The Human Vocation in German Philosophy: Critical Essays and 18th Century Sources

Description

In 18th-century Germany philosophers were occupied with questions of who we are and what we should be. Can the individual fulfill its vocation or is this possible only for humanity as a whole? Is significant progress towards perfection in any way possible for me or just for me as part of humanity? By following the origin and nature of these debates, this collection sheds light on the vocation of humanity in early German philosophy. Featuring translations of Spalding’s Contemplation on the Vocation of the Human Being in its first version from 1748 and an extended translation of Abbt’s and Mendelssohn’s epistolary discussion around the Doubts and the Oracle from 1767, newly-commissioned chapters cover Johann Gottfried Herder’s inherently cultural concept of the human being, Immanuel Kant’s transformative interplay of moral and natural aspects, and the notion of metempsychosis in Fichte’s work inspired by two neglected philosophers, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Georg Schlosser. Opening further lines of inquiry, contributors address questions about the adaptations of Spalding’s work that focus on the vocation of women as wife, mother or citizen. Exploring the multitude of ways 18th-century German thinkers understand our position in the world, this volume captures major changes in metaphysics and anthropology and enriches current debates within modern philosophy. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Figure Dedication Contents Notes on Contributors Note on the Translations and Acknowledgments Abbreviations Table of Contents for the Academy Edition of Kant’s Writings (AA) Introduction: Defining the Dynamics of Being: How the Bestimmungsfrage Became a Driving Force in the German Enlightenment and Beyond 1 “Man” or “Human Being”? II Bestimmung as Defi nition: Human Nature III Bestimmung as “Vocation” or “Determination” IV The Human Being and Humanity as a Whole V Initiating the Debate: Spalding VI The Existential Potential of the Debate VII The Aftermath Part One Translations 1 Johann Joachim Spalding: Contemplation on the Vocation of the Human Being (1748) 2 Thomas Abbt and Moses Mendelssohn: Doubt and Oracle on the Human Vocation, And Excerpts from Their Correspondence (1756–1766) Letters Between Moses Mendelssohn and Thomas Abbt, 1756–1766 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, August 13, 1756 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, November 2, 1762 Th omas Abbt, Rinteln, November 10, 1762 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, February 9, 1764 Th omas Abbt, Rinteln, February 20, 1764 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, May 1, 1764 Doubts and Oracle Concerning the Human Vocation Printed in Schinznach, 1763 Preface Notice [Thomas Abbt] Doubts Concerning the Human Vocation [Moses Mendelssohn] Oracle Concerning the Human Vocation Letters after Doubt and Oracle Thomas Abbt, Rinteln, May 21, 1764 Thomas Abbt, Rinteln, July 8, 1764 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, July 12, 1764 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, July 20, 1764 Thomas Abbt, Rinteln, November 8, 1764 Thomas Abbt, Rinteln, March 6, 1765 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, March 26, 1765 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, June 14, 1765 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, July 22, 1766 Thomas Abbt, Hagenberg, August 28, 1766 Moses Mendelssohn, Berlin, February 16, 1765 Part Two Essays 3 The Place of the Human Being in the World: Johann Joachim Spalding, Religion, and Philosophy as a Way of Life I Philosophy as a Way of Life: Hadot, Foucault, and Spalding’s Ancestors II Reassessing Christian Apologetics: Spalding’s Education, Early Readings, and Translations III Religion as a Way of Life: Spalding’s Pioneering of a New Area of Inquiry IV Conclusion 4 Between Spalding and Fichte: The Vocation of the Human Being in Mendelssohn and Kant I From Spalding’s Vocation of the Human Being to Fichte’s Vocation of the Human Being II The Vocation of the Human Being in Mendelssohn III The Vocation of the Human Being in Kant 5 Reinhard Brandt: Excerpt from the Human Vocation in Kant I The Word and the Concept “Bestimmung”: In Particular in Kant II The Beginning of the Modern Philosophy of Bestimmung III Review 6 Kant on the Human Vocation I The Meaning of “Vocation” (Bestimmung) II The Predispositions III Reason and Irrationality IV Morality and Custom V Conclusion: The Human Vocation 7 Understanding the Vocation of the Human Being Through the Kantian Sublime I The Concept of Bestimmung in Kant’s Anthropological Writings II The Feeling of the Sublime as Orientation Toward the Human Bestimmung III The Rational Vocation of Human Beings IV The Sublime as the Experience of One’s Rational Vocation V The Human Vocation as the Vocation of the Human Species VI Conclusion 8 “It Will be Well”: Isaak Iselin on the Self-realization of Humanity in History I Introduction II The General Outline and Purpose of Iselin’s History of Humanity III Humanity in History IV Conclusion 9 Whose Vocation? Which Man?: A.W. Rehberg on the Vocation of Man and Political Theory I The Debate on the Human Vocation II The Theory-Practice Debate III Conclusion 10 Religious Anthropology and Pluralism: Herder on the Bildung of Humanity I Herder’s Concept of Humanity II Biblical Hermeneutics III Religious Anthropology VI The Bildung of Humanity Through History V Conclusion 11 The Doctrine of Palingenesis in Fichte’s Vocation of the Human Being I Scientific versus Popular Presentations II Palingenesis as Our Vocation? III Palingenesis in Fichte’s Other Berlin Publications IV Conclusion 12 The Vocation of Philosophy: Hegel on “Speculative” Science and the Human Good I Spiritual Striving and Reconciliation: Affinities Between Hegel and Spalding II Anthropo-Theology in Hegel’s Lectures on the Proofs of the Existence of God III “Speculative” Science and the Human Good Bibliography Index