Neo-Kantianism

The Neo-Kantianism is current German philosophical thought which occupies the university scene years 1870 until the first decades of the 20th century. Its principal representatives his Hermann Cohen, Paul Natorp and Ernst Cassirer (concerning the neokantism of Marbourg which is most important). Making expression “Zurück zu Kant! ” (“Return to Kant! ”) its watchword, this current of thought is not simple a return , but the deepening of Kantian philosophy in two directions:

in direction of a rationalization of the religion (Cohen)
in direction of a Theory of knowledge (Cassirer) and therefore, of a epistemology.

The Neo-Kantianism is sometimes identified at the School of Marbourg, because of presence of H. Cohen and others with the Université of Marbourg.

Historical context: the great discredit of philosophy at the 19th century

The 19th century was marked by the hegemony of the school hégélienne and German intellectualism. After the death of Hegel, the Philosophie was the object of a discredit which one has idea little nowadays. Whereas she wanted to be the floret of the Science, she was considered in the Années 1850 and following, like her shame, some going even until seeing it disappearing. It should be said that the development of science and the sectarianism of the school hégélienne were such as philosophy did not find more its place, worse, she did not make it possible to answer social developments, histories, policies.

Vis-a-vis the collapse of the speculative idealism, at the end of the 19th century, one attends the choice to set out again of that which was the founder of the criticism: Kant. The watchword “Zurück zu Kant! ” (“Return to Kant! ”) seemed the only exit to leave philosophy its rut. Indeed, the Kantian criticism makes it possible to think sciences and the place of the reason in the human thought. Thus was born the Neo-Kantianism.

All the thinkers of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century are of near or by far neo-kantian. Michel Foucault, author for his thesis of doctorate of a translation of the anthropology from a pragmatic point of view of Kant, declared once “we are all neo-kantian”.

Historical elements

He is of use to allot the birth of the Neo-Kantianism to Hermann Cohen during the publication in 1871 of Kants Theorie der Erfahrung ( the Kantian Theory of the experiment ) even if one already finds elements at Lange, Liebmann or Helmholtz.

The interest of Kant comes from various aspects of its thought. Initially and above all, its interest for sciences of nature, whereas the speculative idealism claimed to supplant them. The experiment (as a lived experiment, Erfahrung ) has a central place at Kant, and remains compatible with sciences of nature and their method. It is one of its decisive advantages. In addition, Kant does not claim that the totality of the things is recognizable like had claimed it the hégéliens. The speculative dogmatism which was one of the main causes of the discredit of philosophy was evacuated philosophy by this return to Kant. In addition, the dogmatism materialist which was then sails about it, also was beaten thus in breach, was compared him also to a dogmatism. Indeed, the spirit had there no more place. The Kantian doctrines made it possible to give again its place on the knowing subject, but also with the experiment.

One should not see the Neo-Kantianism like a return to the comfort of the pure and hard Kantianism, but like the return to the last fixed point to much more clear a new way with philosophy. The philosophy of Kant, its design of time and space initially and above all, are marked by the emergence of the modern physics of Newton being based on the mathematical theories. Those had progressed considerably at the 19th century. Moreover, physics was in full upheaval with the emergence of the theory of relativity and the quantum physics. Lastly, biology had progressed considerably. Philosophy could not remain indifferent to all these upheavals of the scientific knowledge. The Neo-Kantianism had like first program to re-examine the theories of Kant in the light of this progress, to adapt them if necessary.

Hermann Cohen taught with Marbourg, from where the name of the school of the same name, where and these theses taught were developed. The other large founder of the neo-kantian school is Paul Natorp. The neo-kantian large last, Ernst Cassirer was the disciple of Cohen and Natorp.

Principal doctrines

Separation of the Kantian method of its results

The Neo-Kantianism arranged the Kantianism by primarily distinguishing the results from the Kantian investigation of the method employed, showing that this one was always valid independently of the evolutions of the scientific theories. This method made it possible to unify the various fields of the knowledge and to give them a direction for the man.

The Neo-Kantianism is Kantianism in that which he considers the founders questions of Kant of the Critique of the pure Reason “that can I know? what can I hope? what do I have to make? ” like eternally valid. The Neo-Kantianism especially insisted on the first of these questions and brought up to date it. The neo-kantian influence is major in that which it showed that the question of the conditions of science, and its synthesis was spring of the philosophy and its field of relevance par excellence. The Neo-Kantianism especially showed that the step criticizes was not a simple moment in the history of philosophy, but well one as of its essential components.

Unit of the Reason

Kant had not really seen at which physical point and mathematics were closely dependant. Moreover, the question of the unit of the knowledge arose at one time when it became increasingly difficult with only one person to include/understand and have the essence of the scientific knowledge, whatever are the fields: mathematics, physics, biology, psychology…. The Neo-Kantianism tried to restore a unit and to give the means of operating their syntheses. With this intention, the renovated Kantian step was used as directing wire, while going up that the scientific method is one whatever the field of investigation. In particular, whereas division noumene, phenomenon at Kant made it possible to structure the Reason by distinguishing the sensitive world from understandable, this distinction is called in question initially by Cohen then by Cassirer.

This last takes again the method of the discrepancies of the Reason, in the middle of the Critique of the Pure Reason , but modifies the terms of them. It is not a question any more of opposing phenomenon and noumene, but world organized on the one hand and given gross directions to structure. Thus, the experiment provides a material that the Reason structure according to the universal laws of mathematics, whose physics is the best example. The unit of the Reason was thus ensured in a critical way, i.e. from the point of view of its conditions of realization. It was again possible, but in a way different from what Kant had formalized.

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