Volume 60, Issue 5 -

Today philosophy falls apart into a “theoretical” and a “practical” sub-discipline, a situation to the detriment of both. On the back of a sketch of three stages of Western philosophy a diagnosis is made as to the practical origin of the theoretical/practical split, which also already contains within it the clue for a therapy. Both parts of philosophy could be set on a convergent path by recognizing two practical conflicts underlying philosophical problems: the biographical conflict of accepting the world and the social conflict of accepting others. A non-reductivist study of these conflicts might mitigate the present alienation within philosophy.

The aim of the paper is to investigate, from the point of view of philosophy of science and philosophy of social science, the turn in the ape language project (ALP) as accomplished in the works of Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and her collaborators. In this project a highly interesting turn from the orientation of research on natural sciences to that on humanities took place. We shall analyze all the relevant works of Savage-Rumbaugh from the point of view of the three central levels of ALP: its scientific, metascientific and methodological levels.

The article scutinizes the solicitation we experience when affected by human suffering at a distance. Referring to the approaches of Emmanuel Lévinas and Hannah Arendt, the author outlines her Ethic of Cohabitation and points to both writers’ particular and rather diverging affiliation to Jewish heritage. The author’s own idea of alternative Jewishness emphasizes the importance of solidarity with those who are threatened by persecution or subjugation, with the dispossessed and the “ungrievable”, even and especially with those who exceed our immediate sphere of belonging.

This paper outlines Lévinas’ conception of responsibility as non-intentional relatedness to the Other, a conception he regards as constitutive of human subjectivity. In doing so, it uncovers parallels between Lévinas’ interpretation of Judaism and his philosophical works. In the latter, he develops his account of ethics as a critique of the philosophical tradition which risks, according to Lévinas, missing the fundamental ethical dimension of the human’s being. Finally, the paper explores the question of whether it is possible to draw on Lévinas in order to develop an alternative approach to political philosophy.

This essay explores Walter Benjamin’s critique of the concept of guilt as it underlies the occidental notion of “connective justice”. It describes both the political-moral and the psychological-ethical effects of guilt and reconstructs Benjamin’s idea of ‘Entsühnung’, understood as a rigorous termination of the circle between act and consequence. Finally, possible political, ethical and historical alternatives are discussed.

Is rabbinic Judaism as a religious philosophy basically critical of the state as a form of human life? Does it contain an ethics of cohabitation with non-Jews? The paper argues that rabbinical Judaism is essentially in favor of states, but against a special Jewish state. The rabbinic principle “Dina de Malkhut Dina” (“The law of the Kingdom is valid and binding”) combined with the universalistic principles of the “noahidic covenant” is the adequate formula for statehood in the era of globalization. Concerning modern Jewish philosophy the paper argues that Leo Strauss fulfills the requirements of a political philosophy, while the thought of Emmanuel Levinas remains in the moral domain.

Charles Taylor explains a broader understanding of faith as well as of reason in his philosophical anthropology. In leading one’s own life, faith contains more than having certain beliefs, and reason grasps more than having scientific methods. Taylor answers questions regarding the relation of his great narrative to the approaches of M. Heidegger, M. Merleau-Ponty, M. Foucault, K. Jaspers, and S. Eisenstadt (axial cultures and multiple modernities). Insofar as the secularization of Christianity involves ironic reversals, all main directions in Western modernity (forms of religion, secular humanism, and anti-humanism) are faced with dilemmas. Instead of looking for scapegoats in the others, all directions are called upon to cooperate. The open questionability of the Human condition has no last answer.

Taking as a point of departure the thesis that philosophical content and stylistic form are internally related to each other, we explore in our text the possibilities enabled by the literary form of the letter. We begin with a brief description of the current situation of the academic philosophy around the world characterized by international migrations of thinkers and thoughts. In the second section, we highlight the importance of the literary form of the letter in the current background dominated by the canonical format of the paper. In the third and fourth sections we focus on the main features and current use of this literary form and examine its possibilities for philosophy. In the final section, we render plausible our thesis examining with different examples how is possible to write letters about philosophy and to do philosophy in and through letters.

The essay condenses experiences of my work in Spanish universities in a constellation of five topics: 1. The actual situation of philosophy in Spain, 2. Her historical dimension, 3. The corresponding style of philosophical writing by the example of Ortega y Gasset, 4. Beyond the tension of traditionalism and modernity: the underestimated philosophy of Javier Zubiri, 5. Perspectives.

Zusammenfassung Emmanuel Alloa: Das durchscheinende Bild. Konturen einer medialen Phänomenologie. Verlag diaphanes, Zürich 2011, 352 S.

Zusammenfassung Christoph Asmuth: Bilder über Bilder – Bilder ohne Bilde. Eine neue Theorie der Bildlichkeit. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2011, 194 S.

Zusammenfassung Jochen Briesen: Skeptische Paradoxa. Die philosophische Skepsis, kognitive Projekte und der epistemische Konsequentialismus. Mentis Verlag, Paderborn 2012, 341 S.

Zusammenfassung Marco Iorio: Regel und Grund. Eine philosophische Abhandlung. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, 332 S.

Zusammenfassung Karl Reitter: Prozesse der Befreiung. Marx, Spinoza und die Bedingungen des freien Gemeinwesens. Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2011, 493 S.