•  2
    Among legal scholars, P. J. A. Feuerbach is considered one of the most important German jurists of the 19th century: not only has he established Germany’s modern doctrine of penal law and the Bavarian penal code of 1813, but he is also the founder of the theory of psychological force, i.e. the idea of the threat of punishment (not punishment itself!) as deterrence. Whereas one cannot comprehend Feuerbach’s legal doctrines without their original philosophical justification, namely his concept of …Read more
  •  7
    After the Enlightenment: The Rediscovery of Averroes by Tiedemann and Herder
    Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 33 (1): 113-139. 2023.
    RésuméLes modernistes arabes et les humanistes occidentaux considèrent souvent le philosophe musulman Averroès comme l’un des premiers précurseurs de Kant et des Lumières européennes. Contrairement à cette réputation, cet article soutient que ce sont les critiqueurs de Kant, Herder et Tiedemann, qui ont redécouvert Averroès. Tiedemann a été le premier historiographe allemand à donner un compte rendu précis de la pensée d’Averroès. Cela s’est accompagné d’une réévaluation d’Averroès par Herder da…Read more
  •  4
    This study defends the legitimacy of the Enlightenment project by way of its different realizations in the philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. Today, Enlightenment as a cosmopolitan project with a global claim is often considered synonymous with Western chauvinism. The assertion of a universally binding reason is all too obviously inconsistent with the much-cited recognition of cultural differences. In contrast, it is the conviction brought forward in this book that an a…Read more
  •  3
    Both in academic and public discussions the term “enlightened” is not only an often used but also an often misused one. Thus, this article again investigates the question “What is Enlightenment?” One main thesis, which for some contemporary self-proclaimed followers of Enlightenment may be a bit hard to swallow, is that it is just the influence of a certain mediaeval thinker on historical Enlightenment that can help to develop a systematic and not only historical concept of Enlightenment. For th…Read more
  •  1
    The Doctrine of Right is one of Kant’s most disputed works: Defamed as an alleged sign of Kant’s emerging senility by Schopenhauer, it is now considered a classic of both philosophy of right and philosophy of the state. But to this day, even the reliability of the original edition of the Doctrine of Right is an object of learned and heated discussions. According to Martin Heuser’s recently published study Zur Positivität des Rechts in der kritischen Naturrechtslehre Immanuel Kants the whole scho…Read more
  •  15
    Which Comes First—Acting or Judging?
    Idealistic Studies 52 (1): 45-72. 2022.
    It is one of the crucial insights of pragmatism that our judging is itself a discursive practice. Our judgments are normatively determined performances for which we are responsible. Therefore, judgments are a species of action. For in both actions and judgments, we subject ourselves and others to justifiable norms. Since these insights can already be found in Hegel, Hegel is now often interpreted as a champion of pragmatism. Hegel’s logic is thereby mainly understood as the continuation of the K…Read more
  •  12
    This paper defends Fichte’s conception of the absolute I by interpreting it as a modification of the reflection theory. It firstly provides a short outline of Dieter Henrich’s idea of Fichte’s “original insight,” before delineating the problems of Fichte’s “original insight” as they are presented by Henrich. It then analyzes Fichte’s concept of the absolute I by reconstructing its deduction in the Foundations of the Science of Knowledge (1794). With the concept of the absolute I delineated in th…Read more
  •  15
    Katharina Comoth: Natur und das Gesetz der Freiheit
    Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger 72 (2): 161-164. 2019.
  •  12
    Die Vollendung des Deutschen Idealismus in Friedrich Heinrich Jacobis Sendschreiben an Fichte?
    Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 61 (1): 21-41. 2013.
    By denying the idea of an unprejudiced and presuppositionless reason and his assertion of a fundamental belief that underlies every performance of reason, Jacobi provoked both the German Enlighteners and the representatives of German Idealism. The paper tries to demonstrate the systematic importance of this provocation. To this end, it emphasizes Jacobi’s anticipation of Fichte’s and Schelling’s distinction between a negative (purely rational) and a positive philosophy. In particular, this study…Read more
  •  6
    Averroes-A Reconnaissance in the Middle Ages?
    Philosophische Rundschau 59 (1). 2012.
  •  21
    Hegel als Denker des gesunden Menschenverstandes
    Hegel-Jahrbuch 2016 (1). 2016.
  •  9
    Starting from the question whether one has to assign Fichte and Jacobi to the Enlightenment movement, this paper makes the attempt to show that it is the categorical interest in the reality of reason, which is an at least necessary condition for characterizing a certain way of thinking as enlightening. At the center of the study stands the relationship of Jacobi and Fichte to Friedrich Nicolai and the Berlin Enlightenment. In this controversy, all thinkers share the very same interest, namely, t…Read more
  •  5
    Averroes Ein Aufklarer im Mittelalter?
    Philosophische Rundschau 59 (1): 78-91. 2012.
  •  23
    Philosophiekritik als Aufklärung?: Die „kritische“ Rationalitätskonzeption al-Ġazālīs
    Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch Fur Antike Und Mittelalter 17 (1): 48-84. 2014.
    Some contemporary readings of Averroes put special emphasis on the philosophical and critical character of the work of the Muslim theologian and mystic al-Ġazālī, who is also known as the “Proof of Islam”. They even regard him as some pioneer of Enlightenment thought. This paper therefore investigates the thesis of Averroes as a critical philosopher. It sets forth that one can indeed find some essential elements of critical thought in al-Ġazālī’s writings: for example Ġazālī’s critique of reason…Read more