German Philosophical Society

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The German Philosophical Society , founded in 1917/1918, was an association of conservative philosophers in the Weimar Republic and in the time of National Socialism . It existed until 1945.

prehistory

An important initiator of the society was Bruno Bauch , who, as a representative of the Southwest German School of Neo-Kantianism, represented an independent philosophy of values ​​that placed a special focus on the connection between value and life . According to this, values ​​are not only to be grasped intellectually , but are to be converted into a reality especially in practical life, in human action as a worldview . This also includes the area of politics . Around 1900 philosophy was still universally oriented. This changed significantly with the entry into the First World War . For many nationally minded thinkers, the bearers of culture and values ​​were no longer mankind as a whole, but the nations in which individual interests take precedence over the purpose of community . In this sense, Bauch gave a lecture to the Staatswissenschaftliche Gesellschaft zu Jena in 1916 with the title On the Concept of Nation. A chapter on the philosophy of history. This lecture, published as a reprint (Berlin 1916), was published in the same year in the Kant studies , for which Bauch was the editor, and its content triggered considerable discussions.

Bauch had emphasized not only the cultural unity as a defining characteristic of the nation , but also the community of descent and emphasized that this also includes the differentiation of biological characteristics. In this sense, the Jews are not part of the national community , but rather a 'guest people', which the Germans face as ' host people '. Bauch expressed the fear of a foreign ethnic burden, which could lead to a loss of the own national character. As a consequence, he proposed the recognition of Zionism and thus the exclusion of the Jewish population. This essay met with considerable opposition from the Jewish representatives of Neo-Kantianism and led to critical statements from Hermann Cohen and Ernst Cassirer . As a result, Bruno Bauch gave up his work for the Kant studies.

founding

Bauch initially looked for a new platform in the Fichte-Gesellschaft von 1914 , a collection movement that started in Hamburg in 1916 and aimed to preserve the community spirit of the Germans when the war broke out. At a meeting of the Society's Philosophical Committee in May in Weimar , a working group was formed under the direction of the stomach student Arthur Hoffmann , with the aim of publishing a philosophical journal. At the beginning of 1918, the Plauen senior teacher Horst Engert took over the management of the project. Once sufficient participation had been secured, the founding meeting took place in Weimar on May 21, 1918, at which the statutes were passed and Hermann Schwarz gave a lecture on the conscience of the world or the conscience of the fatherland . In May the first issue of the articles on the philosophy of German idealism appeared . The association was entered in the register of associations of the Weimar District Court on December 2, 1918. When it was founded, some lecturers had agreed to participate in the magazine, including Max Hildebert Boehm , the philosopher and educator Ferdinand Jakob Schmidt from Berlin and the private lecturer Heinrich Scholz from Breslau, Hermann Schwarz und Bauch, from Marburg Nicolai Hartmann , Heinz Heimsoeth and Max Wundt , the Heidelberg Privatdozent Arnold Ruge , the Schelling researcher Otto Braun from Münster, the Austrians Walter Schmied-Kowarzik , Hans Pichler and Alexius Meinong and from Switzerland Paul Häberlin .

In the report on the founding meeting, the aim was to “maintain, deepen and preserve the German character”. The opposition to the Kant society is expressed in the emphasis that one does not have the "philosophy of all civilized peoples" as their theme, but rather see oneself as a "national complement".

“Against rationalism and dogmatism , against materialism and relativism , all four of which are alien, yes, hostile to the German being, it is necessary to fight with the weapons of pure and strict science for a German idealistic science that our people need more after the shocks of the current world war will have than ever. "

Bauch countered the objection that a national philosophy could not claim general validity with the argument that a distinction had to be made between genesis and validity . Idealism as German philosophy is based on the specific mental abilities of the German people, its validity must but supranational be recognized.

Weimar period

In October 1923 the society reached its maximum with 1,200 members. However, with the general political and economic stabilization in the mid-1920s, the number sank to around 600 and remained at roughly this level in the following period. Various aspects are seen as the cause of the decline. On the one hand, society remained limited to primarily philosophical questions and could not, as originally intended, expand its spectrum to overarching, practical topics. On the other hand, new philosophical movements such as existential philosophy , phenomenology and logical empiricism emerged in the 1920s , which distanced themselves from the philosophy of values ​​derived from neo-Kantianism. Rudolf Carnap in particular saw in the idealism of the Neufichteans a mixture of philosophical questions with general problems of life.

In addition to the articles on the philosophy of German idealism that appeared from 1918 onwards, the association's organs were the irregularly published communications of the German Philosophical Society . In the articles, Gottlob Frege , who had become a member in 1919 and was in close dialogue with his Jena colleague, Bauch, published his last three essays on logical investigations .

Economic difficulties due to the decline in membership and decreasing donations led to a radical change in society in 1927. In May 1926, Bauch had already given up the editing of the articles . In 1927, the Leipzig psychologist Felix Krueger was elected chairman of the board and, in addition to Bauch und Schwarz, the Göttingen legal philosopher Julius Binder also joined the board. Together with the Leipzigers Theodor Litt and Hans Freyer , the society was now placed on a broader philosophical basis that went beyond idealism. Instead of the contributions , the sheets for German philosophy were published from 1928 by Ernst Hugo Fischer and from 1930 together with Gunther Ipsen . Local groups have now been formed within the association in order to better bind the members. Important contributions also came from the group around Othmar Spann, which is more focused on economic issues .

In National Socialism

In its communications (No. 10 of April 1933), the society committed itself to participating in the construction of a new state.

“The construction that has now begun requires German philosophy. Its purposeful and temporal superior nature is necessary so that a new wholeness of state and people can grow out of the upheavals in a German way, which also encompasses the labor system. For centuries, the nobility of our nation has included the reverent and courageous way of thinking. We live by the belief that ideas have to help shape human reality. "

At the general meeting of October 1933, to which Adolf Hitler had sent a greeting, Bauch and Hartmann, both representatives of the philosophy of values, were the main speakers. Bauch spoke of a “wonderful national turnaround and upswing [...] in which the German people found themselves and began to become a nation. We can therefore hope and trust him that the mission is to overcome the pragmatic-materialistic demon from the ground up. To work and participate in this program is everyone's sacred duty and task, especially for German science and especially German philosophy. "

Like Martin Heidegger , who opposed him , Bauch had the idea of ​​being able to influence the spiritual foundations of the new society. In 1934 he took over the chairmanship of the society, Heimsoeth was the new editor of the papers . In a letter to Gerhard Lehmann , Günther Jacoby welcomed this as a return to science. In Austria, a German Philosophical Society was founded in Vienna in 1935 by Johannes Sauter and Hans Eibl , which again strongly oriented itself towards Othmar Spann. Bauch welcomed the racial biology and thus the racial politics of the National Socialists in the sense of a selection and selection, but was not an immediate anti-Semite . This is expressed, for example, in the fact that he campaigned for Richard Hönigswald to remain in office, while Heidegger spoke out against him. However, the hoped-for influence of society on politics did not materialize. The philosophers Alfred Baeumler and Ernst Krieck , who were more closely associated with National Socialism, saw too great differences to the ideology of National Socialism in the orientation towards Fichte, which was still dominant for Bauch. An expert report by the Reich Ministry of Education prepared by Ferdinand Weinhandl in 1937 stated that the association should at best be seen as a preliminary stage for a future National Socialist Society for Philosophy. Due to the lack of response, the number of members fell to 448 in April 1936 and 401 in April 1942. Nevertheless, the association continued to receive support in order to promote the international reputation of National Socialism.

After Bauch's death in 1942, Arnold Gehlen took over the company's management. With the fall of the National Socialist state, the German Philosophical Society also went out in May 1945.

literature

  • Sven Schlotter: The tyranny of values. Philosophy and politics with Bruno Bauch. In: Klaus M. Kodalle (ed.): Fear of the modern. Philosophical answers to crisis experiences. The microcosm of Jena 1900–1940. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2000, pp. 89-102.
  • Christian Tilitzki : The German university philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003647-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruno Bauch: On the concept of the nation. A chapter on the philosophy of history. Kant studies 21 (1916), pp. 139–162.
  2. ↑ Ulrich Sieg: German cultural history and the Jewish spirit. Ernst Cassirer's examination of the volkish philosophy of Bruno Bauch. An unknown manuscript. Lea Baeck Institute Bulletin 88 (1991), pp. 51-91.
  3. ↑ Bruno Bauch: Fichte and the German thought. Pamphlets of the Fichte-Gesellschaft from 1914, No. 4, Hamburg 1917, lecture at the invitation of the 'Deutschbund-Gemeinde', held in Erfurt in March 1917.
  4. ^ Christian Tilitzki: The German University Philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich. Akademieverlag Berlin 2002, pp. 486–491.
  5. ^ Christian Tilitzki: The German University Philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich, Academy, Berlin 2002, p. 488.
  6. ↑ Sven Schlotter: The tyranny of values. Philosophy and politics with Bruno Bauch. In: Klaus-Michael Kodalle: Fear of Modernity: Philosophical Answers to Crisis Experiences. The microcosm of Jena 1900-1940. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2000, p. 93.
  7. ↑ Sven Schlotter: The tyranny of values. Philosophy and politics with Bruno Bauch. In: Klaus-Michael Kodalle: Fear of Modernity: Philosophical Answers to Crisis Experiences. The microcosm of Jena 1900-1940. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2000, p. 95.
  8. ^ Rudolf Carnap: Overcoming metaphysics through logical analysis of language. In: Knowledge 2 (1932), pp. 220-237.
  9. ↑ Michael Friedman: Carnap and Quine: Twentieth-Century Echoes of Kant and Hume  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.businessethicsonline.net   , FN 1 (accessed on May 18, 2010)
  10. ↑ Communications of the German Philosophical Society No. 10 (April 1933), 1; quoted from George Leaman: Reflection on German Philosophy and National Socialism. In: Marion Heinz and Goran Gretic (eds.): Philosophy and Zeitgeist in National Socialism. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2006, pp. 233–250, here p. 240.
  11. ↑ Bruno Bauch: Value and Purpose. In: Blätter für deutsche Philosophie , 8 (1934/35), pp. 39–59, quoted from: Sven Schlotter: Die Tyrannei derwerte. Philosophy and politics with Bruno Bauch. In: Klaus-Michael Kodalle: Fear of Modernity: Philosophical Answers to Crisis Experiences. The microcosm of Jena 1900-1940. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2000, p. 98.
  12. ^ Christian Tilitzki: The German University Philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the Third Reich. Akademieverlag Berlin 2002, 1007
  13. ↑ Tamara Ehs: Johannes Sauter . In: Memorial book of the University of Vienna for the victims of National Socialism in 1938 (accessed on May 18, 2010)
  14. ↑ Sven Schlotter: The tyranny of values. Philosophy and politics with Bruno Bauch. In: Klaus-Michael Kodalle: Fear of Modernity: Philosophical Answers to Crisis Experiences. The microcosm of Jena 1900-1940. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2000, p. 98, refers to: C. Schorcht: Philosophy at the Bavarian universities 1933-45. Erlangen 1990, p. 159ff.
  15. ^ Werner Rügemer: Philosophical anthropology and epoch crisis. Cologne 1979, pp. 96-97.
  16. ^ Christian Tilitzki: The German University Philosophy in the Weimar Republic and in the German Empire. Akademieverlag Berlin 2002, p. 1007.