Anna Ezekiel
University of York, Philosophy, Department Member
- 19th-century German philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Feminist Philosophy, Philosophy, Aesthetics, German romanticism and idealism, and 9 moreTheory of Sublime, Art and Nature, German literature of the Goethezeit, History of Philosophy, German Romanticism, Feminist History of Philosophy, German Philosophy, History of German Philosophy, and Vitalismedit
- I'm a feminist historian of philosophy with a focus on the recovery, interpretation and translation of texts by Germa... moreI'm a feminist historian of philosophy with a focus on the recovery, interpretation and translation of texts by German women philosophers. I received my PhD in philosophy from McGill in 2013. My work initially focused on Romantic writer Karoline von Günderrode (1780-1806) but has since expanded to cover other philosophers including Bettina Brentano-von Arnim, Dorothea Veit-Schlegel, Rahel Varnhagen, and others. I'm an honorary fellow at the University of York and teach occasionally on philosophy and gender at Parami University, Myanmar. Since 2014 I live with ME/CFS.edit
Hope is a significant part of human experience, including for motivating behaviour, promoting happiness, and justifying a conception of the self as having agency. Yet substantial gaps remain regarding the development of the concept of... more
Hope is a significant part of human experience, including for motivating behaviour, promoting happiness, and justifying a conception of the self as having agency. Yet substantial gaps remain regarding the development of the concept of hope in the history of philosophy. This collection addresses this gap by reconstructing and analysing a variety of approaches to hope in late 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy.
In 1781, Kant's idea of a “rational hope” shifted the terms of discussion about hope and its role for human self-understanding. In the 19th century, a wide-ranging debate over the meaning and function of hope emerged in response to his work. This collection explores perspectives on hope from Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauer, J. S. Beck, J. C. Hoffbauer, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Georg Friedrich Creuzer, Kierkegaard and others. Chapters consider different aspects of the concept of hope, including the rationality of hope, appropriate and inappropriate applications of hope and the function of hope in relation to religion and society.
The result is a valuable collection covering a century of the role of hope in shaping cognitive attitudes and constructing social, political and moral communities. As an overview of philosophical approaches to hope during this period, including by philosophers who are seldom studied today, the collection constitutes a valuable resource for exploring the development of this important concept in post-Kantian German philosophy.
In 1781, Kant's idea of a “rational hope” shifted the terms of discussion about hope and its role for human self-understanding. In the 19th century, a wide-ranging debate over the meaning and function of hope emerged in response to his work. This collection explores perspectives on hope from Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauer, J. S. Beck, J. C. Hoffbauer, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Georg Friedrich Creuzer, Kierkegaard and others. Chapters consider different aspects of the concept of hope, including the rationality of hope, appropriate and inappropriate applications of hope and the function of hope in relation to religion and society.
The result is a valuable collection covering a century of the role of hope in shaping cognitive attitudes and constructing social, political and moral communities. As an overview of philosophical approaches to hope during this period, including by philosophers who are seldom studied today, the collection constitutes a valuable resource for exploring the development of this important concept in post-Kantian German philosophy.
Research Interests: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Hope, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Immanuel Kant, Psychology of Hope, and 14 moreArthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), Post-Kantian Philosophy, Soren Kierkegaard, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Theology of Hope, Jakob Sigismund Beck, Jakob Friedrich Fries, K. F. A. Eschenmayer, Friedrich Creuzer, Tieftrunk, Karoline von Günderrode, and Friedrich Karl Forberg
Edited by Dalia Nassar and Kristin Gjesdal; translations by Anna Ezekiel. Presents German philosophical works by women, many for the first time, to Anglophone audiences. Germaine de Staël, Karoline von Günderrode, Bettina Brentano-von... more
Edited by Dalia Nassar and Kristin Gjesdal; translations by Anna Ezekiel.
Presents German philosophical works by women, many for the first time, to Anglophone audiences. Germaine de Staël, Karoline von Günderrode, Bettina Brentano-von Arnim, Hedwig Dohm, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Gerda Walther, Edith Stein, Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg.
Every translation includes an accessible introduction that charts the biography and lasting significance of each philosopher.
Includes helpful footnotes and further references.
Designed with student readers in mind.
Presents German philosophical works by women, many for the first time, to Anglophone audiences. Germaine de Staël, Karoline von Günderrode, Bettina Brentano-von Arnim, Hedwig Dohm, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Gerda Walther, Edith Stein, Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg.
Every translation includes an accessible introduction that charts the biography and lasting significance of each philosopher.
Includes helpful footnotes and further references.
Designed with student readers in mind.
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Bilingual English-German edition of second collection published by the German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806). The second collection of writings by the German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Karoline... more
Bilingual English-German edition of second collection published by the German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806).
The second collection of writings by the German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806), Poetic Fragments was published in 1805 under the pseudonym “Tian.” Günderrode’s work is an unmined source of insight into German Romanticism and Idealism, as well as into the reception of Indian, Persian, and Islamic thought in Europe. Anna C. Ezekiel’s introductions highlight the philosophical significance of the texts, demonstrating their radical and original consideration of the nature of the universe, death, religion, power, and gender roles. The dramas “Hildgund” and “Muhammad, the Prophet of Mecca” are two of Günderrode’s most important works for her accounts of agency, recognition, and the status of women. The three poems included in the collection, “Piedro,” “The Pilgrims,” and “The Kiss in the Dream,” represent the wide range of forms in which Günderrode wrote. They reflect themes of erotic longing and union with the divine, and point to her radical reimagining of death. This bilingual English-German edition is the first volume of Günderrode’s work to appear in English, and will help unearth this rich, complex, and innovative writer for English readers.
The second collection of writings by the German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806), Poetic Fragments was published in 1805 under the pseudonym “Tian.” Günderrode’s work is an unmined source of insight into German Romanticism and Idealism, as well as into the reception of Indian, Persian, and Islamic thought in Europe. Anna C. Ezekiel’s introductions highlight the philosophical significance of the texts, demonstrating their radical and original consideration of the nature of the universe, death, religion, power, and gender roles. The dramas “Hildgund” and “Muhammad, the Prophet of Mecca” are two of Günderrode’s most important works for her accounts of agency, recognition, and the status of women. The three poems included in the collection, “Piedro,” “The Pilgrims,” and “The Kiss in the Dream,” represent the wide range of forms in which Günderrode wrote. They reflect themes of erotic longing and union with the divine, and point to her radical reimagining of death. This bilingual English-German edition is the first volume of Günderrode’s work to appear in English, and will help unearth this rich, complex, and innovative writer for English readers.
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Although their work is separated by three-quarters of a century, Novalis and Nietzsche both operated within the intellectual context engendered by an Enlightenment-era discussion of the human vocation. Both respond to the need for a new... more
Although their work is separated by three-quarters of a century, Novalis and Nietzsche both operated within the intellectual context engendered by an Enlightenment-era discussion of the human vocation. Both respond to the need for a new human identity that addresses questions about the ability of the human being to know its nature and the nature of the universe, act freely, know right from wrong, and find meaning and value in existence. At the two ends of the nineteenth century, they present different responses to the problem of alienation within this new context, as Novalis attempts to salvage a broadly Christian framework for the human vocation, while Nietzsche reacts against Christian values and ways of providing meaning, as well as those of its secular successors.
Despite this important difference, Novalis and Nietzsche share a goal of providing an affirming model of life that escapes the conventional dichotomy of immanent and transcendent. I compare their models of creative affirmation to identify characteristics of their work useful for a new response to alienation. I argue that, while neither provides a fully satisfying response to the modern situation of alienation that motivated them, both have insights that should be used in attempts to cope with the disorientation and isolation associated with the loss of an authoritative statement of the vocation of humankind.
Despite this important difference, Novalis and Nietzsche share a goal of providing an affirming model of life that escapes the conventional dichotomy of immanent and transcendent. I compare their models of creative affirmation to identify characteristics of their work useful for a new response to alienation. I argue that, while neither provides a fully satisfying response to the modern situation of alienation that motivated them, both have insights that should be used in attempts to cope with the disorientation and isolation associated with the loss of an authoritative statement of the vocation of humankind.
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This chapter considers the philosophical contributions of German writer Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806). Günderrode is an original thinker engaged with German Idealism and Romanticism, whose work participates in debates regarding the... more
This chapter considers the philosophical contributions of German writer Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806). Günderrode is an original thinker engaged with German Idealism and Romanticism, whose work participates in debates regarding the question of free will, the nature of the self, the nature of consciousness, what happens to us after we die, the vocation of humankind, the relationship between the self and nature and between these and the Absolute or the divine, the role of gender in social life, ideals for political arrangements, and the pursuit of virtue and beauty. Günderrode’s writings provide a rich and relatively unexplored perspective on these topics.
After a biography and overview of Günderrode’s writings, the chapter summarizes key areas of Günderrode’s thought. These include Günderrode’s metaphysical claims, unique accounts of love and death, models of consciousness and identity, political theory (especially regarding revolution), contributions to early nineteenth century understandings of gender, and nascent ethics and aesthetics. The last section of the chapter considers ways that Günderrode might have influenced several well-known nineteenth century thinkers, notably Clemens Brentano, Georg Friedrich Creuzer, and Bettina Brentano-von Arnim – and, through the latter, the Young Hegelians and American Transcendentalism.
After a biography and overview of Günderrode’s writings, the chapter summarizes key areas of Günderrode’s thought. These include Günderrode’s metaphysical claims, unique accounts of love and death, models of consciousness and identity, political theory (especially regarding revolution), contributions to early nineteenth century understandings of gender, and nascent ethics and aesthetics. The last section of the chapter considers ways that Günderrode might have influenced several well-known nineteenth century thinkers, notably Clemens Brentano, Georg Friedrich Creuzer, and Bettina Brentano-von Arnim – and, through the latter, the Young Hegelians and American Transcendentalism.
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Both Novalis and Günderrode provide grounds for a number of different kinds of hope. The first part of this chapter briefly sketches the most obvious of these: the hope for union with loved ones after death. This section also explains... more
Both Novalis and Günderrode provide grounds for a number of different kinds of hope. The first part of this chapter briefly sketches the most obvious of these: the hope for union with loved ones after death. This section also explains Günderrode’s metaphysics, which entails significant differences from Novalis in the other areas of hope that she identifies. Part two explores “epistemological hope”: the hope for knowledge or experience of that which lies outside the limitations of reason. Part three considers Günderrode’s “moral hope,” which emerges from her critique of Kantian morality. Finally, parts four and five consider “political hope” and “ontological hope,” i.e., hope for improvement in the world as a whole and human society in particular. For Novalis, this famously takes the form of “raising,” “Romanticizing” or “cultivating,” effected by human beings. In Günderrode, this kind of improvement is largely beyond human control (although human beings can contribute to it), leaving us in a state of hopeful ambiguity regarding the possibility of the eventual realization of an “immortal ideal” for the earth and the establishment of ideal human communities.
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This paper explores Karoline von Günderrode’s metaphysics and argues that the place Günderrode assigns human beings in her cosmology requires a reconceptualisation of the relationship between human beings and the nonhuman world and the... more
This paper explores Karoline von Günderrode’s metaphysics and argues that the place Günderrode assigns human beings in her cosmology requires a reconceptualisation of the relationship between human beings and the nonhuman world and the development of communities that include the nonhuman. First, analysis of Günderrode's pieces “Idea of the Earth” and “Letters of Two Friends” shows that she presents human beings as embedded in, and the same in kind as, the nonhuman. Part two uses the philosophical dialogue “Story of a Brahmin” to argue that, consistently with this metaphysical picture, Günderrode denies that human beings are justified in adopting a dominating relationship to nature or the nonhuman (or each other). The third part of the paper explores Günderrode’s claim that human beings live in three ways—as animal, as human, and spiritually—and considers how these relate to Günderrode’s concept of earth. Finally, the paper explores how Günderrode’s account translates into concrete ideas about community. I argue that Günderrode’s normative restraint, ideal of harmony, and view of human beings as part of and the same in kind as the rest of nature contribute to a vision of community in which genuine connections can flourish between human beings at the same time as connections to what is beyond the human. Rather than providing a program for ideal social relations or attitudes towards the natural world, Günderrode describes conditions for the emergence of small communities of friends in harmony with nature. On Günderrode’s model, these could potentially grow and eventually, perhaps, enable the emergence of the single, perfect organism she calls the “realised idea of the earth.”
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The chapter focuses on work by two women writing in the German Romantic tradition—Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806) and Bettina Brentano-von Arnim (1785–1859)—and brings their work into contact with poststructuralist analyses of various... more
The chapter focuses on work by two women writing in the German Romantic tradition—Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806) and Bettina Brentano-von Arnim (1785–1859)—and brings their work into contact with poststructuralist analyses of various aspects of philosophy of art of this period, specifically the sublime, the fragment, the work of art, and the artist/genius.
Research Interests: Aesthetics, Poststructuralism, German Idealism, German Romanticism, Gender, and 12 moreJacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Immanuel Kant, The Sublime, Jean-François Lyotard, Genius, Patricia Yaeger, BettineVonArnim German Literature German Womens writing, Feminist History of Philosophy, Karoline von Günderrode, Christine Battersby, and The fragment
Karoline von Günderrode's reputation as a mystical writer makes her a likely candidate as a proponent of a negative philosophy. However, the historical emphasis on Günderrode's mystical and lyrical writings reflects gender stereotypes... more
Karoline von Günderrode's reputation as a mystical writer makes her a likely candidate as a proponent of a negative philosophy. However, the historical emphasis on Günderrode's mystical and lyrical writings reflects gender stereotypes about women's writing and ignores Günderrode's strengths as an epic and historical writer. It is therefore important to approach claims about Günderrode's supposed mysticism carefully. This paper is a preliminary attempt to investigate Günderrode's claims about knowledge, including knowledge of the absolute, asking: What does Günderrode think knowledge is? What does she think the purpose of knowledge is-i.e., what does she think knowledge gets us, or does for us? And how do her claims differ from those philosophers, such as Novalis, whose thinking on knowledge (including of the absolute) seems to resemble hers? I argue that Günderrode maintains that human beings can experience, or "know," a reality behind the discrete objects and events that comprise the world of appearances, and that she integrates this idea into a coherent worldview in a unique way. Specifically, I argue that Günderrode reconceptualizes the nature of death and selfhood in specific ways that allow her to make sense of the possibility of experiencing the true nature of the world behind the divisions that are characteristic of human knowledge and existence.
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This paper considers how women and gender are conceptualised within early German Romanticism and argues that work by early German Romantic women should be addressed in scholarship on this movement. The chapter addresses feminist critiques... more
This paper considers how women and gender are conceptualised within early German Romanticism and argues that work by early German Romantic women should be addressed in scholarship on this movement. The chapter addresses feminist critiques of early German Romanticism as exemplified by the work of Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, concluding that an essentialist view of traditional gender characteristics informs central aspects of these writers’ work, including their view of the relationship between human beings and nature and their theories of language and poetry. The paper argues that a thoroughgoing critique of gender categories and development of the implications of this critique are found in the early German Romantic writings, not of Schlegel and Novalis, but of Dorothea Veit-Schlegel and Karoline von Günderrode.
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This paper argues that Karoline von Günderrode’s unique account of the socially constructed self provides a model for satisfying relationships and a stable self on the basis of a fragmented and untransparent subjectivity. Günderrode views... more
This paper argues that Karoline von Günderrode’s unique account of the socially constructed self provides a model for satisfying relationships and a stable self on the basis of a fragmented and untransparent subjectivity. Günderrode views experience as a discontinuous series of moments out of which a self can be constructed in two ways, both involving interactions with others. One of these is narrative; the other is a form of immediate experience, including experiencing together with others, that precedes narrative accounts of identity. For Günderrode, the most important ways of interacting with others involve sharing thoughts, feelings and experiences without attempting to integrate these into a more holistic image of, or story about, the person with whom one is interacting. The result is a model for relationships between transitory, opaque selves that creates a basis for social interaction and the construction of identity that can survive and flourish without a stable self that is completely known to itself and others.
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This paper contributes to efforts to retrieve the long-neglected philosophical contributions of Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806), and is one of the first to seriously address the political commitments in Günderrode’s work, especially... more
This paper contributes to efforts to retrieve the long-neglected philosophical contributions of Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806), and is one of the first to seriously address the political commitments in Günderrode’s work, especially regarding revolution. This idea gains an unusual status in the context of Günderrode’s metaphysics, and is key to understanding the connections between Günderrode’s more obviously philosophical writings and her literary work. I argue that Günderrode’s concept of revolution resembles, in some respects, the ideas of other thinkers of her time, but has ramifications for conceiving of human individuals and their relationships to society and nature that are unique to Günderrode. First, I use a comparison with the work of contemporaries on revolution to justify interpreting Günderrode’s metaphysics in relation to her thought on politics. Günderrode often masks her political thought in the form of plays, and the paper next considers the theme of revolution in her plays Muhammad, the Prophet of Mecca and Udohla. Lastly, the paper contrasts Günderrode’s position on revolution to claims by Herder and Fichte, arguing that Günderrode’s conception of a cycle of enhancement and decay of natural forces, political power and social cohesion differs from androcentric models that emphasise the development of consciousness.
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In 1804, when asked by the aspiring writer Clemens Brentano why she had chosen to publish her work, Karoline von Günderrode wrote that she longed “mein Leben in einer bleibenden Form auszusprechen, in einer Gestalt, die würdig sei, zu den... more
In 1804, when asked by the aspiring writer Clemens Brentano why she had chosen to publish her work, Karoline von Günderrode wrote that she longed “mein Leben in einer bleibenden Form auszusprechen, in einer Gestalt, die würdig sei, zu den Vortreflichsten hinzutreten, sie zu grüssen und Gemeinschaft mit ihnen zu haben.” In light of this kind of statement, it is perhaps not surprising if, despite some exceptions, much of the still relatively scant literature on Günderrode reads her works largely in terms of how they articulate and manifest Günderrode’s desires, frustrations, and character, for the most part ignoring their imaginary, creative, and intellectual aspects. This interpretation of the author’s works as biography is, in Günderrode’s case, often accompanied by an interpretation of her biography, particularly her suicide, as literary work. This paper is not the first to question the conflation of Günderrode’s life, death, and writing, but it is one of only a handful that aim to address the autopoietic element of Günderrode’s work in a way that does not reduce her writings to biographical and psychological expressions, or Günderrode herself to an image – or a legend – encapsulated by her writings and her relationship to them. This paper argues that Günderrode’s own position on what the self is has been largely neglected as a result of this conflation, and that taking this position into account changes how we understand Günderrode’s articulations of self in her writings. Thus this paper has two goals: to address difficulties in articulating and even constituting oneself sincerely when one’s efforts are unrecognized, belittled, censored, and forced to conform to the conventions of a society in which one is marginalized; and to unearth a neglected and potentially rich account of the modern self.
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This paper argues that the neglected writer Karoline von Günderrode (1780-1806) develops a model of personhood and a related conception of agency that adds to post-Kantian Idealist and German Romantic attempts to understand the relations... more
This paper argues that the neglected writer Karoline von Günderrode (1780-1806) develops a model of personhood and a related conception of agency that adds to post-Kantian Idealist and German Romantic attempts to understand the relations between self and world and between freedom and determinism. In this paper, I locate the outline of this model in Günderrode's conception of death as metamorphosis. The paper begins from the claim that Günderrode rethinks the Kantian sublime to construct a non-dualistic cosmology and a unique model of personhood. I suggest that Günderrode's account of the self and a unique model of personhood. I suggest that Günderrode's account of the self and its world informs a conception of agency that is grounded in the basic vulnerability and finitude of human beings and that denies that autonomy is a condition of freedom. I argue that Günderrode's notion of death as metamorphosis allows her to avoid overemphasising consciousness and autonomy on the one hand and, on the other, affirming self-annihilation or accepting determinism. The result is a conception of individuality and freedom that reflects the dependency and vulnerability of human existence. The last part of the paper uses Günderrode's play "Hildgund" as an example of how this model of agency emerges in her work.
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This chapter presents three unpublished works by Karoline von Günderrode. In them, Günderrode discusses and assesses the moral philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling’s philosophy of nature, while also developing her... more
This chapter presents three unpublished works by Karoline von Günderrode. In them, Günderrode discusses and assesses the moral philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling’s philosophy of nature, while also developing her own ethical account of the human relation to the earth in the essay “Idea of the Earth.” Widely regarded as her most important and radical contribution, “Idea of the Earth” distinguishes Günderrode among her contemporaries and places her in proximity to current environmental thought.
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This chapter presents selections from Bettina Brentano von Arnim’s 1840 Günderode. Günderode is based on a correspondence between Brentano von Arnim and her friend Karoline von Günderrode. In its attempt to convey an intimate and... more
This chapter presents selections from Bettina Brentano von Arnim’s 1840 Günderode. Günderode is based on a correspondence between Brentano von Arnim and her friend Karoline von Günderrode. In its attempt to convey an intimate and engrossing dialogue between the two friends, Günderode is an exemplary realization of the romantic ideals of sym-philosophy and sociability. A hit in Germany and the United States, Günderode delves into fundamental philosophical questions, including the value of philosophy and its potential to grasp and describe human experience, and the relationship between philosophy and art.
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In this chapter, which includes four independent essays, Hedwig Dohm develops arguments for women’s emancipation, articulates a critique of essentialism, and assesses the claims of anti-feminists, including Friedrich Nietzsche. Although... more
In this chapter, which includes four independent essays, Hedwig Dohm develops arguments for women’s emancipation, articulates a critique of essentialism, and assesses the claims of anti-feminists, including Friedrich Nietzsche. Although Dohm was influenced by Nietzsche, she was also one of his fiercest critics. Dohm offers some of the most acute observations of the situation of women at various stages of life––from young adulthood to old age. While her conceptualization of the self as creative and her support of single mothers and unmarried women were radical for the time, her ideas prefigure some of the key claims made by twentieth-century feminists.
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In this chapter, Lou Andreas-Salomé explores the erotic (widely conceived), as it discloses a pre-reflective and foundational aspect of life. The erotic, for Salomé, is prior to the split between mind and body, even between the individual... more
In this chapter, Lou Andreas-Salomé explores the erotic (widely conceived), as it discloses a pre-reflective and foundational aspect of life. The erotic, for Salomé, is prior to the split between mind and body, even between the individual and nature, as a totality. In her view, the erotic is related to sexuality but also to art, creativity, and even religion. The chapter establishes Salomé as a philosopher who carves out an independent intellectual space between Nietzsche and Freud.
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In her essays and speeches, Clara Zetkin argues that the workers’ movement and the women’s movement are co-dependent, and that it is only if male and female workers cooperate that they will be able to overcome economic and social... more
In her essays and speeches, Clara Zetkin argues that the workers’ movement and the women’s movement are co-dependent, and that it is only if male and female workers cooperate that they will be able to overcome economic and social injustices and inequalities. Furthermore, she analyzes different forms of oppression, explains how they relate to and enable one another, and makes appeals for international solidarity with oppressed people everywhere.
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In this chapter, Rosa Luxemburg examines the basic structure of wage labor. For Luxemburg, wage labor is a condition for the systemic, economical exploitation of one free human being by another. Luxemburg analyzes the capitalists’... more
In this chapter, Rosa Luxemburg examines the basic structure of wage labor. For Luxemburg, wage labor is a condition for the systemic, economical exploitation of one free human being by another. Luxemburg analyzes the capitalists’ thinking about wages, their interest in extending the workday and in lowering the pay, and the conflict of interest between the worker and the owner of capital. She also discusses the role of trade unions in keeping not only the real wages but also the social wages above the level of mere sustenance for the individual worker.
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In this chapter, Edith Stein offers an analysis of empathy with others, which she sees as a fundamental trait of the human being. In her view, empathy is a condition of possibility for sociality and sympathy, rather than the other way... more
In this chapter, Edith Stein offers an analysis of empathy with others, which she sees as a fundamental trait of the human being. In her view, empathy is a condition of possibility for sociality and sympathy, rather than the other way around. She grounds empathy in human embodiment, more precisely in the way in which the human being is embodied mind and minded body. Stein’s work on empathy represents a pathbreaking contribution to phenomenology and shows how she makes active use of and goes beyond the works of Edmund Husserl, Alexander Pfänder, and others.
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In this chapter, Gerda Walther weds her interest in political and social questions with phenomenological approaches and concerns, homing in on the nature of a social community. By posing and responding to a series of questions regarding... more
In this chapter, Gerda Walther weds her interest in political and social questions with phenomenological approaches and concerns, homing in on the nature of a social community. By posing and responding to a series of questions regarding the nature and structure of a community, Walther distinguishes community from society and argues that community is crucially connected to subjective feeling. In addition, she contends—contra Edith Stein and Edmund Husserl—that the feeling of community both differs from and precedes the feeling of empathy.
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An English translation of, and commentary on, German writer Karoline von Günderrode's poem "Muhammad's Dream in the Desert," in Issue 2 of Synkrētic: THe Journal of Indo-Pacific Philosophy. Available at... more
An English translation of, and commentary on, German writer Karoline von Günderrode's poem "Muhammad's Dream in the Desert," in Issue 2 of Synkrētic: THe Journal of Indo-Pacific Philosophy. Available at https://www.synkretic.com/issues/muhammads-dream-in-the-desert
Reprinted with modifications from an earlier entry on my blog at ACEzekiel.com
Reprinted with modifications from an earlier entry on my blog at ACEzekiel.com
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A translation of German writer Karoline von Günderrode's poem "A Persian Tale"
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An article publicising the philosophical contributions of German writer Rahel Varnhagen (1771–1833)
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An article publicising the philosophical contributions of German writer Bettina Brentano-von Arnim (1785–1859)
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An article publicising the philosophical contributions of German writer Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806)
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An article publicising the philosophical contributions of German women writers in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
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Nietzsche maintains, famously, that suffering can be made part of something beautiful and inspiring. This paper is concerned with particular kinds of suffering that emerge in encounters with others. I argue that, even when one takes into... more
Nietzsche maintains, famously, that suffering can be made part of something beautiful and inspiring. This paper is concerned with particular kinds of suffering that emerge in encounters with others. I argue that, even when one takes into account Nietzsche’s recognition of the individual’s situation in society as an enabling condition for her activity, his acknowledgement of the possibility of empathy does not indicate a value for such intersubjective experience. Rather, it is an instance of a tension Nietzsche identifies between our inescapable implication in social ways of being and our need to create ourselves independently in order to overcome self-alienation.
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This course will explore “self-cultivation”: the question of how we can become the best version of ourselves. We will read texts about self-cultivation by philosophers from different places and historical periods, including ancient... more
This course will explore “self-cultivation”: the question of how we can become the best version of ourselves. We will read texts about self-cultivation by philosophers from different places and historical periods, including ancient Greece, China, India, and Germany. We will discuss whether these philosophers saw self-cultivation as the same for everyone, or whether they thought it should be different for men and women. We will consider how these ideas may influence our lives and the way we see ourselves today.
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This course explores philosophy about “third genders”: genders that are not simply male or female. Many of us grew up taking for granted the idea that gender is binary – i.e., the idea that there are only two genders, male and female.... more
This course explores philosophy about “third genders”: genders that are not simply male or female. Many of us grew up taking for granted the idea that gender is binary – i.e., the idea that there are only two genders, male and female. However, many ancient and contemporary cultures recognize other genders in addition to these. We will begin by considering how gender is not just a biological fact, but includes changeable cultural (and philosophical) ideas about what makes a person a particular gender (e.g., “What makes a woman”). Then, we will look at some alternative accounts of gender from different cultures and philosophical traditions. These include ideas about nonbinary, intersex, and trans people in mainstream, western-influenced culture, as well as in indigenous cultures in North America and New Zealand.