Reinhard Margreiter

Reinhard Margreiter (2019)

Reinhard Margreiter (born August 16, 1952 in Reith im Alpbachtal ) is an Austrian author and philosopher who deals with Friedrich Nietzsche , Arthur Schopenhauer , Ernst Cassirer , the relationship between mysticism and philosophy , with media philosophy and animal philosophy .

Life

Reinhard Margreiter studied philosophy, history and German in Innsbruck and Mainz and received his doctorate in 1977 with a dissertation on Nietzsche in Innsbruck. There he founded a "forum for open philosophizing" in 1982 in collaboration with Wolfgang Schirmacher , then President of the Schopenhauer Society , and organized philosophical lecture series and two symposia on Schopenhauer (1988) and Martin Heidegger (1989). From 1979 he taught German and history at higher vocational schools . In 1995 he completed his habilitation in Berlin with a thesis on the relationship between mysticism and philosophy and was a private lecturer in philosophy at the Humboldt University until 2015. Since 1991 he has been teaching at the University of Innsbruck and has been visiting professor there several times . He was editor of the Schopenhauer Studies and Vice President of the International Schopenhauer Association. He lives with his family in Imst , Tyrol .

philosophy

Nietzsche interpretation

Initially, Margreiter primarily dealt with Nietzsche's work. In his monograph Ontology and Divine Concepts in Nietzsche (1978) he opposes Nietzsche's theological appropriations as an alleged seeker and crypto-Christian . Based on a negative analysis of the “question of God”, a systematic presentation of Nietzsche's “artistically transcendental” ontology follows. There is no meaningful place in it for a god, be it a god of reason or faith. In this work, Margreiter refers methodically to hermeneutic phenomenology and transcendental philosophy . Later, under the influence of Oswald Schwemmer , there was a move towards symbolism. In later essays published in the Nietzsche Studies, he expanded and modified his approach to interpretation through the term “experiential ontology”. As a result, he also dealt with other issues with Nietzsche, e.g. B. with his criticism of history and knowledge, the relationship to Schopenhauer and finally with the media-philosophical potential in Nietzsche's writings.

Mysticism and philosophy

In his extensive work Experience and Mysticism: Limits of Symbolization (1997) Margreiter examines the question of what mystical experience is and how it relates to general experience based on rational standards. It is about the (existentially significant) experience of becoming unreal of categorically composed reality . An analysis of mystical passages from the work of Meister Eckhart and the canon of mystical writings (documented in relevant text collections) is preceded by a historical-systematic analysis of the concept of experience. For Margreiter, reference authors are modern philosophers such as Immanuel Kant , Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Arthur Schopenhauer , William James , Henri Bergson , Ludwig Wittgenstein , Ernst Cassirer and Jacques Derrida , who comment on both experience and mysticism. These examples show that the recourse to mysticism always accompanies the debate on rationality like a shadow. Mysticism functions as an epistemological problem concept when it comes to the limits and / or the whole of reason and experience. Ideally, two positions stand out among philosophers: Either they understand mysticism to be the other, the beyond of reason (e.g. Kant, Wittgenstein) or mysticism for them is reason itself in its highest perfection (e.g. Hegel, Bergson ). Both positions are not for Margreiter adequately . They do not adequately relate to reports on concrete mystical experiences. This is different for approaches based on language, symbols and signs, e.g. B. at Fritz Mauthner , Cassirer, or Derrida. For these thinkers, mysticism, reason and experience neither coincide nor are they unrelated to one another. Rather, they are dimensions of a complex structural context.

Symbol-theoretical reconstruction of mysticism

In his exposition of both general and mystical experience, Margreiter uses a symbol-theoretical method that he derives from Cassirer and Schwemmer. The starting point is the basic epistemological thesis that reality is constructed using different symbol systems. This is the only way to create experience. Symbol forms are not static structures, but processes that are in an analogous relationship to one another. From these guidelines, Margreiter reconstructs mysticism as an emergence in the course of the symbolic process, as an epiphenomenon resulting from the experience itself . Mysticism can be explained from a structural tendency in the symbolic process. Symbolization is normally directed towards a partial reality, but is basically expansive and, yielding to the urge to expand, can ultimately aim at capturing reality as a whole (which implies: also self-referentiality and immediacy ). This leads to an extreme intensification of the tension between subject and object , unity and multiplicity, which constitutes every symbolization , so that the symbolic process " implodes ". Total symbolization and self-paralysis of a system of symbols therefore go hand in hand. It comes to the dissolution of thought-constituting categories ( time , space , objectivity, causality, etc.), to the highest concentration and at the same time to the collapse of all significance. This explains the ecstatic character of mystical thought and experience.

Mysticism as the limit of symbolization

Mysticism turns out to be a possible momentary experience, but not a viable form of life. What is shown in it epistemologically is a functional limit of symbolization and, insofar as experience means symbol processing and reason means its order and organization, a functional limit of experience and reason. Such a borderline experience is possible in all symbolic forms, not only in religion , but also in philosophy, language , art and basic reflective science . So mysticism is not a unique feature of religious thought and religious world experience. It is a matter of thinking about the imaginary zero point of all symbolization, into which it projects both its origin and its goal. The zero point remains imaginary because in principle one cannot get out of the symbolic events. As a cognitive, but also existential abyss of all symbolism, mysticism illustrates the interchangeability of multiplicity and unity, being and nothing, reality and possibility. This reveals radical contingency , freedom and creativity of existence. Understood correctly, mystical experience does not lead to metaphysical speculation , but to a skeptical, open-minded attitude to knowledge and life.

Media philosophy

At the end of the 1990s, Margreiter joined the media-philosophical discussion and later summarized his considerations in the books Media Philosophy. An introduction (2007, revision 2016) and Media Turn: Perspectives of an interdiscursive media philosophy (2018) together. He divides the media discourse into three segments: empirical media studies , speculative media theory and philosophical media discourse. In the latter, the aim is to perceive the reformulation of questions in the canon of the history of philosophy in the media discourse and to use them as creative input for the further development of philosophy. Since the terms medium and symbol system can be translated into one another (mysticism is always a media event), media philosophy continues the concern of symbol philosophy with a different emphasis. For Margreiter, the history of epistemology (from Kant's transcendental philosophy to the linguistic turn and symbolic / semiotic turn to a current “media turn”) is a series of increasingly refined insight into the structure of thinking, experience and culture. The history of philosophy, science and culture can be reconstructed as media history. Perception and thought constitute not only language, but a number of historically changeable media and media constellations. Media philosophy can therefore be understood (admittedly without any claim to ultimate justification and in no way in the sense of strict determinism ) as a “basic discourse” and a contemporary “prima philosophia”. Other media philosophers see this as too strong a thesis . Mike Sandbothe prefers to speak of a “transversal interface”. Margreiter rejects the view that digital media would herald the end of philosophy. He advocates closer networking of the three segments of the media discourse. Media philosophy should be understood as an " interdiscourse ", i. H. Neither subordinate nor superior to other disciplines, but mediate between them. Media philosophy can position itself in two ways: as a scientific theory of media studies and as a symbolic, media-oriented philosophy of knowledge and culture .

Animal philosophy

In the context of his media philosophy, Margreiter asks whether animals are also medial beings. The answer is a qualified yes. Not all, but some animals have more similarities than differences in behavior, traits and abilities towards humans. Animals also have a certain degree of symbolic and media literacy , although considerable inequalities must be acknowledged. They mainly concern the storage and processing possibilities of information . In humans, these are in terms of elaborate language skills and technical media outsourced by the body and increased to automation of their own, more extensive quality. In addition to animal cognitive and cultural achievements, Margreiter is also interested in ethical and interdisciplinary questions. Since 2011 he has been taking part in the activities of the “Human Animal Studies Research Group” at the University of Innsbruck, which comes out with lecture series , seminars , working groups , conferences and publications .

Literary works

At a young age, Margreiter was also active in literature ( poetry , short prose ). This took place in the context of the Innsbruck poet Hermann Kuprian , who formulated the poetological program of a “spiritual poetry” around 1970 , recruited a number of fellow campaigners and published the series “Brennpunkte”. Margreiter took part in these programmatic efforts with a few essays , but later took a critical distance from them. However, the volume of poetry "vor dein augen" (1973) has references to later philosophy. It contains poems that express mystical experience and were interpreted in this regard by the Wuppertal philosopher Karl Albert . However, Margreiter's philosophical interpretation of mysticism deviates considerably from Albert's view. In this case, the skeptical side of mysticism plays no role, he understands by mysticism or (for him synonymous) "ontological experience" a harmonistic all-unity metaphysics.

Books

• Media Turn: Perspectives of an Interdiscursive Media Philosophy, Königshausen & Neumann: Würzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8260-6396-1 .
• Media Philosophy: An Introduction. Second, expanded and improved edition, Königshausen & Neumann: Würzburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8260-5777-9 .
• Media Philosophy: An Introduction, Parerga: Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-937262-52-0 .
• Experience and mysticism: Limits of symbolization, Academy: Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-05-002960-9 [Reprint + e-book: de Gruyter: Berlin 2015].
• [Co-editor, according to with Elenor Jain] Problems of philosophical mysticism: Festschrift for Karl Albert on his 70th birthday, Academia: St. Augustin 1991, ISBN 3-88345-567-9 .
• [Co-editor, according to with Karl Leidlmair] Heidegger: Technology - Ethics - Politics, Königshausen & Neumann: Würzburg 1991, ISBN 3-88479-607-0 .
• Ontology and concepts of God in Nietzsche: On the question of a 'rediscovery of God' in the late work (= monographs on philosophical research, vol. 160), Hain: Meisenheim 1978, ISBN 3-445-01585-6 .
• before your eyes: poems, Bläschke: Darmstadt 1973, ISBN 3-87561-253-1 .

Articles (selection)

• Transcendental Philosophy and Media Turn, in: G. Schweppenhäuser (ed.), Handbuch der Medienphilosophie, Darmstadt 2018, pp. 144–152.
• Philosophical animal ethics, in: G. Kompatscher-Gufler & R. Spannring & K. Schachinger, Human-Animal Studies: An introduction for students and teachers, Münster 2017, pp. 108–140.
• Ernst Cassirer, in: H. Reinalter & A. Oberprantacher (eds.), Outsiders of Philosophy, Würzburg 2012, pp. 247–264.
• Nondualism - an ironic philosophy? in: A. Riegler & S. Weber (eds.), The Third Philosophy: Critical Contributions to Josef Mitterer's Nondualism, Weilerswist 2010, pp. 85–100.
• Mysticism in the field of tension between symbolic forms, in: C. Tamasvári & R. Sanchino Martinez (eds.), “What one cannot speak of…” Aesthetics and Mysticism in the 20th Century, Bielefeld 2010, pp. 29–42.
• Nietzsche as a media philosopher avant la lettre, in: JM Krois & N. Meuter (eds.), Cultural Existence and Symbolic Form, Berlin 2006, pp. 191–212.
• Enlightenment and mysticism in Kant and Feuerbach, in: J. Albertz (ed.), Enlightenment, reason, religion: Kant and Feuerbach, Berlin 2005, pp. 69–90.
• Media philosophy of book printing, in: M. Sandbothe & L. Nagl (eds.), Systematic Media Philosophy, Berlin 2004, pp. 239-252.
• Media / Philosophy: A tilted picture, in: S. Münker & A. Roesler & M. Sandbothe (eds.), Media Philosophy: Contributions to the Clarification of a Concept, Frankfurt a. M. 2003, pp. 150-171.
• Cohen and Cassirer on mysticism, in: H. Deuser & M. Moxter (eds.), Rationality of Religion and Critique of Culture, Würzburg 2002, pp. 192–211.
• Nietzsche: The problem of science, history and historical memory, in: G. Goedert & U. Nussbaumer-Benz (ed.), Nietzsche and culture: A contribution to Europe ?, Olten 2002, pp. 140–154.
• Reality and mediality: On the philosophy of the 'Medial Turn', in: Stefan Weber (ed.), Medien Journal 23 / No. 1 (1999), pp. 9-18.
• Media philosophy as a reformulation of a 'philosophy of mind', in: W. Löffler & E. Runggaldier (eds.), Diversity and Convergence of Philosophy, Vienna 1999, pp. 520–524.
• Aspects of the Heidegger-Cassirer controversy, in: H. Vetter (ed.), Seventy Years 'Being and Time', Frankfurt a. M. 1999, pp. 109-134.
• Mysticism between literacy and orality: Meister Eckhart and the theory of medial noetics, in: K. Jacoby (ed.), Meister Eckhart: Lebenszüge - Redesituationen, Berlin 1997, pp. 15–42.
• “... on volcanic soil”: History, contingency and normativity with Ernst Cassirer, in: Hegel-Jahrbuch 1996, Berlin 1997, pp. 252-258.
• Recent literature on Ernst Cassirer [literature report], in: Philosophisches Jahrbuch 102 (1995), pp. 402–415.
• Reason and experience as a process: preliminary considerations for a non-obscurantistic philosophia mystica, in: Schopenhauer-Studien 5 (1995), pp. 19–28.
• L'essere del pensiero e il dio trascendente, in: H. Ott & G. Penzo (eds.), Heidegger e la teologia, Brescia 1995, pp. 181-187.
• Schopenhauer e il problema di un'etica descrittiva, in: Discipline Filosofiche 2/1994, pp. 233-255.
• Mystik und Philosophie [literature report], in: Philosophische Rundschau 39 (1992), pp. 161-185.
• The twisting of truth and the withdrawal of the divine: On the reconstruction of Nietzsche's concepts of God, in: Nietzsche Studies 20 (1991), pp. 48–67.
• The eightfold root of the topicality of Schopenhauer, in: Schopenhauer Studien 1/2 (1988), pp. 15–36.
• Ontological paradigm shift: Notes on Kant and Nietzsche, in: J. Albertz (ed.), Kant and Nietzsche: Prelude to a future interpretation of the world ?, Wiesbaden 1988, pp. 111–132.
• Encounters with Nietzsche: Deutsche Nietzsche-Literatur 1980–84, in: Philosophisches Jahrbuch 93 (1986), pp. 375–406.
• Nietzsche's ontological experience, in: Nietzsche Studies 14 (1985), pp. 35–68.
• All negation and all affirmation: The reason of the will in Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, in: 65th Schopenhauer-Jahrbuch (1984), pp. 103-115.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ R. Margreiter, Ontology and God Concepts in Nietzsche: On the question of a 'new discovery of God' in the late work, Phil. Diss. (Typescript), Innsbruck 1976 [printed: Meisenheim 1978, see books]
2. ↑ On the Heidegger Conference 1989 in Innsbruck: R. Margreiter & K. Leidlmair (eds.), Heidegger: Technik - Ethik - Politik, Würzburg 1991
3. ↑ R. Margreiter, Limits of Symbolization: On the Phenomenology of Mystical Experience, Habilitation Thesis, 2 volumes (typescript), Berlin 1994 [printed: Berlin 1997, see books]
4. ↑ For lectureship at the Humboldt University Berlin: https://agnes.hu-berlin.de/lupo/rds;jsessionid=E93D58DDA6157927C5E59A56EBBC6FAB.qisappl8_root?state=verpublish&status=init&vmfile=no&moduleCall=webInfo&publishConfFile=webInfoPerson&publishSubDir=personal&keep=y&personal.pid=19012 ( accessed on January 7, 2019)
5. ↑ See for example E. Biser: 'God is dead.' Nietzsche's Destruction of Christian Consciousness, Munich 1962; ders .: God seeker or Antichrist? Nietzsche's provocative criticism of Christianity, Salzburg 1982
6. ↑ On Nietzsche studies: https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/niet (accessed on January 7, 2019)
7. ^ R. Margreiter: "Nietzsche's ontological experience", in: Nietzsche Studien 14 (1985), pp. 35–68; ders .: "The twisting of truth and the withdrawal of the divine: To reconstruct Nietzsche's concepts of God", in: Nietzsche Studien 20 (1991), pp. 48–67
8. ^ R. Margreiter, "Nietzsche: The problem of science, history and historical memory", in: G. Goedert & U. Nussbaumer-Benz (eds.), Nietzsche and culture - A contribution to Europe ?, Olten 2002 , Pp. 140-154
9. ↑ R. Margreiter: Allverneinung and Allbejahung: The reason of the will in Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. in: 65th Schopenhauer-Jahrbuch (1984), pp. 103-115
10. ↑ "Nietzsche as a media philosopher avant la lettre", in: JM Krois & N. Meuter (eds.): Cultural Existence and Symbolic Form, Berlin 2006, pp. 191–212
11. ↑ Cf. Meister Eckhart, Works I and II, ed. by N. Largier, Frankfurt a. M. 1993
12. ^ ZBG Ruhbach & J. Sudbrack (eds.), Christian Mystik . Texts from two millennia, Munich 1989; HD Zimmermann (ed.), Rationality and Mysticism, Frankfurt a. M. 1981; M. Buber (ed.): Ecstatic denominations. Jena 1909
13. ^ R. Margreiter: Experience and Mysticism. Second book, chap. 1.
14. ^ R. Margreiter: Experience and Mysticism. Second book, chap. 2.
15. ^ R. Margreiter: Experience and Mysticism. P. 297 ff.
16. ↑ F. Mauthner: "Mystik", in: ders. Dictionary of Philosophy (several editions and reprints since 1910)
17. ^ E. Cassirer, Philosophy of symbolic forms, Vol. 2, Berlin 1925, final chapter
18. ↑ Cf. R. Margreiter: Experience and Mysticism. P. 380 ff, p. 397 ff., P. 422 ff.
19. ^ E. Cassirer: Philosophy of symbolic forms. 3 volumes, Berlin 1923–1929 [now in: E. Cassirer, Gesammelte Werke, ed. by B. Recki, Hamburg 2001 ff.]
20. ^ O. Schwemmer: Action and Structure. Frankfurt a. M. 1987; ders., Philosophy and the Sciences, Frankfurt a. M. 1990; ders., The cultural existence of people, Berlin 1997; another., Ernst Cassirer. Berlin 1987
21. ^ R. Margreiter, Experience and Mysticism, 2nd book, chap. 3.3.1.2, p. 494 ff.
22. ^ R. Margreiter: Experience and Mysticism. Summary, p. 548 f.
23. ↑ Cf. R. Margreiter: Media Philosophy as a reformulation of a 'philosophy of mind'. in: W. Löffler & E. Runggaldier (eds.), Diversity and Convergence of Philosophy, Vienna 1999, pp. 520–524; ders., “Reality and mediality. On the philosophy of the 'Medial Turn' ", in: Medien Journal 23, No. 1/1999: Medial Turn: The Medialization of the World, ed. by Stefan Weber, pp. 9-18; ders .: "Media / Philosophy: A tilted picture", in: S. Münker et al. (Ed.), Media Philosophy. Contributions to the clarification of a term, Frankfurt a. M. 2003, pp. 150-171.
24. ^ R. Margreiter, Media Turn, chap. 6, p. 107 ff.
25. ^ R. Margreiter, Media Philosophy. An introduction, 2nd ed., Chap. 5.5: “Media rationality and media mysticism”, p. 266 ff .; ders., experience and mysticism, 2nd book, chap. 3.3.3: "Media mysticism", p. 515 ff.
26. ^ R. Margreiter, Media Philosophy. An introduction, 2nd ed., Chap. 1.2, p. 26 ff.
27. ↑ Cf. M. Sandbothe, "Was ist Medienphilosophie?" - http://www.sandbothe.net/346.html (accessed on February 6, 2019)
28. ^ R. Margreiter, Media Turn, chap. 7, p. 127 ff.
29. ^ R. Margreiter: Media Philosophy. An introduction, 2nd ed., Chap. 5.1, p. 243 ff.
30. ^ R. Margreiter: Media Philosophy. An introduction, 2nd ed., Chap. 5.2, p. 246 ff.
31. ^ R. Margreiter: Media Philosophy. An introduction, 2nd ed., Chap. 5.4.1: “Are animals also medial beings?”, P. 262 ff.
32. ↑ To the Human Animal Studies research group at the University of Innsbruck: https://www.uibk.ac.at/projects/has/forschungszusammenschluesse/ (accessed on January 7, 2019)
33. ↑ See article about Reinhard Margreiter in: Lexikon Literatur Tirol (Brenner Archive): https://orawww.uibk.ac.at/apex/uprod/f?p=TLL:2:0::::P2_ID:467 (accessed on January 7, 2019)
34. ↑ focal points. Contemporary literature, Vol. VII-XIV, ed. by H. Kuprian, Vienna and Darmstadt 1971 ff.
35. ↑ Focal Points Vol. IX, pp. 135–154 and Vol. XI, pp. 125–152
36. ↑ K. Albert, "The ideal world of metaphysical poetry", in: Brennpunkte Vol. X, Vienna 1973, pp. 50–59; ders., About Spiritual Poetry, Darmstadt 1977, pp. 84–92
37. ↑ See R. Margreiter, Experience and Mystik, p. 386 ff .; ders., "From Metaphysics to Mysticism: Considerations with and against Karl Albert", in: E. Jain & R. Margreiter (eds.), Problems of philosophical mysticism, pp. 31–47
38. ↑ See K. Albert, Mystik und Philosophie, St. Augustin 1986.

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