The Tragedy of Optimism

Steven S. Schwarzschild

Description

Steven S. Schwarzschild (1924–1989) was arguably the leading expositor of German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen (1842–1918), undertaking a lifelong effort to reintroduce Cohen's thought into contemporary philosophical discourse. In The Tragedy of Optimism, George Y. Kohler brings together all of Schwarzschild's work on Cohen for the first time. Schwarzschild's readings of Cohen are unique and profound; he was conversant with both worlds that shaped Cohen's thought, neo-Kantian German idealism and Jewish theology. The collection covers a wide range of subjects, from ethics, socialism, the concept of human selfhood, and the mathematics of the infinite to more explicitly Jewish themes. This volume includes two of Schwarzschild's previously unpublished manuscripts and a scholarly introduction by Kohler. Schwarzschild shows that despite its seeming defeat by events of the twentieth century, Cohen's optimism about human progress is a rational, indeed necessary, path to peace.

Preface
George Y. Kohler
Acknowledgements

Introduction
George Y. Kohler

1. The Democratic Socialism of Hermann Cohen (1956)

2. To Recast Rationalism (1962/1970)

3. Truth: The Connection between Logic and Ethics (1966)

4. The Day of Atonement (1968)

5. Franz Rosenzweig's Anecdotes about Hermann Cohen (1970)

6. The Torah Radicalizes on Many Levels (1972)

7. Historical Excursus: On Cohen's Infinitesimal-Methode

8. Applications of the Infinitesimalistic Theory in "the System"

9. The Tenability of Herman Cohen's Construction of the Self (1975)

10. "Germanism and Judaism" — Hermann Cohen's Normative Paradigm of the German-Jewish Symbiosis (1979)

11. Ethics of the Pure Will – Introduction (1981)

12. The Title of Hermann Cohen's Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism (1986)

13. History of the Religion of Reason: (Part II of the Introduction)

14. The Theologico-Political Basis of Liberal Christian-Jewish Relations in Modernity (1986)

15. The Religious Stake in Modern Philosophy of Infinity (1987)

16. Book Reviews

Samuel Atlas, From Critical to Speculative Idealism: The Philosophy of Salomon Maimon (1966)

William Kluback, Hermann Cohen - The Challenge of a Religion of Reason (1987)

Mechthild Dreyer, Die Idee Gottes im Werk Hermann Cohens (1989)

Epilogue: Entry on 'Cohen, Hermann' in the Encyclopedia of Religion (ed. M. Eliade) (1987)

Notes
Index of Names

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie moderne
• Judaism
• Theology

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 29 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438468372
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Tragedy of Optimism
SUNY Series in Contemporary Jewish Thought

Richard A. Cohen, editor
The Tragedy of Optimism
Writings on Hermann Cohen
Steven S. Schwarzschild
Edited by George Y. Kohler
Cover art: Sabine Kahane, “Portrait of the Young Hermann Cohen” (2017)
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2018 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Diane Ganeles
Marketing, Kate R. Seburyamo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schwarzschild, Steven S., author. | Kohler, George Y., editor.
Title: The tragedy of optimism : writings on Hermann Cohen / by Steven S. Schwarzschild ; edited by George Y. Kohler.
Description: Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, [2018] | Series: SUNY series in contemporary Jewish thought | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017011557 (print) | LCCN 2017012797 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438468372 (e-book) | ISBN 9781438468358 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Cohen, Hermann, 1842-1918. | Jewish philosophy.
Classification: LCC B5800 (ebook) | LCC B5800 .S35 2017 (print) | DDC 181/.06--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017011557
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Contents
PREFACE
George Y . Kohler
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
George Y . Kohler
CHAPTER 1
The Democratic Socialism of Hermann Cohen (1956)
CHAPTER 2
To Recast Rationalism (1962/1970)
CHAPTER 3
Truth: The Connection between Logic and Ethics (1966)
CHAPTER 4
The Day of Atonement (1968)
CHAPTER 5
Franz Rosenzweig’s Anecdotes about Hermann Cohen (1970)
CHAPTER 6
The Torah Radicalizes on Many Levels (1972)
CHAPTER 7
Historical Excursus: On Cohen’s Infinitesimal - Methode
CHAPTER 8
Applications of the Infinitesimalistic Theory in “the System”
CHAPTER 9
The Tenability of Hermann Cohen’s Construction of the Self (1975)
CHAPTER 10
“Germanism and Judaism”—Hermann Cohen’s Normative Paradigm of the German-Jewish Symbiosis (1979)
CHAPTER 11
Ethics of the Pure Will —Introduction (1981)
CHAPTER 12
The Title of Hermann Cohen’s Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism (1986)
CHAPTER 13
History of the Religion of Reason : Part II of the Introduction
CHAPTER 14
The Theologico-Political Basis of Liberal Christian-Jewish Relations in Modernity (1986)
CHAPTER 15
The Religious Stake in Modern Philosophy of Infinity (1987)
CHAPTER 16
Book Reviews
Samuel Atlas, From Critical to Speculative Idealism : The Philosophy of Salomon Maimon (1966)
William Kluback, Hermann Cohen — The Challenge of a Religion of Reason (1987)
Mechthild Dreyer, Die Idee Gottes im Werk Hermann Cohens (1989)
EPILOGUE
Entry on “Cohen, Hermann” in the Encyclopedia of Religion (ed. Mircea Eliade) (1987)
NOTES
INDEX OF NAMES
Preface
Almost thirty years ago, when Steven S. Schwarzschild was still alive, Menachem Kellner published with State University of New York Press an important volume, The Pursuit of the Ideal : Jewish Writings of Steven Schwarzschild . 1 This collection of articles, however, excluded all essays Schwarzschild had written on the Jewish thinker he himself deemed the most important of all: Hermann Cohen. Of course, Cohen played a significant role in the Pursuit volume, but Schwarzschild’s numerous writings dedicated exclusively to Cohen’s philosophical thought did not find a place in this book. I hope it was Steven Schwarzschild’s idea to publish those essays in a separate volume, but I am certain that he saw the thought of Cohen as considerably wider than what in general counts as “Jewish Writings.” After all, Schwarzschild has written on Cohen’s neo-Kantian ethics as well as on Cohen’s mathematical theories of the infinite, or on Cohen’s conception of human selfhood.
In an extensive 1992 academic review of the Kellner volume, Schwarzschild’s friend Norbert M. Samuelson wrote, “In general, Schwarzschild was a disciple and advocate of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant as interpreted and expanded by Hermann Cohen. How original his own interpretation of this tradition is cannot be assessed here. This judgment awaits the publication of his work on Cohen, which must be evaluated in direct relationship to the writings of Kant, Cohen, and their disciples in the so-called ‘Marburg’ tradition, most notably, Ernst Cassirer and Samuel Atlas.” 2
The present volume, at long last, will attempt to answer at least Samuelson’s first request, the publication of Schwarzschild’s writings on Cohen; the second, the judgment, will hopefully be based on the reception of this book. Another reason for publishing this collection was probably noticed by all students of Schwarzschild’s interpretation of Cohen: many of his essays were originally published at the most inaccessible places, in odd conference volumes of the German Liberal Party, or in an out-of-print Festschrift for the Jewish Community of Berlin, among others. I have therefore collected here, as I hope, all of Schwarzschild’s texts that deal either exclusively or to a large extent with Cohen’s philosophy: research articles, book reviews, encyclopedia entries, introductions to works by Cohen, and more popular smaller pieces of thought.
The present volume includes two previously unpublished manuscripts by Schwarzschild: one is the extended version of his introduction to Cohen’s posthumous Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism (1918), of which only the first section was printed with the second edition of the English translation of the book in 1995. Schwarzschild, in fact, wrote three more sections about the philosophical, social, and the reception history of the Religion of Reason , which are published here for the first time. 3 In addition, my collection includes two parts of an unfinished manuscript by Schwarzschild on Cohen’s early work in the philosophy of mathematics “Das Princip der Inifinitesimal-Methode und seine Geschichte” (1883), as I found them in Schwarzschild’s literary remains. 4 Another part of this manuscript is in the hands of Prof. Robert Gibbs in Toronto. It seems, unfortunately, that the full version is lost. Traces of it can be found, however, in an extraordinary chapter on Cohen in Norbert Samuelson’s “An introduction to Modern Jewish Philosophy” 5 who used Schwarzschild’s manuscript to portray Cohen almost exclusively as a philosopher of mathematics. 6
The order of the texts is chronological, although the subjects of Cohen’s thought discussed here by Schwarzschild range, as mentioned earlier, from mathematics, socialism, neo-Kantian ethics, human selfhood to what might be called more “Jewish ideas” of Cohen and their reception in the Jewish and non-Jewish world. But since Schwarzschild was honest enough to openly point out several changes of his mind regarding his interpretation and appreciation of Cohen, the chronological order was more appropriate for the reader to follow this development in Schwarzschild’s thinking—from outright criticism in his youth to an unshakable philosophical love of Cohen in the mature writings of Schwarzschild on his mentor. Intentionally, I refrained from publishing excerpts from Schwarzschild’s unpublished dissertation on Cohen (and Nachman Krochmal), assuming this was not in Schwarzschild’s interest because he has never published this text himself. Also, from a scholarly point of view, it is my opinion that the dissertation would not add new aspects of Schwarzschild’s reading of Cohen.
I have in most cases left Schwarzschild’s often extensive notes and references unchanged, even if there was now newer research available on the subject mentioned. At some points I have corrected wrong or insufficient references, however, or added what I thought Schwarzschild intended to refer his reader to, especially in the works of Cohen himself. I have given the titles of Cohen’s untranslated German language works in German, where Schwarzschild usually refers to them with his own translation of their titles into English (i.e., Logic of Pure Cognition ). I have added references to respective volumes of the new academic Werke edition of the works of Cohen, 7 where Schwarzschild referred to the original books. In most cases, the Werke edition presents reprints—where the page numbers differ ( Kleinere Schriften , volumes 12–17), I have given the page numbers of the Werke edition.
My colleagues Reinier Munk and Robert Gibbs are working on a multivolume edition of Schwarzschild’s collected works. My book is aimed at people interested in Hermann Cohen, and their book will be aimed at people interested in Schwarzschild; thus we are reaching for two different audiences. It is likely that the two projects will complement each other, and that each will stimulate interest in the other. Schwarzschild was sometimes criticized for not having published a single monograph during his lifetime. But as we know today, he left behind several highly interesting book manuscripts at his untimely death in 1989: a work on “Heidegger and Rosenzweig,” a book on “Jewish Meta-Ethics,” and others. Certainly, those manuscripts will soon be published by Munk and Gibbs, as those texts deserve it. Surprisingly, none of Schwarzschild’s unpublished books contain longer, substantial material on Hermann Cohen. Therefore, here too, the two book projects do not seem to stand in each other’s way.
I would like to thank Menachem Kellner for encouraging me to undertake this project, after I presented him the idea a few