German Intellectual History

In this episode, we interview Professor Edward Baring on the relationship between religion and Phenomenology in the early 20th century. Why did Phenomenology come to dominate European philosophy, and what did Catholicism have to do with it? What made Phenomenology a useful philosophy for religious thinkers? Following the war, why was Germany such a fertile place for existentialist thought? And what was the impact of this religious legacy upon later thinking?

Edward Baring is Associate Professor of History and Human Values at Princeton University.

 

German Intellectual History

In this episode, we interview Professor Martin Ruehl on the philosopher and philologist Friederich Nietzsche (1844-1900), as well as the wider academic culture of the 19th century. What role did Protestantism and nationalism play in the creation of a so-called ‘German’ philosophy? How did the German experience of modernity culture a feeling of “Faustian audacity”? How should we relate Nietzsche’s writing to the intellectual culture of 19th century Germany? And what, if anything, remains useful in Nietzsche for us today?

 

German Intellectual History

In this episode, we interview Professor Peter Gordon about the philosopher and social theorist Theodor Adorno (1903 - 1969). Adorno’s name is largely synonymous with what today is called ‘critical theory’, a figure who’s influence can be felt across disciplines as varied as philosophy, political theory, sociology, literary studies, film studies, and art history. Here we ask Professor Gordon about his new book A Precarious Happiness (CUP, 2023), as well as questions pertaining to intellectual history, the peripheral position of Jews in early 20th century Germany, the significance of Auschwitz, and the writings of Adorno more broadly in relation to the critical tradition.

 

German Intellectual History

In this episode, we interview Professor Richard Bourke about the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831). Hegel’s philosophy casts an enormous shadow over the German philosophical tradition, yet the import and significance of his work has been highly contested by scholars since. Here we ask Professor Bourke about his new book “Hegel’s World Revolutions”; What did Hegel really think about the French Revolution? How should we relate him to other traditions of German thoughts? How did thinkers of the post-Hegelian reaction of the 60s and 70s understand him? And is Intellectual History itself, in some sense, ‘Hegelian’?