ProfessorDr.Dr.h.c.PeterKoslowski DepartmentofPhilosophy VrijeUniversiteitAmsterdam/FreeUniversityAmsterdam DeBoelelaan 1105 1081 HVAmsterdam,TheNetherlands E-n1ail:[email protected] Website:www.fiph.de/koslowski PrintedwiththeSupportoftheFritzThyssenStiftung,Koln,andofCIVITASGesellschaftzur ForderungvonWissenschaftundKunste.V.Miinchen LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2005921207 ISBN3-540-24393-3 Springer Berlin Heidelberg NewYork Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerial isconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmorinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Dupli cationofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheGerman CopyrightLawofSeptember9,1965,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalways beobtainedfromSpringer-Verlag.ViolationsareliableforprosecutionundertheGermanCopy rightLaw. SpringerisapartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia springeronline.con1 ©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg2005 PrintedinGermany Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.inthispublicationdoes notimply,evenin theabsence ofaspecificstatement,thatsuch names are exemptfrom the relevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Coverdesign:ErichKirchner Production:HelmutPetri Printing:StraussOffsetdruck SPIN11377641 Printedonacid-freepaper 42/3153- 543210 Absolute Historicity, Theory of the Becoming Absolute, and the Affect for the Particular in German Idealism and Historism: Introduction PETERKOSLOWSKI German idealism introduces a new understanding ofthe historical to the history ofideas. The historical becomes absolute historicity andthe historic ity of the absolute. In this sense, German Idealism is the discovery of his toricity in the strong meaning of the term. The ontological quality of the historical as suchhadalready been discoveredby the Enlightenmentbut itis the contribution of German Idealism to attribute historicity to totality and even the absolute. Absoluteness is thereby attributed to the historical. Even God is subjected to history and in the historical process of becoming con scious according to HegelandSchelling. The origins ofthe absolute conceptofhistoricity lie inSchelling's system of identity and Hegel's dialectics ofthe absolute spirit. Schelling introduces the systenl of the identity ofthe absolute subject and the absolute object, of spiritandnature as the basic structureofthe totality ofbeing whichisbeing in-becoming. The world process and being are the becoming conscious of the subject or spirit at the object or nature. All being, even the being ofthe absolute, is subjected to time and history. There is no supra-temporal realm ofbeing. Schelling's identity system was taken up by Hegel. Hegel's basic idea is that becoming is the movement from nothingness to being, a process in which the absolute falls from itself into nature ("der Abfall der Idee von sich") to become self-conscious absolute spirit in the dialectics of an abso lute historical process. Hegel transforms Schelling's identity system fur thermore inthe directionofa dialectical processofhistorical totality. German Idealism dynamizes Spinoza's pantheism. The identity of God andnature is not like in Spinozabeing-in-identitybut being-in-becoming, an absolute process. It is the history of the progressing consciousness of the identityofabsolute subjectandabsolute object. PETERKOSLOWSKI At the beginning of his work Philosophische Untersuchungen Uber das Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit (Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom) of 1809, Schelling explains his philosophy of the histori cal absolute and defends himself against the reproach of being a pantheist and atheist. God's being is in becoming but this does not imply that the absolute is identical with every mistaken aspect ofbeing and every accident of history. It is identical with the historical process in total. This dynamic pantheism or one-in-all philosophy does not annihilate the singular and par ticular, according to Schelling.1 He does, however, not recognize here yet that the dynamizedpantheism will give a new andhithertounknown value to the particular and unique as a stage ofthe realization of the absolute in the following decades ofhistorism inthe 19th century. The systemofidentity as the metaphysical basis ofthe philosophyofhis tory in German Idealism gives groundto two major ideas: the philosophy of history as the theory ofthe developmentofanabsolute substrate oftemporal or historical being on the one hand and the elevation of the singular and particular to the realization of the absolute in historism on the other hand. The first, the philosophy of history of German Idealism, is a metaphysical theory that claims to understand the laws of development of totality, the second, the philosophical emphasis on the historically singular and particu lar, forms the core ofthe Historical School's concernfor theuniqueness and importance ofevery instantiationofthe spiritandofculture inevery histori cal period and location, its preoccupation with the particular. Although historism defmed itselfas a critique ofthe totalistic philosophy ofhistory in German Idealism it remains still shaped by its pantheistic idea that every historical instantiation is an instantiation of the spirit. The Geisteswissen schaften, the human sciences of the spirit, remain, even in their very term, indebtedto theiroriginsinthe Hegelianphilosophyofspirit. The philosophy ofhistory ofGermanIdealismbecame subjected to a cri sis due to the fact that it could not solve the problem of the relationship betweenfreedom andnecessity in the developmentofhistory. Ifthe absolute develops according to a metaphysical logic as Hegel assumed, it is not free from this logic and process but subjected to it. The question arises whether an absolute that is not free can be absolute. The necessitarian connotations characteristic ofthe philosophy ofhistory, be it Hegel's absolute idealismor F.W.J. SCHELLING: Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature ofHuman Freedom, LaSalle,Illinois(OpenCourt)4thpaperbackprinting 1992,p. 16. 2 INTRODUCTION Marx's dialectical materialism, stem from the idea that there are laws ofthe development of history or a preconceived "logic" in history. The meta physical philosophy of history is a theory of laws of history. Schelling has been the first thinker to see this Achilles' heel of German Idealism and to criticize Hegel's determinism and dialectical necessitarianism. The thinkers ofhistorism followed Schelling in the emphasis that the historically singular cannotbe derivedfrom the general. Not all philosophy of history is Hegelian as several ofthe contributions to this volume demonstrate. For the present debate on the philosophy of history, the Kantian and Enlightenment traditions have to be considered as well, andthey are so inthis volume. With the volume at hand, the Historical School's contribution to the phi losophy of history and the theory of history and historiography is ap proached within a larger project on the Historical School's contribution to the studyofsociety, economy, culture, andpolitics. The Historical School is characterized by a strong concept of historicity of human society, of its culture, economy, ethics, law, and politics. The Historical School stresses not only the historical character of cultural phenomena in general but their uniqueness and singularity. In its emphatic concept of historicity, the His torical School can not be understood without its metaphysical origins from which it distanced itself but at the same time remained linked to. The dis covery of historicity implies a countermovement to the rationalism of the 18th century and its idea of the foundations of ethics and law on reason only. Starting with German Idealism and European Romanticism, the new awareness of the historicity ofhuman culture tried to reconcile the dualism ofreasonandhistory. Historyis at the centre ofthe Historical School. Its discoveryofhistoric ity was caused by the emphasis on world history andhistorical development in the philosophy ofhistory expounded in German Idealism. When the Ger man historians after Hegel further developed the historical method they felt the need to give more room to the singular, the unexpected, the unforesee able, the contingent, and the free then the idealist philosophy ofhistory had provided for. "Historical greatness is", as Droysen put it, "only a piece of dust in the theophany".2 How even more so is the ordinary historical event only the dust ofa piece ofdust ofthe absolute! To recognize the meaning of 2 JOHANN GUSTAV DROYSEN: GrundrifJ der Historik (Outline for a Theory of Historiography),Leipzig2nded. 1875,paragraph90. 3 PETERKOSLOWSKI history or its laws of development is a difficult task for the historian. The taskofaphilosophyofhistory is, as LeopoldRanke putit, unsolvable. The historical event and the historical actors retain, however, their pan theistic meaningfulness for the realization of the absolute in the historical school. In this sense, it is true for most of the central authors ofhistorism what Gadamer attributed to Wilhelm Dilthey: They were always already on the way to the absolute.3 Historism emancipates the human sciences from the metaphysics of German Idealism. It criticizes the "grand theory" of world history in idealism and remains also connected to its pantheistic ori gins. This metaphysical connection can not only be considered·a theoretical weakness. It is also a theoretical strength of historism since it gives the human sciences a deeper meaning and metaphysical unity that unifies the cultural sciencesas the sciencesofthe spirit. The theory ofhistory and ofhistoriography, the methodology ofthe his torical sciences, forms the othermajor topic ofthe volume athandby which it makes the attempt to elaborate the relevance ofhistorism for today's his torical andcultural studies. The Historical School is worth to be reconsidered due to its insight in the historical nature of society, economy, and culture. The cultural sciences must include the determinedness of human culture by history, even if this inclusionofthe historical dimension creates an additional difficulty ofanaly sis that unhistorical approaches can avoid. It is open whether the idea of historism thatthe culture ofahistorical periodanda nationis determined by a "spirit of time" (Zeitgeist) and a "spirit of a people" (Volksgeist) is a meaningful and sensible question to be asked. The question whether there are common features of an epoch and of a people can not, however, be discardedfrom theoutsetas beingparticularisticandnationalistic. This volume has been produced as part of the project "The Historical School. Economics, Economic Ethics, Theory and Philosophy of History, Law and Political Science in the German Human and Social Sciences Tradi tion" supported by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung. The project tries to throvJ light on economics and the social sciences, on the study of society and his tory, from the tradition of German Idealism and Historism and aims at an approach to economics and the social sciences as sciences ofculture and of the spirit(Geisteswissenschaften). 3 HANS-GEORG GADAMER: Wahrheit und Methode, TUbingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2. Aufl. 1965,p. 223. 4 INTRODUCTION The volume at hand presents the fourth volume on the Historical School after two volumes on the older and younger Historical School and one vol ume on the theory of capitalism in the German economic tradition.4 The contributions to this volume have first been discussed in a workshop in Viehhofen near Zell am See, Salzburger Land, Austria, in December 2000 andhave been further elaborated since then. The editor and the contributors to this volume express their appreciation to the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, Co logne, Germany, for their continuous support to this volume and to the en tire projectonthe Historical School. Historism can be defined by four characteristics.5It is first the approach to historize the different branches of knowledge. It is second the attempt to find diachronic laws ofhistory. Itis thirdthe recognitionthatall periods and places ofhistory have their specific andunique meaning and importance that they derive from themselves and not only from their relationship with the historical center of power and meaning. Historism is fourth the readiness and the will to be modest in one's conclusions, to collect and selecthistori cal data, sources, and documents. With this will to be modest in one's con clusions comes the conconlitantattitude ofrelativismandmodesty connected with historical empiricism. In this sense, historism is a human attitude char acteristic toall periods that endeavortounderstandhistory andsociety. 4 Cf. P. KOSLOWSKI(Ed.): The Theory ofEthicalEconomyinthe HistoricalSchool. Wilhelm Roscher, Lorenz von Stein, Gustav Schmoller, Wilhelm Dilthey and Contemporary Theory, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo (Springer-Verlag) 1995, reprint 1997, 343 pp.; P. KOSLOWSKI (Ed.): Methodology ofthe SocialSciences, Ethics, and Economics in the Newer Historical School. From Max Weber and Rickert to Sombart and Rothacker, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo (Springer Verlag) 1997, 564 pp.; P. KOSLOWSKI (Ed.): The Theory ofCapitalism in the German Economic Tradition: Historism, Ordo-Liberalism, Critical Theory, Solidarism, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo (Springer-Verlag) 2000, 587 pp. - In the series"Studies in Economic Ethics and Philosophy has also been published: H.H. NAU and B. SCHEFOLD (Eds.): The Historicity ofEconomics. Continuities and Discontinuities ofHistorical Thought in 19th and 20th Century Economics, Heidelberg,NewYork,Tokyo(Springer-Verlag)2002,245pp. 5 Cf. also KARL ACHAM: "Diltheys Beitrag zur Theorie der Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften", Dilthey-Jahrbuch fur Philosophie und Geschichte der Geisteswissenschaflen,3(1985),pp.9-51. 5 Part A German Idealism's Philosophy of History and its Contemporary Critique Chapter 1 Schlegel's Theory ofHistory and his Critique of Idealistic Reason PETERL. OESTERREICH I. 'DeathAbsolute': Schlegel'sCritiqueofAbsoluteReason II. 'TheIdeaoftheVividWord':RhetoricalAnthropology asaBasisofSchlegel'sTheoryofHistory III. 'TheIronyofLove':TheThreeBasicRulesof ConjecturalHistoriography The discovery ofhistoricity in German Philosophy is atale which cannot be told withouttaking into accountthe late philosophy ofFriedrich Schlegel. In his youth, F. Schlegel, who createdthe Ironic IdealismoftheAthenaeum1, was a prominent 'leader'2 ofthe early ronlantic movement. Hegel's famous system of absolute reason can be interpreted as a negative reaction against Schlegel, whose concept of infinite irony was condemned as "the evil as such,,3 andas"absolutesophistry"4. Inthe wake ofthe general spiritualtum in late Romanticism, Schlegel be gan to reconstruct his philosophy. Living in Vienna and in Dresden in his later years, he attempted a new beginning in his philosophical thinking. The H. DIERKES: "Ironie und System. Friedrich Schlegels 'Philosophische Lehrjahre''', in: Philosophisches Jahrbuch, 97 (1990), pp. 251-276; and PETER L. OESTERREICH: "'Wenn die Ironie wild wird ...': Die Symbiose von Transzendentalphilosophie undTropusbei Friedrich Schlegel", in: Rhetorik: Ein internationalesJahrbuch, 12(1993), pp.31-39. 2 See W. DILTHEY: Gesammelte Schriften, XIV, 2, Gottingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht),p.670. 3 See G.W.F. HEGEL: Werke, vol. 7, ed. by E. MOLDENHAUER, K.M. MICHEL, Frankfurta.M.(Suhrkamp) 1979,p. 279. 4 loco cit.,p.280. PETERL. OESTERREICH result was his late Philosophy ofLife, which he presented in three series of public lectures. This trilogy of philosophical oratory comprises Schlegel's lectures on the Philosophy ofLife (1827), the Philosophy ofHistory (1828) and the Philosophy ofLanguage andthe Word(1828/29). Due to Schlegel's sudden death in Dresden on January 12th, 1829, his last lectures about the PhilosophyofLanguageandthe Wordremainedunfinished. Withinthe general evolution ofa historical consciousness, Schlegel's late philosophy plays a role which is as significant as Schelling's.5 On the one handhecritizisedthe claimofthe absolute validityofidealisticreason, which is incorporated in Hegel's system. On the other hand he invented, as a spiri tual soul mate ofSchelling, a new historical style ofthinking. In contrast to Hegel, he emphasized the differences between reason and reality rather than their similarities. Starting from this perspective Schlegel discovered the posi tivenessoflifeandthehistoricalcharacterofhuman existenceandculture. It was already in his Philosophical Apprenticeship that Schlegel con ceived ofhistory as a synthesis ofcriticism, religion and rhetoric.6 The con stellationofthesethree disciplines alsocharacterizesthehistoricalthinkingin his late philosophy which comprises, first, a polemics against idealistic rea son, second, a new concept ofuniversal history developed from a Christian andspiritualperspectiveand, finally, arhetoricalconceptofhistoriography. I. 'Death Absolute': Schlegel's Critique ofAbsolute Reason The modern quality ofSchlegel's philosophy arises from its critical and ironical self-reflexion which is inspired by the metacritical mentality of a philosophy ofphilosophies: "The spirit ofaphilosophy is itsbeingaphiloso- 5 For the development of Schlegel's late philosophy see: F. LEDERBOGEN: Friedrich Schlegels Geschichtsphilosophie. Ein Beitrag zur Genesis der historischen Weltanschauung, Leipzig (Verlag der Dlirr'schen Buchhandlung) 1908, pp. 109-151 and"Die Grundlagen der Schlegelschen Spatphilosophy und Idealismuskritik"in: KA 8,CVII-CLII. 6 See: KA (= Kritische-Friedrich-Schlegel-Ausgabe, ed. by E. BEHLER, 1.-1. ANSTETT, H. EICHNER, 35 vols., Paderbom/Mlinchen/Wien/Zlirich (Schoningh /ThomasVerlag) 1958ff., 18,312. 10 SCHLEGEL'STHEORYOF HISTORY phy ofphilosophies."7 This perspective protectsthe philosopherfrom uncon sciously identifying himself with his own work. It can be described as a metacritical reflexivity whichestablishes a critical distanceto a philosophical systemwhich itselfisaconstructionofdialecticalreason. Schlegel'scriticism ofGerman Idealism arises from thismetacritical men tality. InhisreviewofJacobi(1822)heoffersacritical characterizationofthe philosophyofhiscontemporaries. Thiscritiqueofthe 'outstandingsystemsof the last epoch ofGerman Philosophy,g provides the matrix for the complete criticismofreasonwhichwefind inhis latePhilosophyofLife. Schlegel's attacks on contenlporary philosophical systems, which are highly polemical at times, share a profound theoretical background. Schlegel explains that dialectical reason is merely a power of logical synthesis. De scribed in rhetoricalterms, reason is a powerofjudgement(iudicium), notan inventive faculty (ingenium). Certainly it is a faculty of indefinite logical thinkingandformal construction,"butitcannot inventorproduce anything"9. In contrast to imagination, reason is no creative faculty. According to Schlegel the lack of poetic power turns reason into something negative something which is separated from real life. Therefore, the absolute system, as the highest resultwhich can be achieved in an immanentdialectical evolu tion, can principally never do justice to the positiveness ofhistorical reality. Reason can only produce an absolute phantasma, which Schlegel called 'the deadabsolute' (das todteAbsolute).lO In concreto Schlegel's criticism ofthe contemporary philosophy ofsys tems is founded upon the classical distinction between knowledge and faith. Consequentlywecandistinguishbetweentwo differentforms ofknowledge: a) Negative knowledge, which is not connected to faith: It consists of logical or dialectical identities only. Comprising the features offormal per fectibility and absolute necessity this negative knowledge is related to mathematics. In philosophy, however, negative knowledge will necessarily turn intosophistry, becauseitlacksanyconnectiontothepositivefacts ofreal life. It will be nothing more than "dialectical play, and sophistical artificial ity"ll. 7 KA 18,37. 8 KA 8, 585. 9 KA 10,496. 10 KA 10,524. 11 Ibid. 11