Unità della ragione e modi dell’esperienza. A review

Unità della ragione e modi dell’esperienza. Herman Cohen e il Neokantismo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi [Salerno 21-22-23 maggio 2007]

Unity of reason and modes of experience. Hermann Cohen and Neokantianism. Acts of the International Study Conference, Salerno, 21st-23rd May 2007.

Edited by Gian Paolo Cammarota. Published by Rubbettino. Collection Università degli Studi di Salerno-Collana Scientifica (254 pages, 2009, 23 €)

[Editor’s note: The following review, prepared by Mr. Leoni, introduces a recent collection of essays related to Hermann Cohen and neo-Kantianism that emerged from a conference held at Salerno/Italy, in 2007. We plan to introduce such publications to the American reader on a regular basis, but book notes, such as the following, cannot replace critical discussion. We hope that some of our readers and colleagues will contribute critical book reviews to this web-publication in the future. If interested, please contact mzank@bu.edu.]

This volume, dedicated to the President of the Hermann Cohen Gesellschaft, Prof. Helmut Holzhey, collects papers presented at a 2007 conference held in Salerno, Italy.

The book (like the conference) is divided in four sections, containing between three and five  papers each, of which we will give a detailed summary later. Most sections are thematically coherent, except the first section, which gives the impression of having collated every subject that did not fit neatly into any of the other sections.

Half of the featured articles are in German, the other half is in Italian. The very first paper, by Helmut Holzhey, is an Italian translation prepared by the volume editor from the German, and there is another chapter that constitutes a translation from German to Italian. No reason is given why these chapters are given in translation. The volume includes a second paper by Professor Holzhey, this one in German. Language confusion between German and Italian also seeped into some of the articles, where the same books, sections, and chapters are sometimes referred to in Italian and sometimes in German. There is a German Bible quotation in an Italian paper, whereas quotations of Hermann Cohen’s works are usually translated. These editorial flaws do not affect the quality of the papers.

Review of Robert Erlewine's Monotheism and Tolerance: Recovering a Religion of Reason

Toward a Non-Violent Intolerance: A Review of Monotheism and Tolerance: Recovering a Religion of Reason, by Robert Erlewine

Indiana University Press, 2010 246 pages

A review by Ingrid Anderson (Boston University)

Monotheism and Tolerance: Recovering a Religion of Reason addresses what its author, Robert Erlewine, calls the "repeated demand" for the adoption of “contemporary values of tolerance and pluralism...[which continue to] pose significant challenges” for the “Abrahamic-monotheistic religions” of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Erlewine notes that “as the calls for tolerance and pluralism, usually made by secularists and religious liberals, grow stronger in the public arena, one cannot help but notice the growing backlash against them.”¹It is refreshing that, rather than disregard claims that values such as “tolerance” and “pluralism” are at odds with monotheism's “structural antagonism and hostility toward the Other,” Erlewine takes these claims seriously, and agrees that demands for tolerance and pluralism will understandably go unheeded by traditional religious practitioners if those who make such demands fail to respect, and take into account, the “symbolic or discursive structure shared by Abrahamic religions”² which, at its core, requires intolerance, or even the obliteration of, the Other.

Francesca Albertini in memoriam

Reiner Wiehl in memoriam

Reiner Wiehl served as ordinarius Professor of Philosophy at Heidelberg University since 1976. His thought combined strands of tradition of a developed systematic Kantianism, Existentialism (he was president of the Karl Jaspers Foundation), and the natural philosophy of Whitehead. As shown by the three volumes of his collected essays (Suhrkamp, 1996-2000), but also by the festschrift in his honor (Zeit und Welt, 2002), the deceased made significant contributions to contemporary philosophy, especially a critique of an “experience without metaphysics,” with his philosophical reflexions on time, and with the elaboration of a conception of concrete subjectivity oriented on Whitehead. Just as he analyzed “The principle of fidelity [Treue] in the Hermann Cohen’s ethics and philosophy of religion” (1997), the virtue of fidelity in love for philosophy also determined his own work “between metaphysics and experience.” Reiner Wiehl illuminated Cohen’s logic of origin not only in contrast with Rosenzweig’s “meta-logics” (1988), but he associated it with the idea of a pure monotheism that is found in the religion of reason from the sources of Judaism in a more original form than in any philosophy.

In our Hermann Cohen Society, we will keep the memory of Reiner Wiehl, the endearing man and the philosopher of the gentle voice dedicated to the eternal search for truth.

Helmut Holzhey, January 10, 2011

Why Study Hermann Cohen?

Reinier Munk will raise this question on Nov 29, 2010, at a conference in Boston.

Prof. Munk teaches History of Modern Philosophy and Modern Jewish Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He is an internationally renowned specialist in eighteenth century Jewish thought, particularly in the roles played by such figures as Moses Mendelssohn and Solomon Maimon in the German Enlightenment, and in the work of the leading figure of Marburg Neo-Kantianism, Hermann Cohen. His publications include numerous articles and the monograph, The Rationale of Halakhic Man. Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Conception of Jewish Thought. Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought (Amsterdam, 1996).

Prof. Munk will be preceded by Frederick Beiser who will speak on Herman Cohen's discovery of the transcendental.

Dr. Beiser, Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University, is the author of numerous acclaimed books on the history of German thought in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, e.g., The Fate of Reason: German Philosophy from Kant to Fichte (Harvard, 1993) and The Romantic Imperative (Harvard, 2003); Schiller as Philosopher (Oxford, 2005); and Diotima's Children: German Aesthetic Rationalism from Leibniz to Lessing (Oxford, 2010).

The conference is organized by Daniel Dahlstrom, Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Michael Zank, Professor of Religion, and the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies (Steven T. Katz, Director).

For more information call 617.353.4434.

Review of Ezio Gamba, La Legalità del Sentimento Puro

Ezio Gamba, La Legalità’ del Sentimento Puro. L’Estetica di Hermann Cohen come modello di una filosofia della cultura. (The Lawfulness of Pure Feeling. Hermann Cohen’s Aesthetics as Model of a Philosophy of Culture). Mimesis Edizioni, Milan-Udine, 2008
352 pages. Euro 12.

Reviewed by Giacomo Leoni (Boston University)

In his 2008 book on the “lawfulness of pure feeling” (reines Gefühl), Ezio Gamba, Research Fellow at the Università del Piemonte Orientale, aims to demonstrate (as he explains in the introduction) how Cohen not only addressed aesthetic issues as such, but rather considered aesthetics as a foundational element in his theory of culture. Nevertheless, says Gamba, there has not been any study focusing on this aspect of Cohen’s philosophical thought. His study intends to remedy this lacuna in the study of Cohen.

For the full text of the review, please go HERE.

AMSTERDAM 2010 COLLOQUIUM JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

The Center for Jewish Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy, VU University, Amsterdam will host a conference on the theme:

Die Natur des Denkens und das Denken der Natur – Spinoza, Trendelenburg, und H. Cohen.

The conference is organized in collaboration with the Hermann Cohen Gesellschaft, in Zürich.

The list of speakers includes: Franco Biasutti ( Padua ), Emanuela Scribano ( Siena ), Detlev Pätzold ( Groningen ), Andrea Poma ( Turin ), Ursula Renz ( Klagenfurt ), Wouter Goris ( Amsterdam ), Marco Giovanelli ( Turin ), Erik Kreiter ( Amsterdam ), Pierfrancesco Fiorato ( Sassari ), Robert Gibbs ( Toronto ), Luca Bertolino ( Turin ), and Reinier Munk ( Amsterdam ). The two languages of the conference will be English and German.

The colloquium is scheduled to take place June 21-23, 2010. Venue of the colloquium will be the Conference Hotel ‘Oud Poelgeest’, which is located in the vicinity of Leiden , The Netherlands.

If you would like to participate in the conference, please let us know by returning email at: NaturDesDenkens@gmail.com You will subsequently receive information about the conference fee and the full program of the colloquium. The program offers the possibility for PhD-students in the field of Neo-Kantianism and esp. Cohen to present their research program. We would like to welcome proposals for PhD-presentations at the email address mentioned above, and encourage PhD-students to apply.

Please be informed that there is a maximum number of 35 participants for this conference.
We look forward to receiving your reply.


Best regards,

Dr Erik Kreiter
Prof. Reinier Munk


Please send all your emails related to the colloquium to the conference’s email address: NaturDesDenkens@gmail.com

Prof. Reinier Munk
Chair History of Modern Philosophy and Modern Jewish Philosophy
Faculty of Philosophy
VU University
Amsterdam

Panels at the Eastern APA

Kant’s Responses to Newton on Space and Causality
Wednesday, December 30, 2009, from 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM

Abraham Stone (University of California–Santa Cruz) “Kant’s Qualified Defense of Newton’s Thesis that Space is a Direct Emanation of the First Cause”
Lydia Patton (Virginia Polytechnic Institute) “Why Kant Needs the Principles”
Robert DiSalle (University of Western Ontario) “Kant and Newton”

Neo-Kantianism and Twentieth Century Philosophy
Monday, December 28, 2009, from 9 AM - 11 AM

Scott Edgar (University of British Columbia): “The Neo-Kantian Origins of Mach’s Positivism”
Alan Kim (Colgate University): "Natorp and Husserl on Space”
Hartwig Wiedebach (University of Zurich): “Kantianism versus Religious Aesthetics: Hermann Cohen’s Concept of God”

The location of the panels will be advertised in the conference program.

Classical Neo-Kantianism conference at Cornell: Philosophical Forum issue

Articles and responses by Paul Guyer, Michael Friedman, Rolf-Peter Horstmann, Vasilis Politis, Dina Emundts, Frederick Beiser, Andrew Chignell, Peter Gordon, Peter Gilgen, and Michelle Kosch.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120736308/issue

The new Nicolai Hartmann Society

Founded in March 2009, the Nicolai Hartmann Society is a learned society bringing together scholars interested in Hartmann’s philosophy. The Society’s goal is to promote and foster the study of the philosophy of Hartmann, its situation in the history of philosophy, and its contemporary relevance. A temporary homepage of the Society was built (http://nicolaihartmann.blogspot.com). The page will provide a platform to host contributions on Hartmann, keep an updated bibliography of works on his philosophy, and advertize relevant events. The Society entertains a number of projects, among which is to organize “Hartmann conferences.” The first of these conferences shall serve as an occasion to inaugurate the Society. A mailing list is available to each member; it is intended to broadcast new information posted on the website, such as upcoming events. Membership subscription is provisionally free of charge. If you intend to become Member of the Society, please
click here to express your interest by sending an email to Roberto Poli..

Kant, Copernicanism, and cosmology

*Collapse V: The Copernican Imperative*

This volume contains in-depth interviews with philosopher of science James Ladyman, philosopher of neuroscience Thomas Metzinger, theoretical physicist Julian Barbour, mathematician Ian Stewart, and reproductive biologist Jack Cohen; new papers by theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, astrobiologist Milan Cirkovic, and philosophers Paul Humphreys, Nick Bostrom, Alberto Gaulandi, Martin Schönfeld, Iain Hamilton Grant, and Gabriel Catren; a new translation of a chapter from Immanuel Kant's 1755 cosmology _Universal History of Nature_; and new work from acclaimed contemporary artists Nigel Cooke, Conrad Shawcross and Keith Tyson. For further details about this volume, please click on the following link:

http://blog.urbanomic.com/urbanomic/archives/2008/12/collapse_v_dela.html

"Natorp's Foundationalism" in Liège, Belgium

Le fondationalisme de Natorp

Click here for website

26 février 2009, Université de Liège

Infos et inscriptions: Arnaud Dewalque (a.dewalqueulg.ac.be) – +32 (0)4 366 55 92

9h Arnaud Dewalque (ULg): Priorité de la fondation objective dans la théorie natorpienne de la connaissance
10h Julien Servois (Université de Toulouse le Mirail): La fondation logico-transcendantale du nombre chez Natorp
11h Éric Dufour (Université de Toulouse le Mirail): La méthode de reconstruction de Natorp
12h Pause déjeuner
14h Robert Brisart (Facultés universitaires St-Louis): Sur la théorie de l'objet: Natorp vs Husserl
15h Denis Seron (ULg): L’objectif et le subjectif: Questions natorpiennes dans la théorie de la connaissance de Theodor Celms
16h Débat autour de la Psychologie générale de Natorp
17h Fin

Current Neo-Kantian Research

Current Neo-Kantian Research (Neukantianismus-Forschung Aktuell) is planned as a twice-yearly, brief publication with all the latest secondary and primary literature on Neo-Kantianism, from the Continent, England, and even with some US material. The website for the updates is in German, but many of the texts listed are in English (and French, and Italian).

The publication is edited by Christian Krijnen (Amsterdam), and contributors are: Fabien Capeillères (Caen / Paris), Arnaud Dewalque (Liège), Massimo Ferrari (Torino), Tapani Laine (Tampere), Sebastian Luft (Milwaukee), Dermot Moran (Dublin), Jacco Verburgt (Amsterdam), and Hartwig Wiedebach (Frankfurt/M. / Zürich).

Here is the link: http://neukantianismusforschung.googlepages.com/home

A note on Cohen in translation

A reader of this blog asked whether Kant's Theorie der Erfahrung or other philosophical works were available in an English translation. The answer is: no. The same reader (Thank you, Matthew Anderson) then provided a link to the French translation of the third edition (1918) of that work, published by Les Editions du Cerf (see http://www.editionsducerf.fr/html/fiche/fichelivre.asp?n_liv_cerf=5390). There is also a French translation of Cohen's commentary on Kant's First Critique (1918), but I would not recommend this highly either as an introduction to Cohen or to Kant. It is really too bad that the first edition of Kant's Theorie der Erfahrung or of Kant's Begründung der Ethik is unavailable in English or any other language, except in the German original. Any volunteers?

"Paul Natorp and the emergence of anti-psychologism in the nineteenth century," by Scott Edgar

From Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Volume 39, Issue 1, March 2008, pp. 54-65.

Link to the article (A subscription to ScienceDirect is required for access to the full article)

Dieter Adelmann in memoriam

After a long period of poor health Dieter Adelmann died yesterday, following a heart operation. Adelmann was one of the most important figures in the European revival of the study of Cohen as an original philosopher and a Jewish thinker. Many of us are shaken by this loss. Dieter Adelmann's influence is evident in the work of many younger scholars. He was a natural teacher, a generous and learned man with an original and deep appreciation for the world from which Cohen hailed culturally, intellectually, and politically. Few others have been able to bring the legacy of Cohen's thought to life as Adelmann was able to do. We will miss him as an interlocutor and an inspiration. Our love and sympathy is with his children and friends.

Review of New Literature on Hermann Cohen

Michael Zank reviews Francesca Albertini, Das Verständnis des Seins bei Hermann Cohen: Vom Neukantianismus zu einer jüdischen Religionsphilosophie (Würzburg 2003) and Andrea Poma, Yearning for Form and Other Essays on Hermann Cohen's Thought (Dordrecht 2006) in The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Fall 2008) 566-573.

Panels on Neo-Kantianism at the seventh congress of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS)

The conference took place at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., June 18-21, 2008. For the full conference program, click here.

The Natural and the Neo-Kantian:
Empirical Science and Neo-Kantianism
Chair: Alex Klein

In What Ways Was Helmholtz Kantian?
Gary Hatfield, University of Pennsylvania

Empirical Psychology, Physiology, and the A Priori
Lydia Patton, Virginia Tech

Empirical Psychology and Marburg School Neo-Kantianism on the Object of Psychology
Scott Edgar, Bryn Mawr College

Function and Symbol in Marburg Philosophy of Science
Alan Kim, Hamilton College

Cassirer on Logic, Mathematics, and Science
Chair: Scott Edgar

"Critical philosophy begins at the very point where logistic leaves off":
Cassirer’s response to Frege and Russell
Jeremy Heis, University of California at Irvine

Cassirer and Dedekind: On the significance of structural mathematics
Erich Reck, University of California at Riverside

Conference: Hermann Cohen and the Graphic Arts

International conference of the Hermann Cohen-Gesellschaft (Zürich), in cooperation with the Cohen-Gesellschaft (Coswig, Anhalt) and the Max Liebermann- Gesellschaft (Berlin). The conference took place from June 15-18, 2008 in Coswig (Anhalt).

Speakers include:

Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. HELMUT HOLZHEY (Zürich)
"Zum Verhältnis der Ästhetik des reinen Gefühls zu Kants Begründung der Ästhetik"

Prof. Dr. MYRIAM BIENENSTOCK (Tours/Paris)
"Über die Ironie der Kunst: Cohen und Solger"

Prof. Dr. STEFAN NACHTSHEIM (Aachen)
"Der zeitgenössische theoretische Kontext von Cohens Ästhetik"

Dr. LYDIA PATTON (Blacksburg, USA)
"Humor, the Beautiful, and the Ethical Ideal: Hermann Cohen and Kant on Portraiture"

Dr. DIETER ADELMANN (Bonn)
"Hermann Cohens Theorie der Landschaftsmalerei"

For the full program click here.

CFP: Hermann Cohen and the Visual Arts

Meeting of the Hermann Cohen Society in cooperation with the Max Liebermann Society (Berlin) and the Cohen Society (Coswig)

from the 15th to the 18th of June 2008 in Coswig (Anhalt)

The focus of the conference is Hermann Cohen’s relationship to the visual arts. Systematic interpretations of Cohen’s aesthetics are welcome, not least those that deal with the consequences of Cohen’s theory for contemporary debates. In addition, we welcome biographical or historical studies that put Cohen in the context of the aesthetic and artistic movements of his time.

Contributions in English and German are welcome. Scholars interested in submitting a paper are warmly invited to send a title and a short abstract of up to 300 words to the following address:

Dr. Hartwig Wiedebach,
Martin Buber-Professur für jüdische Religionsphilosophie
J. W. Goethe-Universität
FB Ev. Theologie
Grüneburgplatz 1, Raum BL-7
60323 Frankfurt/M., Germany
wiedebach@freenet.de

Original (German) version of the call for papers is here: http://www.hermann-cohen-gesellschaft.org/deutsch/veranst.htm