Background
Cohen, Hermann was born on July 4, 1842 in Coswig, Anhalt, Germany.
Cohen, Hermann was born on July 4, 1842 in Coswig, Anhalt, Germany.
Studied Rabbinics, and then Philosophy, at Breslaw Jewish Theological Seminary and Berlin University. PhD, Halle, 1865.
First Jewish Lecturer, then Professor, of Philosophy, Marburg, 1873-1876. Then Lecturer at Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums [High School for the Science of Judaism).
Main publications:
(1925) Kants Theorie der Erfahrung [Kant's Theory of Empiricism], fourth reprint. Berlin: B. Cassirer (PhD thesis of 1871).
(1902) Logik der Reinen Erkenntnis [The Logic of Pure Cognition], Berlin: B. Cassirer
new editions 1914 and 1922.
(1904) Die Ethik des Reinen Willens [The Ethic of Pure Will], Berlin: B. Cassirer
new editions, 1907, 1920 and 1921.
(1915) Der Begriff der Religion im System der Philosophie [The Concept of Religion in the Philosophical System], Giessen: A. Töpelmann. (1918) Die Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums [The Religion of Reason Taken From Jewish Sources], (English translation. Religion of Reason, trans. S. Kaplan, New York: Ungar, 1972). (1924) Jüdische Schriften (collected writings)
3 vols.
pref. F. Rosenzweig, New York: Amo, 1980.
(1928) Schriften zur Philosophie und Zeitgeschichte [Writings on Philosophy and Contemporary History], Berlin: Adkademie-Verlag, (eulogy by E. Cassirer).
Secondary literature:
Bergman. Samuel H. (1961) Faith and Reason: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought, trans. A. Jospe, New York: Schocken.
Cohen, A. A. (1979) The Natural and Supernatural Jew, New York: Berman House.
Guttmann, Julius (1964) Philosophies of Judaism, trans. D. Silverman. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Horwitz, Rivkah (1989) ‘Revelation and the Bible according to twentieth-century Jewish philosophy’, in A. Green Jewish Spirituality II, New York: Crossroad, pp. 346-70 Kohnke. K. C. (1992) The Rise of Neo-Kantianism: German Academic Philosophy between Idealism and Positivism.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
Melber, J. (1968) Hermann Cohen's Philosophy of Judaism, New York: J. David.
Proceedings of the Hermann Cohen Exhibition (1992) University of Marburg.
Rotenstreich, Nathan (1968) Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times: From Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Based on Jewish Thought in Modern Times, Tel Aviv: Am Ovcd, 1945-1960.
Strauss, B. and B. (1939) Briefe, Berlin: Schocken.
During the first part of his life, Cohen dealt with Kantian ethics and reason, founding the Marburg School of neo-Kantianism. His experience of anti-semitism and his meeting with Polish Jews who were barred from the university system revolutionized his thought, which turned to questions of religion.
He advocated a complete integration of Jews into German society and repudiated Zionism. He defined Judaism as ethical monotheism, based on the biblical prophets. He has been criticized for repudiating Jewish nationalism and ritual practice, and ignoring the non-rational side of religion, but this was typical of many thinkers of his day, who tended to regard Germany as the ‘new Jerusalem’ for Jews! Nevertheless his influence has been considerable, not only on non-Orthodox philosophers such as Max Wiener, Leo Baeck and Franz Rosenzweig, but also on the doyen of new American Orthodoxy, J. D. Soloveitchik.
His work has been compared to Natorp's and contrasted with Hegel’s. He has been translated into and commented on in French and Spanish. Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica.
National Union Catalog.