FU/BEST Program
Name: Dr. Detlef von Daniels
Email address: [email protected]
Course title: The Promise of German Philosophy: Between Kant and Hegel
Course number: FU-BEST 9a
Language of instruction: English
Contact hours: 45
ECTS-Credits: 6 U.S. semester credits: 3
Course description
Philosophy has constituted a central element in the development of modern German culture. In the late eighteenth century, German philosophy participated in the broader European Enlightenment culture, which has in turn been connected to the development of modern empirical science. Under the impression of the historical changes brought about by the French Revolution and by the ‘Industrial Revolution’ in Great Britain, a special constellation of German philosophy emerged at the end of the eighteenth century, which has deeply left its mark on subsequent philosophical thinking far beyond Germany. In the course, we follow the emergence and full deployment of German philosophy from its beginnings in Kant’s theoretical and moral philosophy to Hegel’s grand but fragile synthesis. We will also discuss the critique by the Young Hegelians as well as by the late Schelling, trying to understand the richness as well as the limitations of this tradition of German philosophy. The course is based upon contemporary attempts at rethinking a global philosophical perspective. Therefore, the contextual reading of key texts is related to contemporary feminist and postcolonial discussions.
Course work/expectations
Midterm exam: 20% Term-Paper: 25% Final Exam: 20% Attendance and participation: 25% (including weekly reading responses) Independent Project: 10%
Student profile Second-semester sophomore or above
Prerequisites Prior knowledge of philosophy is not required, however, an eagerness to engage with densely written texts is indispensable.
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Learning Goals 1. Be able to read philosophy; that is, to identify the thesis of a piece of philosophical writing and the arguments or evidence adduced in support of that thesis. 2. Be able to write philosophy; that is, to present a claim in clear terms and to defend it in a logically coherent manner. 3. Be able to reconstruct and debate some foundational issues in the German philosophical tradition.
Readings
Digital course reader
Background Reading
A. Recommended Web Resources (referring to further web resources): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_idealism http://www.iep.utm.edu/g/germidea.htm https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/idealism/ https://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/germanphil/resources.html
B. Selected Secondary Texts:
Andrew Bowie, Introduction to German Philosophy. From Kant to Habermas, Cambridge: Polity, 2003.
Heinrich Heine, Religion And Philosophy In Germany. A Fragment, transl. John Snodgrass, Boston: Publisher Beacon Press, 1959.
Dieter Henrich, Between Kant and Hegel. Lectures on German Idealism, Cambridge/Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Terry Pinkard, German philosophy 1760-1860. The Legacy of Idealism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Recommendations regarding further research
Concerning research on German Idealism, here are some names whose work is reliable and solid, some texts are only available in German: H. Allison, K. Ameriks, F. Beiser, A. Bowie, D. Brezeale, R. Bubner, W. Desmond, K. Düsing, M. Frank, H. F. Fulda, G. Gadamer, G. di Giovanni, P. Guyer, D. Henrich, W. Hogrebe, A. Honneth, C. Horn, R. - P. Horstmann, T. Pinkard, R. Pippin, O. Pöggeler, G. Prauss, L. Siep, D. Snow, J. Stolzenberg, M. Theunissen, R. Wiehl, A. Wood, G. Zöller.
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Course schedule
Sessions Topics, Readings, etc. Session 1 Topic: The Origins of German Philosophy in Lutheran Reformation
Reading: Martin Luther, Selected Writings (1517- 1520) Session 2 Topic: German Enlightenment and its Other
Reading: Immanuel Kant: An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? (1784) Session 3 Topic: Overcoming Religion?
Reading: Immanuel Kant: The End of All Things (1794) Session 4 Topic: Kant's Transcendental Turn: Radicalizing the Enlightenment?
Reading: Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason. Preface to the Second Edition (1787) Session 5 Topic: Johann Gottlieb Fichte as Pioneer of a New Philosophy
Reading: Johann Gottlieb Fichte: The Science of Knowing (1794) First Introduction, §1& 2 Session 6 Midterm Exam
Session 7 Topic: German Idealism as the Elaboration of the New Philosophy
Reading: Friedrich Hölderlin: Judgment and Being (1795); Poems; Letters to Hegel and Schelling; Hyperion; Schelling/Hegel/Hölderlin: The Oldest System Program of German Idealism (1797) Session 8 Topic: Reclaiming Theory – Hegel’s Transitional Synthesis: The Phenomenology of Spirit
Reading: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit. Introduction (1806) Session 9 Topic: Hegel on Recognition: The Master-Slave Dialectic
Reading: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit. Mastery and Servitude (1806)
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Session 10 Topic: Ludwig Feuerbach – An alternative to Hegel?
Reading: Ludwig Feuerbach: Principles of the Philosophy of the Future (1843) Session 11 Topic: The Unravelling of Hegel’s Synthesis: The Young Hegelians
Reading: Max Stirner: The False Principles of Our Education – Or, Humanism and Realism (1842) Session 12 Topic: The Failure of the European Democratic Revolution of 1848 and German Philosophy
Reading: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling: Historical-critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology: Lectures 1 & 10 (1842) Session 13 Final Exam
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