Textologie

In this study, new archival research enables a re-reading of the controversial art historian Hans Sedlmayr. Modes of citing, excerpting, and writing are analyzed in depth and examined as practices of theory formation. This textological investigation sheds light on receptive, productive, and material aspects that are constitutive for the emergence and discursivization of a scientific model of thought.

Regarding philosophical importance, Edmund Husserl is arguably "the" German export of the early twentieth century. In the wake of the linguistic turn(s) of the humanities, however, his claim to return to the "Sachen selbst" became metonymic for the neglect of language in Western philosophy. This view has been particularly influential in post-structural literary theory, which has never ceased to attack the supposed "logophobie" of phenomenology. "Phenomenology to the Letter. Husserl and Literature" challenges this verdict regarding the poetological and logical implications of Husserl’s work through a thorough re-examination of his writing in the context of literary theory, classical rhetoric, and modern art. At issue is an approach to phenomenology and literature that does not merely coordinate the two discourses but explores their mutual implication. Contributions to the volume attend to the interplay between phenomenology and literature (both fiction and poetry), experience and language, as well as images and embodiment. The volume is the first of its kind to chart a phenomenological approach to literature and literary approach to phenomenology. As such it stands poised to make a novel contribution to literary studies and philosophy.

For the first time, this study examines the relationships between Goethe and William James. It not only assesses the significance of the American philosopher’s reading of Goethe for the genesis and poetics of Jamesian pragmatism. It also addresses the specifically philosophical quality of Goethe’s work whom it exposes as a forerunner of Anglo-American pragmatism.

For the first time, this study undertakes a comparison of Robert Walser’s and Friedrich Nietzsche’s poetic methodologies. Assuming a"poetics of unintelligibility," Strinz draws out the characteristics of both authors in selected texts, focusing particularly on the staging of self-reflection, the critique of the subject, and fragmentation.

Although Franz Brentano was one of the most influential turn-of-the-century philosophers, he, like Ludwig Wittgenstein, published little but left a large philosophical legacy. This study examines the biographical and theoretical reasons for Brentano’s reluctance to publish and offers an overview of the checkered history of his philosophical legacy.

Published in 1913 by Max Brod and Felix Weltsch, this work weaves together epistemological and perceptual psychological studies on the problem of knowledge and intuition to develop an early phenomenological aesthetics. Now presented with a detailed introduction and documents on its reception, this work will be an important source for scholars studying early 20^th century philosophy, Gestalt psychology, and the Prague Circle.

The articles by philosophers, philologists, and editorial scholars in this volume examine whether the “aestheticization of thinking” achieved in the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Theodor W. Adorno should be regarded as a key characteristic of philosophical argumentation. The aim is a reevaluation of philosophical reading and the development of a philological method that assesses each text in terms of its particular nature and materiality.

This volume compiles essays from different disciplines on developing an expanded notion of the text. Questioning the meaning and function of textuality leads to the suspension of the traditional operational dichotomy between philosophy and philology, heightens sensitivity to different forms of linguistic-aesthetic presentation, explores new practices of reading, and reflects on their epistemological implications.