese texts as well as concerning the improvement of mutual cultural understanding between Chinese and other cultures.]. (shrink)

This third 2021 issue of "SYMPHILOSOPHIE: International Journal of Philosophical Romanticism" contains a main dossier of new research articles guest edited by Leif Weatherby (New York University) and devoted to the topic of early German romanticism and science. In addition to the papers of this main section issue number 3 of SYMPHILOSOPHIE includes translations of primary sources and book reviews. All contents are freely available online.

How can something finite mediate an infinite God? Weaving patristics, theology, art history, aesthetics, and religious practice with the hermeneutic phenomenology of Hans-George Gadamer and Jean-Luc Marion, Stephanie Rumpza proposes a new answer to this paradox by offering a fresh and original approach to the Byzantine icon. She demonstrates the power and relevance of the phenomenological method to integrate hermeneutic aesthetics and divine transcendence, notably how the material and visual dimensions of the icon are illuminated by traditional practices of prayer. (...) Rumpza's study targets a problem that is a major fault line in the continental philosophy of religion – the integrity of finite beings I relation to a God that transcends them. For philosophers, her book demonstrates the relevance of a cherished religious practice of Eastern Christianity. For art historians, she proposes a novel philosophical paradigm for understanding the icon as it is approached in practice. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the mutual interaction as well as the impact of the Scottish Enlightenment on the formation of the Enlightenment in Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great. It focuses on the relationship between the work of Adam Smith and Semyon Efimovich Desnitskii, who, thanks to Desnitskii’s studies at the University of Glasgow, got to know each other as teacher and student. The central point of their interaction is the issues of the philosophy of history based on (...) natural-law assumptions and focus on understanding the formation of history, culture, citizenship, and social transformations through morality and law. The paper examines Desnitskii’s ideas on the stages of human coexistence in which Smith’s concept is projected. The paper is not only an attempt to compare these concepts, but it also characterizes Desnitskii’s interest in adapting the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment to Russian reality and needs and using them in the environment of the advancing feudal empire, to which Desnitskii wants to contribute with his work. (shrink)

Problematic perceptions about race damage our society. These attitudes can seem impossible to overcome, but philosophers Dr Jennifer Mensch, at Western Sydney University in Australia, and Dr Michael Olson, at Marquette University in the US, beg to differ. They are compiling a collection of 18th-century philosophical and scientific texts that helped shape the way people saw race across the Western world, and were used to justify colonisation. They believe that by exposing these historical roots of racism, opportunities to improve societal (...) attitudes to race will become easier to identify. -/- This article was produced by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEM), and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE). (shrink)

In this paper I examine the relationship between phenomenology and metaphysics by reassessing the relationship between phenomenological and metaphysical transcendence. More specifically, I examine the notion of phenomenological transcendence in Husserl and the early Heidegger: Husserl defines transcendence primarily as the mode of givenness of phenomena that do not appear all at once, but must be given in partial profiles; Heidegger defines transcendence primarily as Dasein’s capacity to go beyond entities toward being. I argue that these divergent understandings of phenomenological (...) transcendence have resulted in a significant difference in reception among French phenomenologists of religion. These thinkers assert that phenomenology, when properly conceived and utilized, can make room for the divine and its revelation, i.e., for a metaphysical transcendence. I further argue that these thinkers prefer Heidegger’s phenomenology to Husserl’s because they understand Heidegger’s transcendence as the subject’s openness to being, while they understand Husserl’s transcendence as a limit, as the inability to capture worldly objects. I take up Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness as a “case study” to illustrate this point. Finally, I argue that this preference for Heidegger over Husserl is misplaced and should be reversed. A close reading of Heidegger’s Phenomenology of Religious Life shows that Dasein is confined to its own possibilities and cannot be open to a relationship with the divine. By contrast, Husserl’s phenomenology provides the radical openness necessary to welcome revelation. While Husserl cannot envision a “worldly God,” the structures of horizonality and temporality characterize a subject capable of an authentic openness to revelation. (shrink)

Robert Saudek, a Czech graphologist, journalist, diplomat, playwright, and novelist, was heavily influenced in his youth by Fritz Mauthner’s critique of language. Saudek later became a pioneer in the field of psychological graphology. In this article, I examine the impact of Mauthner’s critique on Saudek’s work and evaluate whether Saudek’s approach to graphology aligns with Mauthner’s ideas. I argue that, although Saudek’s graphology is rooted in Mauthner’s critique of experimental psychology, there remains room for further development in the field of (...) psychological graphology, centering on the analysis of language. With this in mind, I compare Saudek’s method and contemporary conceptual metaphor theory. I further suggest that Saudek’s extensive use of the autographs of well-known figures follows a method of working from examples, or specimens, which is not uncommon in the philosophy of science. Based on these findings, I propose a way of understanding Saudek’s graphology that challenges its characterization as a pseudoscience. (shrink)

Presentation given at the PACT 2023 Conference (14th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition) centered around the theme of "Home and Homeless.".

"Wir mögen an der Natur beobachten, messen, rechnen, wägen und so weiter, wie wir wollen, es ist doch nur unser Maß und Gewicht, wie der Mensch das Maß der Dinge ist." So schrieb Goethe im Jahre 1807. "Die Natur wird uns keine Sonderbehandlung gewähren, nur weil wir uns als 'Krone der Schöpfung' betrachten... Ich fürchte, sie ist nicht eitel genug, um sich an den Menschen als einen Spiegel zu klammern, in dem allein sie ihre eigene Schönheit sehen kann", schreibt der (...) Physiker Hans-Peter Dürr heute. Diesen beiden Stellungnahmen liegen sehr unterschiedliche Vorstellungen vom Verhältnis Mensch - Natur zugrunde. Wie überhaupt die Naturphilosophie von den Vorsokratikern bis in die Gegenwart die unterschiedlichsten Varianten dieser Beziehung durchgespielt hat. Dass der Mensch sich jedoch in einem weit über die alttestamentarische Vorstellungskraft hinausgehenden Maße die Natur "untertan" gemacht und dabei großräumig zerstört hat, steht außer Zweifel. Im Rahmen der ökologischen Krise muss das Verhältnis zur Natur neu überdacht werden. Das vorliegende Lesebuch, das sich auch als Studientext und Diskussionsgrundlage für Schulen und Hochschulen bestens eignet, bietet den Blick in die Geschichte der Naturphilosophie, der dafür unerlässlich ist: Die Schwierigkeiten, die heute im Umgang mit der Natur auftreten, sind vielfach auf immer noch wirksame traditionelle Naturvorstellungen zurückzuführen. Andererseits gibt es einige eigenständige, bisher noch zu wenig berücksichtigte Ansätze, die zu neuen Konzeptionen anregen können. -/- ------------------------------------------------------------- Inhalt: Vorwort; Einführung: Traditionslinien der Naturphilosophie; Heraklit und die Atomisten Leukipp und Demokrit; Platon und Aristoteles; Christliches Naturverstehen im Mittelalter: Aurelius Augustinus, Thomas von Aquin, Jacob Böhme; Naturvorstellungen in der beginnenden Neuzeit: Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton; Kants Naturbegriff; Goethes Naturforschung; Nachkantische Naturphilosophie: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; Geschichte der Natur und Kritik des Naturalismus: Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill; Kritik des Substanzbegriffes, Alfred North Whitehead, Werner Heisenberg, Ilya Prigogine und Isabelle Stengers; Bibliographie. (shrink)

孫善豪（1960年11月2日—2017年6月23日），臺灣政治學者、政治人物，曾任中國民主社會黨主席、國立政治大學政治系教授、東吳大學政治系兼任教授、華梵大學哲學系兼任教授，專長為馬克思主義、德國唯心 論哲學、西洋政治思想史、意識型態、新儒家等。1960年出生，2017年去世，享壽57歲。李煒、吳冠緯等編輯，感謝孫善豪妻子陳品蓉女士及學生蔡慶樺、王名釤等提供文獻 。.

面對著文化工業 (culture industry) 的崛起，藝術家高喊著「藝術自主性」 (autonomy of art) ，來對抗國家機器與資本主義對藝術的侵蝕。前衛的藝術家就已經面臨內部矛盾的論證：一部分認為藝術應該當作社會真實的反映工具，進而觸發社會的整體革命，另一部分則抱持著「為藝術而藝術」 (l'art pour l'art) ，不應該被任何社會的風潮牽動。本文挑選阿多諾的美學思想作為研究的課題，研究其批判文化工業的藝術哲學，並且就《啟蒙的辯證：哲學的片簡》 (Dialec-tics of Enlightenment) 的篇章〈文化工業：大眾欺騙的啟蒙〉 (The Culture Indus-try: Enlightenment of Mass Deception) 以及《美學理論》 (Aesthetic Theory) 當作本文研究之原典。 -/- 除了緒論與結論，本文共分為三個章節。第一章分析的是「文化工業」：藉由商品拜物教的形式，文化工業從藝術的外部性質──傳播媒體──來取得藝術的社會形式，卻也因此異化藝術本身的內在邏輯，甚至使得傳播媒體異化 且取代了藝術作品本身。第二章分析的是「前衛藝術」：雖然前衛藝術是文化工業的對立面，但是它們都享有共同的外在語法與邏輯。因此，前衛藝術與文化工業的對立是基於什麼原因，則是本章所要分析的。第三章分析的是「 藝術的雙重性」：藝術的雙重性是阿多諾《美學理論》的重要貢獻，也一直是後繼者研究其藝術哲學的重點。藝術的雙重性──社會性與自主性──都是藝術作品內部精神，而表現在它的物質形式上，這都可被視為藝術作品本身 的物化。 -/- 從阿多諾的觀點中分析，藝術的自主性──就如同資本主義對於自由的形容──是不切實際的虛假意識，藝術是物質的、社會的產物，也只是反映下層建築的菱鏡、主體的附庸；另一方面，藝術卻又渴望不被他者束縛的自由，對 於現實的理所當然是不屑一顧的，而試圖在化外之地找尋更好的理念。在阿多諾的美學理論，藝術的雙重性是其自身內部矛盾的辯證過程，卻也是藝術最迷人之處，無論傾向哪一個層面之體現，都無法完整表達藝術的真面目而使 之終結。如果要為藝術找尋其雙重性的辯證，最終必然為找尋其動態的平衡，時而接近主體，時而離開主體，與主體展開曖昧不明又難分難捨的關係。也因為如此，藝術為達到自身辯證的平衡，就成為了縈繞於社會邊緣的遊蕩者 。.

Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz: about cognition -- Roman Ingarden: about the existence of the world -- Józef Maria Bocheński: on communism -- Rev. Józef Tischner: about the ethics of solidarity -- Kazimierz Twardowski: about happiness.

After two centuries, the Diltheyan idea of the incommensurability of the natural and social sciences remains hegemonic. Alternative visions have since been overlooked; in this regard, the Baden neo-Kantian school showed that any divergence concerns implied method and not the phenomenal object of studies. W. Windelband coined the terms “nomological” and “idiographic” to underline how each discipline can be explained as a science of both law and events. To begin, I will show how complex thinking can expand and institute a (...) general integrative frame that overcomes the assumed incommensurability. By “complex,” I mean an anti-reductionist approach to understanding and a consequent ability to reveal the phenomenal world in terms of nested self-organized systems. Social and natural systems are persistent coalescences of individual entities showing series of interduality such as unicity and multiplicity, top-down conservation and bottom-up inno- vation, constraint of law and freedom of agencies. The two instances are maintained together by the rejection of abstracted and isolated concepts and the embrace of a general principle of indeterminacy resolving the apparent contradiction within the parallelization of the extremes as two different moments of analyses rooted in the social and natural classical methods. This paper considers both a) the Positivist attempt in the XIX century to approach the study of social phenomena in terms of law and b) the emergence of a general social science embracing the principle of acasuality, adapted from the study of the subatomic phenomenal world in quantum theory. Finally, this paper sketches how complex methodology can address historical and social studies with system theory in order to overcome classical dualities such as determinism vs. freedom, social vs. individual, and top down conservation vs. bottom up innovation in the form of an integrative parallelization. (shrink)

The relationship between the Sophiology of Sergius Bulgakov and the neo-patristic movement within Orthodoxy is well-known. The neo-patristic synthesis won the day, and it is the dominant theological tradition within Orthodoxy. It is time for a serious reappraisal of Bulgakov’s theology by the Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christian theologians because Christian theology is faced with a looming bioethical issue, cybernetic enhancement technology. This technology raises a cybernetic-ethical version of the Sorites paradox that leads us to inquire at “what point do technological (...) enhancements take away or replace our humanity?” and “are cyborg enhancements ethical from an Orthodox Christian perspective?” Bulgakov’s Sophiology may provide important tools for assessing cyborg enhancements and answering these questions. This paper argues that Bulgakov’s Sophiology, particularly his theology of human creativity and belief that we can and should anticipate the spiritual bodies that we will have in the general resurrection, offers a framework for assessing the morality of technological alterations to our present bodily existence from an Orthodox perspective. (shrink)