New Perspectives on neokantianismus and the sciences

14. bis 17. März 2022

Abstract

The great importance of Neo-Kantianism for German university philosophy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is undisputed. Equally undisputed is the considerable influence this direction had on the formation of philosophy of science in general: Without Neo-Kantianism, the development of a German-Speaking philosophy of science up to logical empiricism (Vienna Circle, Berlin Group) is inconceivable. Moreover, the emigration of most representatives of this science-oriented tradition in the 1930s had a considerable influence on the further development of Anglo-Saxon analytical philosophy. In recent times, not least for this reason, a strong interest in Neo-Kantianism has developed worldwide. This interest is not only due to its mediating role between the older Kantian tradition and analytical philosophy, but also takes into account its genuine philosophical achievements in the exchange with the sciences.

The project brings together more than 20 international experts of Neo-Kantianism as authors of a volume that reveals the fruitful trade-off relations between the extremely dynamic development of the sciences in the period from about 1865 to the first world war on the one hand and the theories of Neo-Kantianism on the other from the point of view of an ‘Integrated History and Philosophy of Science’. An important specific aim is to clarify the question of whether and to what extent a certain modernization process takes place within Neo-Kantianism, but also within the participating sciences themselves. The latter are not restricted to mathematics and physics, which are at the center of earlier investigations, but include also areas like biology, chemistry and technology as well as psychology and anthropology. The ‘fact of science’ is represented in this volume in all its breadth and diversity as Neo-Kantianism perceived it.


Publication and funding:The volume will be published by Routledge (London) in 2024. (See LINK). The project was funded by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.

Program

Monday, Mar 14

9:00am | Welcome

Section 1 - Neokantianism in Context

9:15am	Paul Ziche: Systems After the Systems. The Transmission and Transformation of Scienticity Between the Idealists and the Neo-Kantians
10:15am	Gerhard Heinzmann: ‘Critique de la Science’ and Conventionalism in France
11:00am	Coffee break
11:15am	Sebastian Luft: Factum and Region. Neo-Kantian and Phenomenological Paradigms for a Philosophy of Science
12:00pm	Michael Stoeltzner: Positivism and Empirical Realism – Episodes from a Changing Relationship
12:45pm	Neokantianism in Context: Section discussion
1:00pm	Break for lunch

Section 2 - Mathematics

2:00pm	Volker Peckhaus: (Neo-)Kantian Foundations of Foundations: The Göttingen Case
3:00pm	Klaus Volkert: Non-Euclidean Geometries and Axiomatics
3:45pm	Coffee break
4:15pm	Dolf Rami: The Legacy of Kant's Conception of Existence
5:00pm	Francesca Biagioli: Cassirer on the Concept of Number: A Neo-Kantian Perspective on Dedekindian Abstraction
5:45pm	Daniel Koenig: From Magnitudes to Real Numbers. Cantor's and Dedekind's Number Extensions and Their Reception in Neo-Kantianism
6:30pm	Mathematics: Section discussion
8:00pm	Dinner

Tuesday, Mar 15

Section 3 - Biology

9:15am	Georg Toepfer: Philosophy of Biology in Neokantianism — A Comprehensive and Systematic Account Parallel to and Apart from the Formation of the Field
10:15am	Myriam Gerhard: Hypothesis vs. Fact. Theories of Evolution Following Darwin and Haeckel
11:00am	Coffee break
11:30am	Christian Reiß: Laying the Foundation for a Science of Life — The Role of Neo-Kantian Philosophies and Philosophers in the Project of a "Allgemeine Biologie" and a "Theoretische Biologie", 1880–1914
12:15pm	Marco Tamborini: Organic Form and Teleology — The Principle of Analogy
1:00pm	Break for lunch
2:00pm	Social Event (Botanical Garden)
3:00pm	Jan Baedke: The Decline of Neo-Kantianism and the Rise of Theoretical Biology in the Interwar Period
3:45pm	Biology: Section discussion
4:00pm	Coffee break

Section 4 - Psychology and Anthropolgy

4:30pm	Christian Krijnen: The Problem of Psychology in Neo-Kantianism — On the Relevance of Richard Hönigswald
5:30pm	Michele Vagnetti: Hermann Lotze and His Reception by the Neo-Kantians
7:00pm	Dinner

Wednesday, Mar 16

Section 4 - Psychology and Anthropolgy

9:15am	Jörn Bohr: Why Psychology in Neokantianism? Some Remarks on "Southwestern" Contributions
10:00am	Stefan Reiners-Selbach: The Challenge of "Leipziger Völkerpsychologie"? The Neokantian Reception of Wundt's "Psychology of Peoples"
10:45am	Coffee break
11:15am	Hans-Ulrich Lessing: Descriptive or Reconstructive Psychology — On Natorp's Critique of Dilthey Mathematics: Section discussion
12:00pm	Psychology & Anthropology: Section discussion
12:15pm	Break for lunch

Section 5 - Physics

1:15pm	Helmut Pulte: Clouds over Classical Physics? Some Neokantian Perspectives on Kant's Preeminent 'Science of Principles' and 'System of the Empirical'
2:15pm	Marij van Strien: Did Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics Weaken the Classical Worldview?
3:00pm	Coffee break
3:30pm	Marco Giovanelli: Substantiality vs. Variability — Kurd Lasswitz and His Influence on Marburg Neokantianism
4:15pm	Gregor Schiemann: Hermann von Helmholtz on the Unification of Science
5:00pm	Robert DiSalle: Intuition, Evidence, and the World of Modern Physics
5:45pm	Physics: Section discussion
7:00pm	Dinner

Thursday, Mar 17

8:15am // Departure hotel

Section 6 - Chemistry and Technology

8:45am	Alfred Nordmann and Cheryce von Xylander: Kantian Themes in Impure Science (Neokantianism and the Sciences of Technology and Synthetic Chemistry)
9:45am	Ralph Cahn: Little Affinity, Even Less Appreciation — The Relationship of Chemistry and Philosophy Reflected in the Works and in the Reception of Gustav Tschermak (1860) and Ernst Cassirer (1910)
10:30am	Coffee break
10:45am	Rudolf Meer: Between Physical and Chemical Atomism — On the Status of Chemical Elements and Classifications in Helmholtz and Cassirer
11:30am	Henny Blomme: Cassirer's Relational Conception of Chemistry
12:15pm	Break for lunch
1:15pm	Tim-Florian Steinbach: Technology in Neo-Kantianism — Challenge in Times of Cultural Change or Just a Tool for Applied Sciences?
2:00pm	Chemistry & Technology: Section discussion
2:15pm	Social Event (Tour Zeche Zollern)
3:30pm	Final discussion
4:00pm	End