Editorial. The Philosophy of Gernot Böhme

• Authors: Czerniak Stanisław
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Gernot Böhme’s work undoubtedly ranks among the most interesting contri-butions to 20th-century German philosophical thought. Indeed, it would be dif-ficult to indicate a philosophical sub-discipline Böhme has not shown an active interest in: his pursuits range from ontology—notably the philosophies of time and science/technology—through the philosophy of nature and the history of philosophy (Plato, Kant, Goethe), to aesthetics. The interdisciplinary conceptual bridges he constructs within this very broad study area are frequently quite in-novational, also striking is his great gift for synthesis—in four monographs he presents his own comprehensive apprehension of philosophical anthropology, ethics, the philosophy of corporeality and contemporary philosophy. This syn-thetic element is also present on the deeper, doctrinal levels of Böhme’s investi-gations. We can follow his extremely philosophically fruitful quest for concep-tual osmosis between philosophical traditions like phenomenology (especially the version defended by Hermann Schmitz), psychoanalysis, the Kantian-Hegelian tradition, critical theory (the reflections of the young Horkheimer and Adorno`s aesthetic theory), and even Renaissance philosophy (Paracelsus) or the thought of the 17th-century gnostic Jacob Böhme. His approach, however, is by no means syncretic. Gernot Böhme finds such interesting ways to “bump” thought models against each other that new, original meanings arise like Higgs bosons in today’s particle accelerators. And while we are at science, it must be noted that Böhme’s very broad knowledge allows him to freely employ the nat-ural sciences in support of his philosophy which frequently leads to conclusions that would have remained completely hidden if he had limited himself only to a historical-philosophical or humanistic approach. If I were asked which of Böhme’s philosophical achievements I find most cognitively valuable, I would point to his atmospheres theory which binds eth-ics with aesthetics, anthropology and social philosophy (and which brought him international renown), the anthropological model of “sovereign man” and the philosophy of corporeality, which places him alongside such contemporary thinkers as Erwin Strauss or Helmuth Plessner. On the methodological/formal plane Böhme crosses the boundary between the descriptive and the normative approach, his philosophy is par excellence critical. This German thinker seeks “alternatives” to many aspects of that what is existing. One need only compare the titles of his 1980 book Alternativen der Wissenschaft [Alternatives to Science] and one of his most recent collective publications, the 2012 Alternative Wirtschaftsformen [Alternative Forms of Economy] to see that he has remained faithful to his critical stand. However, reality does not generate its “alternatives”—be it “normal” science in Kuhn's understanding or capitalism—by itself, they can only be a product of human activity, and Böhme takes on the task of their normative legitimisation. Thus, in light of the main assumptions of Böhme’s philosophy, it appears natural that its basic categories like “sovereign man” or “being in bodiliness” (Leib-sein) are not only abstract connotations but a reference point for appeals for practical action which Böhme voices in this conceptual context. Here Böhme consciously reaches back to philosophy’s antique roots and emphasizes the rhetoric aspect of his reflections. It is here that the thought of this Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker disciple is most distant from the analytical tradition with its pro-grammatic rejection of this kind of normative-appellative approach, which is still strongly-rooted in German philosophy. The main idea behind this monographic edition of Dialogue and Universal-ism was to present those of Gernot Böhme’s views which he himself considers most representative of his work in recent years. Consequently, he himself sug-gested titles dealing with the earlier-mentioned philosophy of corporeality and related atmospheres conception, broadly-understood ethics, cognition theory (an essay on the theoretical-cognitive determinants of meditation) and social phi-losophy, where he offers an interesting critique of “aesthetic capitalism,” the subject of several of his recent papers. These texts intertwine because certain of Böhme’s fundamental views evi-dence themselves in diverse thematic contexts. An example is Böhme’s funda-mental idea of “that which is atmospheric,” which appears not only in works in which it plays a paradigmatic role (like Light and Space or The Voice in Bodily Space), but also in an essay devoted to human corporeality, or even one dealing with social philosophy. This is so because Böhme uses one of its meanings for his earlier-mentioned critique of “aesthetic capitalism.” Many a contemporary philosopher could only wish to possess Gernot Böhme’s broad, and at once categorially consistent research skills. The second part of this edition deals with the reception of Böhme’s thought in the writings of German and Polish philosophers. It contains reconstructions of selected Böhme conceptions like the philosophy of technology or landscape aesthetics, and attempts to show the dialectical connections between Böhme’s philosophy and other philosophical trends and traditions (critical theory, Japa-nese culture). It also carries some critical accents, which is only natural as Böhme’s philosophy is, so to speak, critical by definition. We hope our Gernot Böhme edition proves an enriching contribution to the ongoing international debate around this compelling philosophy. If it does, we will consider our editorial goals well-attained.

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk; Fundacja Filozofia Na Rzecz Dialogu
• Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
• Year: 2014
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 7-8

Contributors

author

Czerniak Stanisław

• Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences