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

Reviews of new books on Hermann Cohen

Review of Hermann Cohen’s Critical Idealism, edited by Reinier Munk, Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought Volume 10, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Verlag, 2005, and Andrea Poma, Yearning For Form and Other Essays on Hermann Cohen’s Thought, edited by Reinier Munk, Studies in German Idealism Volume 5, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Verlag, 2006, by Lydia Patton (Virginia Tech).

Forthcoming in the European Journal of Philosophy.

Click here for the full text of the review

“New Literature on Hermann Cohen,” a review of Francesca Albertini, Das Verständnis des Seins bei Hermann Cohen. Vom Neukantianismus zu einer jüdischen Religionsphilosophie (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2003) and Andrea Poma, Yearning For Form and Other Essays on Hermann Cohen’s Thought (Dordrecht: Springer, 2006), by Michael Zank (Boston University).

Forthcoming in Jewish Quarterly Review.

Click here for the full text of the review

Marburg in Russia

Russian Neo-Kantianism: Marburg in Russia. Historical-philosophical sketches.
Moscow, 2007 (ISBN 978-5-8243-0835-8) 511 pp., in Russian, with a table of contents and a six page summary in German; including also an appendix of letters, an extensive bibliography, and twelve pages of photographic images between text pages 256 and 257. By Nina Dmitrieva. Review by Michael Zank.

The beginning of the review:

"Based on meticulous archival research, Nina Dmitrieva’s monograph documents the intellectual biographies of a group of hitherto neglected Russian philosophers whose work constituted an alternative to the materialism that, for most of the 20th century, was the dominant philosophical doctrine of Stalinist Russia. It so happens that many of these thinkers received their training in Marburg, Germany, a place that in the first decades of the 20th century was a Mecca for philosophically inclined youths from across Europe and the US, among them such well-known figures as Ortega y Gasset, Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, T.S. Eliot, and Boris Pasternak. Whereas critical idealism was obliterated in Marburg after Heidegger replaced Paul Natorp in 1924, the Russian reception of Marburg neo-Kantianism was profound and of lasting import, as Dmitrieva documents."

Click here for the full text of the review

Click here for Dmitrieva's brief summary of the work (English)

Ethik des reinen Willens

The ethics of Hermann Cohen were the topic of a conference held at the University of Toronto, in 2001. The proceedings of this conference are now available in form of a thematic issue of the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy (volume 13, numbers 1-3, 2004), guest edited by Robert Gibbs.

See http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/gjtp/2004/00000013/f0030001.

Hermann Cohen: The Werke Edition

The writings of Hermann Cohen are now available in a critical edition published by Olms Verlag and edited under the auspices of the Hermann Cohen Archive in Zürich.

For a review see EAJS Newsletter, vol. 16, Spring 2005, on-line at http://www.lzz.uni-halle.de/publikationen/essays/nl16_zank.pdf.

Friedman and Nordmann, eds., The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth Century Science

A sorely needed collection of essays by the most able scholars in the field. With contributed essays on the Marburg School from Alan Richardson, Michael Heidelberger, and Alfred Nordmann. Essays by Janet Folina and Robert di Salle focus on the intriguing relationship between Kantianism and conventionalism, a topic that is receiving increasing attention.

For a full review of the collection from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=9283

Panels at the Chicago American Philosophical Association

SESSION ONE: “KARL JASPERS SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL HERMANN COHEN SOCIETY”

Chair: Michael Zank (Boston University)

Speakers: Hartwig Wiedebach (University of Zurich, Stuttgart Media University)
“Pure Will versus Causality in Hermann Cohen”

Lydia Patton (University of Chicago)
“Ideas in History, Ideas in Opposition: Hermann Cohen and Völkerpsychologie”

SESSION TWO: “KARL JASPERS SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL HERMANN COHEN SOCIETY”

Chair: Michael Zank (Boston University)

Speakers: James Barham (University of Notre Dame)
“Ernst Cassirer’s Metaphysics of Life”

Timothy Gordon (Bakersfield College)
“The 19th Century and Jesus Christ: Non-Normative Absolutism”

Armin Wildermuth (University of St. Gallen)
“Karl Jaspers’ Philosophic Faith and the Clash of Civilizations”