Hermann Cohen


Hermann Cohen was a German Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century".

Biography

Cohen was born in Coswig, Anhalt. He early began to study philosophy, and soon became known as a profound Kant scholar. He was educated at the Gymnasium at Dessau, at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau, and at the universities of Breslau, Berlin, and Halle. In 1873, he became Privatdozent in the philosophical faculty of the University of Marburg, the thesis with which he obtained the venia legendi being Die systematischen Begriffe in Kant's vorkritischen Schriften nach ihrem Verhältniss zum kritischen Idealismus. Cohen was elected Professor extraordinarius at Marburg in 1875, and Professor ordinarius in the following year.
He was one of the founders of the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaft des Judenthums", which held its first meeting in Berlin in November 1902.
Cohen edited and published Friedrich Albert Lange's final philosophical work, Logische Studien, and edited and wrote several versions of a long introduction and critical supplement to Lange's Geschichte des Materialismus.
He devoted three early volumes to the interpretation of Kant. In 1902 he began publishing the three volumes of his own systematic philosophy: Logik der reinen Erkenntnis, Ethik des reinen Willens and Ästhetik des reinen Gefühls. The planned fourth volume on psychology was never written.
Cohen's writings relating more especially to Judaism include several pamphlets, among them "Die Kulturgeschichtliche Bedeutung des Sabbat" and "Ein Bekenntniss in der Judenfrage" ; as well as the following articles: "Das Problem der Jüdischen Sittenlehre" in the "Monatsschrift" xliii., pp. 385–400, 433–449; "Liebe und Gerechtigkeit in den Begriffen Gott und Mensch" in "Jahrbuch für Jüdische Geschichte und Litteratur", III., pp. 75–132; and "Autonomie und Freiheit" in Gedenkbuch für David Kaufmann.
Cohen's most famous Jewish works include: Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums, Deutschtum und Judentum, Die Naechstenliebe im Talmud, and Die Ethik des Maimonides.
His essay "Die Nächstenliebe im Talmud" was written at the request of the Marburg Königliches Landgericht.
Cohen's Jewish writings are collected in his Jüdische Schriften. There is an ongoing new academic edition of Cohen's works, edited by Helmut Holzhey, Hartwig Wiedebach u.a.
An English translation of some of his Jewish writings is available in Reason and Hope: Selections from the Jewish Writings of Hermann Cohen, translated by Eva Jospe.
Cohen was outspoken in his opposition to Zionism and its aspiration to create a Jewish state and thus "return the Jews to History". In his view, Judaism was inherently a-historical, with a spiritual and moral mission far transcending the nationalist aims of Zionism.
Despite the above attitude to Zionism, Tel Aviv has a Hermann Cohen Street.
Cohen is buried in the Weißensee Cemetery in Berlin.

Works