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    Notes on the Reception of American Pragmatism in Germany, 1899-1952Author(s): Klaus OehlerSource: Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Winter, 1981), pp. 25-35Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40319900.

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    Notes

    on the

    Reception

    f

    American

    ragmatism

    n

    Germany,899-1952*

    Klaus Oehler

    I.

    Contact

    quickly

    arose

    between

    the

    American

    pragmatists

    nd

    German

    scholars,

    whether

    by

    correspondence

    or

    through

    personal

    encounter.

    James,

    or

    example,

    was in touch with Ernst

    Mach,

    Wilhelm

    Wundt

    and

    Wilhelm

    Jerusalem.

    His

    contact with

    Jerusalem

    was

    to contribute

    much

    to thedissemination f pragmaticthought n Germany.

    Jerusalem

    was

    born

    in

    1854

    in Bohmen. After

    studying

    classical

    philology

    n

    Prague

    he

    taught

    at a

    gymnasium.

    In 1891 he

    completed

    his

    habilitation

    at

    the

    University

    of

    Vienna

    and,

    after

    29

    years

    as

    a

    university

    teacher

    there,

    was made associate

    professor

    of

    philosophy

    and

    education

    in

    1920.

    In his

    autobiographical

    Selbstdarstellung1

    Jerusalem

    roudlyneglects

    to

    mention he

    political

    circumstances

    espon-

    sible for

    his belated

    preferment.

    His

    philosophical

    hinking

    was

    influenced

    at an

    early tage

    by Spencer, eading

    to

    a

    biological

    conception

    f

    psychical

    processes

    nd in

    particular

    of

    knowledge.

    This

    tendency

    was

    reinforced

    through

    he

    influence f Ernst

    Mach,

    who

    was

    appointed

    to the

    chair in

    Vienna in

    1895,

    and

    integrated

    with

    genetical

    and

    sociological

    elements

    in

    Jerusalem's

    hinking.

    In his

    epistemology,

    erusalem

    ingled

    mainly

    phenomenalism

    nd

    apriorism

    ut for attack.

    He

    saw

    logic

    as a

    general

    methodology

    f

    dunking,

    the

    purpose

    of which

    is

    to discover a formal

    description

    f

    thought

    s it

    actually

    occurs in

    scientific

    nd

    pre-scientific

    experience.

    He

    termed his

    project

    empirical

    ogic .

    In

    1905

    his

    book,

    Der kritische dealismusuni die

    reine

    Logik

    provided

    subtle

    ustification

    for

    Jerusalem's

    rejection

    of

    critical idealism

    and

    pure logic.

    In

    Germany,whereuniversity hilosophywas dominatedby neo-Rantianism,

    Jerusalem's

    all went unheard. But not

    in

    England

    and

    America. In his

    Selbstdarstellungy

    erusalem

    ells us

    that

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    26 Klaus Oehler

    Prof. F. C.

    S.

    Schiller

    published

    an article

    n the

    International

    Journal

    of

    Ethics,

    in

    which

    he said

    that

    my

    conception

    of

    the

    process

    of

    knowing

    and

    of truth

    was

    closely

    related

    to

    the

    views

    of

    the

    pragmatists.

    And

    when

    William

    James,

    with

    whom I

    had

    been

    corresponding

    or

    a

    long

    time,

    sent

    me

    his

    book

    on

    pragmatism

    in

    April

    1907

    I

    at once decided

    to

    translate t

    myself

    into

    German,

    a

    plan

    which

    Ernst

    Mach

    encouraged

    me

    to

    carry

    out. The

    translation

    ppeared

    in

    the

    same

    year,

    making

    pragmatism

    nownin

    Germany.

    Later,

    in

    1926,

    similar

    considerations

    ad

    led

    Jerusalem

    o

    bring

    out

    a

    German

    edition of

    Lvy-BruhPs

    Les

    Fonctions

    Mentales

    dans

    les Socits

    Infrieures.

    Finally,

    the

    Selbstdarstellung

    nforms

    us,

    he

    was

    planning

    a

    sociological

    critique

    of

    human

    reason

    in which he

    wanted

    to

    be

    able

    to

    describe

    the

    complex

    relationships

    etween

    knowledge

    and

    society .

    He

    died in

    Vienna in

    1923.

    Wilhelm

    Jerusalem

    was

    one of those

    philosophers

    who are

    out

    of

    step

    with the age in which they live. His criticismsof epistemological

    idealism,

    of

    phenomenalism

    nd

    apriorism,

    nd his

    biological

    and socio-

    logical

    approach

    to

    cognitive

    processes

    marked

    him

    off,

    at least

    within

    the

    German-

    peaking

    world,

    as

    one of

    the

    isolated

    precursors

    nd

    path-

    finders

    f a

    movement hat

    would

    be

    able to

    find

    a

    foothold

    n German

    philosophy

    nly

    decades

    later. His translation f

    James*

    ragmatism:

    A

    New

    Name

    for

    Some Old

    Ways

    of

    Thinking

    s one of

    the

    indispensable

    tools

    of

    German

    James

    cholarship.

    What

    might

    be

    described

    s

    the official

    tarting

    point

    of

    pragmatism's

    influence

    n

    Germany

    was

    the III

    International

    Congress

    for

    Philosophy

    held from1 to 5 September,1908, in Heidelberg,with Windelbandas

    president.

    Pragmatism

    was

    the

    main

    object

    of

    discussion,

    unning

    ike

    a

    red thread

    through

    all

    sections,

    as is

    shown

    by

    the

    proceedings

    f

    the

    congress,

    which

    were

    published

    n 1909.2

    After Windelband's

    address,

    Josiah

    Royce,

    from

    Harvard,

    who

    had been

    strongly

    influenced

    by

    Peirce,

    gave

    the

    opening

    paper

    on

    the

    subject

    of The Problem

    of

    Truth

    in

    the

    Light

    of

    Recent

    Discussion . In

    spite

    of the fact that

    Royce's

    paper

    mentionsPeirce

    several

    times,

    and

    names

    him

    as the

    founder of

    pragmatism,

    t

    was not

    Peirce's

    pragmatism

    hat

    was

    discussed,

    but that

    of

    James,

    Schiller

    and

    Dewey

    -

    Jamesattracting

    the

    most

    attention.

    In

    his

    paper,

    Royce

    describeshis

    philosophy

    s

    absolute

    pragmatism by

    which

    he means

    -

    so

    Jerusalem

    ays

    in his

    remarks n

    Royce's

    paper

    -

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    Notes on ReceptionofAmericanPragmatismn Germany,1899-1952 27

    a

    voluntaristically

    nterpreted oncept

    of truth. As we leaf

    through

    the

    pages

    of

    the

    congress

    report,

    we

    find

    contributions

    rom

    Baldwin,

    Ladd

    Franklin, Lask,

    Schiller,

    Armstrong

    and

    Jerusalem.

    Paul

    Cams,

    editor

    of the Monist is

    also

    represented

    with a

    paper

    in which

    he makes

    a

    sharp

    division

    between

    Peirce and the other

    pragmatists.

    As

    a

    result

    of the 1908

    Heidelberg

    philosophy

    ongress,

    pragmatism

    became known within

    German

    philosophy

    and stimulated

    lively

    dis-

    cussion.

    Among

    the

    firsttreatmentswere

    Ludwig

    Stein's

    essay

    Prag-

    matism 3 nd Gnther

    Jacoby's

    Der

    Pragmatismus.

    Neue Bahnen in der

    Wissenscbaftslehre

    es Auslands.

    Eine

    Wrdigung*

    Jacoby,

    at the

    time

    a

    young

    teacher

    of

    philosophy

    t

    the

    University

    of

    Greifswald,

    wrote

    in the

    foreword f his

    book:

    For

    years

    pragmatism,

    with its unusual

    concept

    of

    truth

    has

    been the source

    of

    controversy

    n

    Anglo-American

    philosophy,

    and more

    recently

    also in

    Germany. Ultimately

    the

    debate

    resolves

    nto

    a

    disagreement

    bout

    words. It is

    essentially

    matter of indifferencewhetherwe associate one opinion or

    another with

    the word

    truth . On the other

    hand,

    it is

    not

    a

    matter

    of

    indifference hich criteria we

    adopt

    for

    making

    assertions:

    we

    can

    judge

    them

    to

    be

    true or false. This holds

    especially

    for scientific

    ropositions.

    Pragmatism

    s

    by

    nature

    a

    theory

    of science. The aim

    of

    this

    work is

    to transform

    the

    dispute

    over the

    pragmatic concept

    of

    truth

    into

    a dis-

    cussion

    of

    the

    pragmatic

    conception

    of

    science. It

    is

    an

    expression

    of

    the

    conviction

    that

    the

    pragmatic

    theory

    of

    science s

    meaningful

    nd

    fruitful:

    though

    admittedly

    ts

    scope

    can onlybe estimated fter t has been tested n practice.

    The

    outbreak of World War I

    abruptly

    broke

    off the

    development

    of

    the

    pragmatism

    ebate

    that

    had

    begun

    to

    spread

    through

    Germany

    n

    the

    pre-war

    years.

    The fact that

    it was not

    resumed

    fter

    the war

    is

    one of

    the

    most

    significant

    acunae in the

    history

    of

    German

    philosophy.

    Instead

    of a

    productive exchange

    of ideas

    there

    arose

    a

    long

    chain of

    misunderstandings

    nd

    misconceptions

    f

    American

    pragmatism,

    rigi-

    nating

    from

    some of

    the most

    eminentGerman

    philosophers,

    nd

    passed

    on with

    an

    amazingly

    uncritical

    self-assurance

    o

    others.

    The most fateful role was

    perhaps

    that

    played

    by

    Max

    Sender's

    influential

    reatise Erkenntnis

    und

    Arbeit.

    Eine

    Studie ber

    Wert

    und

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    28 Klaus Oehler

    Grenzendes

    pragmatischen

    otivs n der Erkcnntnis

    er

    Welt .5

    Although

    Scheler

    discusses

    Peirce's

    pragmatic

    maxim,

    there

    is

    every

    reason

    to

    suppose

    that

    he knew

    only

    the

    Jamesian

    version

    and

    had not

    actually

    read

    Peirce.

    But

    even

    Scheler's

    critique

    of

    James

    s now

    desperately

    n

    need

    of

    revision,

    and

    his assessment

    f

    pragmatism

    n

    general

    betray

    prejudices

    against

    American

    culture that were

    typical

    of

    cultivated

    Europeans

    n

    the

    twenties,

    igns

    of a resistance owards

    the

    strange

    and

    the

    unfamiliar

    n

    as far

    as

    it

    threatened o

    expose

    the

    presuppositions

    n

    which theirown

    position

    rested. This remained

    typical

    of the German

    attitude

    to

    pragmatism

    between the wars.

    Of

    course,

    there

    were

    ex-

    ceptions.

    Gustav

    Mllcr's

    account

    of Peirce's

    thought

    n the

    Archiv

    fr

    Geschichteder

    Philosophies

    93

    1,8

    shows

    not

    only

    insight

    nto

    the

    struc-

    ture of

    Peirce's

    logic

    and

    metaphysics,

    but

    also discovers

    links

    with

    German

    thought,

    n

    particular

    with

    Hegel, Schelling

    and

    the

    romantics,

    which

    might

    have done

    much

    to clear

    the

    way

    for

    a more

    sympathetic

    Peirce

    reception.

    In

    practice,

    exceptions

    such as this

    had little

    effect

    on

    the main

    development.

    Not even the comparativelybundantsupplyof translations f works

    by pragmatists

    was

    sufficient

    o induce a

    change.

    James'

    The Will

    to

    Believe

    and

    Other

    Essays

    in

    Popular

    Philosophy

    had

    appeared

    as

    early

    as

    1899 in a

    translation

    by

    Thomas Lorenz. In

    1907 there

    followed

    the

    translation

    nto

    German

    of

    James'

    Varieties

    of Religious

    Experience

    by

    Georg

    Wobbermin and

    in

    1914

    A

    Pluralistic Universe.

    F. C. S.

    Schiller's

    Studies in

    Humanism

    appeared

    n

    translation

    by

    Rudolf

    Eisler

    as

    Humanismus:

    Beitrdge

    zu

    einer

    pragmatischenPhilosophie.

    Several

    works

    by

    John

    Dewey

    were

    also

    translated

    nto German

    immediately

    after

    their

    appearance

    in

    the

    United

    States.

    Although

    pragmatism

    became betterknown as a resultof these efforts t was not destinedto

    take

    root

    at

    that

    point

    in

    German

    history.

    The

    most

    prominent

    victim

    of

    Scheler's

    misguided

    nterpretation

    f

    pragmatism

    was Max

    Horkheimer,

    whose

    critique

    of

    pragmatism

    was

    directly

    nfluenced

    y

    Scheler.7

    Like

    Scheler,

    Horkheimerhad

    probably

    read

    nothing

    by

    Peirce.

    The

    impression

    hat

    Horkheimer

    gave

    when

    teaching

    was that

    -

    even

    as

    an

    emigr

    n

    the

    United

    States

    he had not

    taken

    American

    philosophy

    eriously.

    That

    this

    was

    a

    characteristic

    f

    members

    of

    the

    Frankfurt

    School has

    been

    confirmed

    y

    Martin

    Jay's

    The

    Dialectical

    Imagination.0

    In New

    York

    the

    Institu

    pursued

    a

    policy

    of

    separatism,

    motivated

    by

    a

    need

    to

    maintain

    ts

    own

    identity

    and

    survive as a

    consciously

    German

    entity.

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    Notes on ReceptionofAmericanPragmatismn Germany,1899-1952 29

    The Institutes utsider

    tatus,

    despite

    ts

    connectionswith such

    prestigious

    enefactors

    s Columbia

    University

    nd the

    Ameri-

    can

    Jewish

    Committee,

    was thus secure.

    The costs this entailed

    were obvious.

    Although

    often n some

    contact

    with

    the

    regular

    faculty

    at

    Columbia,

    the FrankfurtSchool remained

    generally

    outside the

    mainstream of American academic

    life.

    This

    allowed it to

    make

    assumptions,

    uch

    as

    the

    equation

    of

    prag-

    matism with positivism,that lacked complete validity. It

    also cut

    the Institut off from

    potential

    allies

    in

    the

    American

    intellectual

    tradition,

    uch as

    George

    Herbert Mead.9

    As

    though by way

    of

    compensation,pragmatism

    particularly

    as

    taught

    by

    James

    and

    Dewey

    -

    found

    an echo

    which has

    gone

    almost

    unnoticed until the

    present day,

    but

    which was nonetheless

    mportant,

    in

    Arnold Gehlen's Der

    Menscb. Seine

    Natur

    uni

    seine

    Stellung

    in

    der

    Welt.10 Two

    years

    previously

    there

    had

    appeared

    E.

    Baumgarten's

    Der Pragmatismus. . W. Emerson,W. James, . Dewey (1938), a

    comprehensive

    nd

    informative

    tudy

    on which Gehlen

    was able

    to draw.

    Gehlen was induced

    to

    look

    upon

    pragmatism

    s

    an

    ally by

    the

    fact

    that

    t attributed central

    philosophical

    mportance

    o action.

    The idea of

    pragmatism

    was to be conceived

    ater

    on,

    by

    Mach

    and Sorel for

    example,

    independently

    f the

    American

    move-

    ment

    beginning

    with

    Peirce

    in

    1878;

    in

    fact there s

    a

    strong

    basis

    for

    t in Aristotle

    nd above

    all in

    Hobbes.

    As

    pragmatism

    is the only philosophyto date that fundamentally ees man

    as a

    being

    that

    acts,

    its

    standpoint

    is,

    at least

    at

    present,

    preferable

    o

    any

    other.11

    Correspondingly,

    ehlen sees

    a

    major

    step

    forward

    n

    the

    basic

    prag-

    mtist thesis

    that

    all

    psychical

    processes,

    ncluding

    the

    pre-linguistic

    ones,

    are

    communicative

    n nature.

    James9

    dentification f

    mental

    processes

    with action

    involving

    the

    anticipation

    of ends

    and

    means

    is

    extended

    by

    Dewey,

    in

    as

    far

    as

    he shows

    that

    this

    anticipation

    s not

    an

    isolated

    process,

    but

    that the basic structure

    f

    all mental

    phenomena

    is

    action directed

    towards another.*'12

    A reference

    o Mead would have

    been

    appropriate

    here.

    There is no doubt

    that

    Gehlens

    Der Mensch is

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    30 Klaus Oehler

    the

    first

    large-scale

    application

    of

    pragmatic

    principles

    in German

    thought.

    It

    is

    genuinely

    pragmatic;

    it

    was born from

    the

    spirit

    of

    pragmatism.

    In the

    thirties here

    were

    already

    isolated

    signs

    of the

    beginning

    of

    a

    new

    phase

    in

    the

    reception

    of

    pragmatism

    n

    Germany

    which

    has

    continued

    until

    the

    present

    day.

    Its

    main

    discovery

    has been

    that

    Charles

    Sanders

    Peirce

    was

    the true

    father of

    American

    pragmatism.

    At

    the

    beginning

    of

    this

    new

    development

    we find Heinrich Scholz's

    review

    of the firstfive volumes of Peirce's Collected

    Papers

    in the Deutsche

    Literaturzeitung 1934,

    1936).

    There

    followed

    n 1937

    a short

    article

    in the

    Deutsches

    Aielsblatt.

    The

    author was

    Jrgen

    von

    Kempski,

    and

    the

    appearance

    in

    1952 of his

    book

    Charles

    S.

    Peirce

    uni der

    Prag-

    matistnus13

    arks

    the real

    beginning

    f the modern

    phase

    n the

    reception

    of

    pragmatism

    n

    Germany.

    Since

    then,

    James,

    Dewey

    and

    Schiller

    have

    come

    to

    be

    judged

    increasingly

    n relation to

    Peirce.

    II.

    That the receptionof pragmatism, nd particularly eirce's thinking,

    should

    -

    with

    the above

    noted

    exceptions

    -

    have

    proved

    such

    a

    laborious

    process

    in

    Germany

    is

    not without

    irony.

    Some

    years

    ago,

    Heidegger's

    Sein uni Xeit

    (1927)

    was

    translated nto

    English,14

    making

    his

    existential

    ontology

    accessible to American

    philosophers

    s

    a whole

    for the

    first

    ime.

    Since then it has

    been

    interesting

    o note

    that

    many

    of

    them

    have

    reacted

    by

    pointing

    out

    the similarities

    etween

    this

    form

    of

    existential

    philosophy

    nd

    pragmatism

    s

    it

    arose

    and

    developed

    in

    America.

    This

    is

    not

    the

    result

    of

    a

    misconception

    n

    the

    part

    of

    the

    Americans. Over

    forty years

    ago, qualified opinion

    -

    particularly

    among emigrantGerman philosophers had drawn attentionto this

    parallelism,

    nd

    many today

    still believe that

    the sensational

    reception

    accorded to

    Heidegger's

    book

    by

    the

    German

    philosophical

    world

    n 1927

    would have

    been

    tempered

    -

    without

    detracting

    from

    Heidegger's

    achievement had

    Germans

    been more familiar with

    the

    pragmatist

    tradition. The

    material ink

    between

    Peirce's

    pragmatism

    nd

    the more

    recent existentialist

    movement,

    founded in

    Heidegger's

    existential

    ontology,

    is

    the central

    importance

    attached to the

    analysis

    of

    pre-

    scientific

    xperience.

    Both

    Peirce and

    Heidegger

    view

    subjectivity

    not

    through

    he

    mirror f

    epistemological

    eflection,

    ut as

    -

    in a

    Heideg-

    gerian

    German - Dasein in

    language

    and

    history.

    This means that

    Peirce,

    like

    Heidegger

    after

    him,

    can be found

    posing

    the

    question

    of

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    Notes on Receptionof AmericanPragmatismn Germany,1899-1952 31

    the

    meaning

    of

    existence,

    nd that Peirce sees

    reality

    not

    as

    the

    anti-

    thesisof

    subjectivity,

    ut

    as

    something

    hat is

    always

    already

    mediated

    by

    the

    sign

    process

    (semiosis).

    The hermeneutic

    language

    in

    which

    Heidegger expresses

    himself

    should not

    be allowed to

    disguise congruence

    with

    pragmatist

    hinking

    at

    many points.

    Heidegger's

    ntention

    n Sein und

    TLeitwas to renew

    the

    question

    of the

    meaning

    of

    existence,

    question

    that is

    already

    somehow

    understood

    whenever

    t

    becomes

    a

    topic

    of conversation.

    There is

    always

    an

    average

    understanding

    hat dominates he

    question,

    nd the

    problem

    is

    to

    recognize

    this,

    and see

    through

    t. Existence must

    be

    questioned

    with

    regard

    to

    its self

    evidence,

    the

    multiplicity

    f

    meanings

    through

    which

    existence

    perceives

    entities must be

    made

    explicit.

    It is

    through

    the

    manifold

    significance

    f entities

    that

    the

    constitution

    of

    existence

    becomes

    xperience,

    nd

    hence

    experience

    ecomes

    the

    possibility

    f

    relat-

    ing

    to

    the

    world,

    the

    possibility

    hat determines

    he

    perspective

    under

    which the

    world

    reveals tself

    to

    me.

    Within

    the

    circle

    of

    this

    question-

    ing, knowledge

    s

    absorbed

    as a

    process

    of

    self-understanding

    hrough

    things. Knowledge occurs through nterpretation ithinsituations; t

    does

    not seek

    itself,

    t

    is not for

    its

    own

    sake;

    its

    concern

    s

    to act

    ade-

    quately

    to

    situations,

    o

    know

    one's

    business

    where

    he

    business

    s com-

    mon

    property.

    Dasein can be

    interpreted

    nd

    reinterpreted

    ndefinitely.

    The future reveals

    a

    new

    reality,

    nd

    in the

    light

    of

    a new

    reality

    the

    past

    also

    takes on a new

    appearance.

    While

    travelling

    orward

    nto

    a new

    reality

    n the

    future,

    man is

    at

    the

    same

    time on

    his

    way

    into

    a new

    past.

    As existence s illuminated

    n this

    way,

    truth

    comes

    into

    being.

    Not

    just

    the individual

    s individual

    s

    involved,

    but also

    the other

    as other.

    It

    is,

    perhaps,

    n the decisive

    significance

    ttached

    to the

    other

    in

    the

    inter-

    pretation f Ufethatpragmatismndexistentialismavemost n common.

    Knowledge

    is

    always

    situated

    within

    a horizon

    that

    is not

    itself

    determinable

    n terms f

    knowledge.

    This

    is

    what

    Heidegger

    has

    in

    mind

    when

    he

    says

    that

    knowledge

    s

    a founded

    mode of

    Being-in-

    he-

    world.

    It

    is

    also

    the

    message

    behind

    pragmatic

    relativism:

    all

    knowledge

    is

    relative to

    a situation.

    The truth value

    of

    knowledge

    ies

    in

    the

    clarifi-

    cation of

    situations,

    n the fact

    that

    particular

    operations

    belong

    to

    particular

    situations.

    Pragmatism

    has also

    done

    much

    to

    uncover

    the

    concealed

    presuppositions

    f

    modern

    science.

    Long

    before

    Heidegger

    it

    had shown what sort of pre-scientificnd pre-philosophical xperience

    of the world

    must be

    presupposed

    f science

    is

    to

    emerge.

    This

    level of

    awareness

    on

    top

    of

    the

    so-called

    natural

    standpoint

    s

    apriori,

    but

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  • 7/26/2019 Oehler - Notes on the Reception of American Pragmatism in Germany, 1899-1952

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    32 Klaus Oehler

    not

    in the

    way

    assumed

    by

    classical transcendental

    philosophy.

    The

    pragmatists

    were

    quick

    to

    see

    that the

    apriori

    in

    its full

    scope

    is not

    simply

    identical with

    the conditions of

    the

    possibility

    of

    objective

    knowledge

    of

    objects,

    but that

    this

    also

    implies

    that

    basic

    understanding

    which

    life

    has

    prior

    to

    all

    conceptual

    determination

    f

    reality.

    The

    foundationof

    existence occurs within the

    sphere

    of

    this

    understanding.

    It

    seems to me that

    on this

    basic

    question

    it

    is indeed

    justifiable

    to

    equate

    the

    teachings

    of Peirce and

    Heidegger.

    It is thus not

    surprising

    hat an

    important

    ole is

    played

    in

    pragmatic

    idealism

    by

    the

    interpretation

    f

    our

    implicit

    understanding

    f

    things.

    For

    Peirce this

    applies

    not

    merely

    o

    the

    critique

    of

    words

    but to

    trends

    of

    thought.

    As his

    paper

    on

    The Fixation of

    Belief

    shows,

    the

    historical

    dimensionmust

    be

    absorbed within

    philosophical

    method.

    In

    Germany

    this

    method,

    following Dilthey

    and

    Heidegger,

    is

    known

    as

    hermeneutics,

    ut

    its basic

    characteristics ave

    been

    part

    of

    American

    philosophical

    thinking

    for

    at

    least

    a

    century.

    There is

    even

    a

    case

    to

    be

    made for

    maintaining

    that

    the

    historico-hermeneutical

    mode

    of

    thoughthas been specificto Americanphilosophicalthinkingsince its

    beginnings.

    This

    tendencymay

    have

    something

    o do

    with the

    uniquely

    American

    synthesis

    f

    a

    variety

    f

    European philosophical

    nd

    theological

    traditions. t is

    certain,

    t

    any

    rate,

    that

    philosophical

    hermeneutics

    as

    never been a German

    monopoly,

    and

    it

    can

    be

    argued

    that

    it

    is

    only

    thanks

    to

    Peirce and

    other

    American

    epistemologists

    that

    certain

    anachronistic

    figures

    of

    thought,

    carried over from

    Kantianism

    into

    Germanhermeneutic

    hilosophy,eading

    to

    the

    hypostatisation

    f

    language

    as the

    subject

    of

    history,

    ave

    been excised.

    Language,

    the structures

    f

    which are

    continually

    being

    transformedn the course of

    history,

    must

    also be seenas mediated. It was also Peirce who recognizedthe pressure

    exerted

    by

    reality

    n the

    structure f

    language:

    the force or

    resistance

    f

    external

    nature,

    and the

    force

    or

    compulsion

    of social

    power

    structures.

    With

    uncanny

    insight

    he describes in The

    Fixation

    of

    Belief

    the

    methods

    f total domination n a

    way

    that freeshim of

    any suspicion

    of

    having

    failed to

    recognize

    the

    objective

    frameworkwithin

    which social

    behaviour must

    be understood

    -

    or of

    sublimating

    t to

    a

    politico-*

    socially

    neutral evel. The

    American

    pragmatists

    were

    always

    well

    aware

    that

    the

    objective

    framework n the basis of which

    alone social

    action

    can

    be understood

    s constituted

    by language,

    work

    and

    power.

    The

    names of

    Peirce,

    James,

    Dewey

    and Mead

    have

    long

    since

    become

    symbols

    f

    this

    knowledgethroughout

    he world. If

    there eems

    to

    be

    a

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    Notes on Receptionof AmericanPragmatismn Germany,1899-1952 33

    need

    today

    to

    bring

    home to

    German

    philosophical

    hermeneutics

    hat

    tradition s not an

    absolute

    power,

    and

    that

    the real

    problem

    s to

    make

    tradition

    omprehensible

    ithin the

    structure

    f social

    life,

    so

    that

    we

    can

    give

    conditions

    outside tradition

    ccording

    to

    which transcendental

    rules

    governing

    the world view and action

    vary empirically ,16

    hen

    it

    only

    serves s a reminder

    f

    how much German

    philosophical

    hermeneu-

    tics could

    long ago

    have

    learnt from the American

    pragmatists.

    nstead

    their heories

    ave

    for

    decades been

    gnorantly

    efamed

    s

    Americanism .

    Just

    how stubborn his

    prejudice

    s,

    and how

    deeply-rooted

    n German

    thinking,

    n

    example

    will show. In

    1966,

    a

    conversation

    took

    place

    between Martin

    Heidegger

    and

    the editor

    of the German

    weekly maga-

    zine,

    Der

    Spiegel,

    Rudolf

    Augstein.

    Heidegger

    requested

    that

    the con-

    versation hould not

    be

    published

    during

    his lifetime.

    He saw

    it as

    an

    opportunity

    o answer criticisms

    that

    had

    been made

    of

    his attitude

    during

    the Third

    Reich

    and to offer n

    explanation

    of his

    behaviour.

    The conversationwas

    published

    after his death

    in 1976 under

    the

    title:

    Nur noch ein Gott

    kann

    uns retten .18

    Even

    in this

    final

    statement,

    made at the end of a long life, Heidegger was unable to resistde-

    nouncing

    the

    Americans'

    pragmatism ,

    which he

    identifies

    with

    posi-

    tivism:

    They [the Americans]

    are still

    caught up

    in a

    type

    of

    thinking

    that,

    as

    pragmatism,

    romotes

    echnical

    operation

    nd

    manipulation,

    ut

    at the same time bars the

    way

    to

    an awareness

    of the

    specific

    character

    of modern

    technology.

    There

    are,

    nevertheless,

    here

    and

    there in

    America

    attempts

    being

    made to break

    away

    from

    pragmatic-positivist

    thinking. 17

    When he was in

    Hamburg

    in

    1967

    Heidegger

    told

    me

    that

    pragmatism

    was

    nothing

    but

    a

    Weltanschauung

    for

    engineers

    nd

    not

    for human

    beings

    n the full sense of

    the word .

    The

    alignment

    f

    prag-

    matismwithpositivisms typicalof the superficial iew of pragmatism

    held

    by

    the German

    middle-class

    during

    the

    first

    half this

    century.

    Hitler's hatred

    of

    Americanism

    was a

    perverted

    form of

    this

    Anti-

    americanism,

    hich he

    gave

    vent

    to in one

    of his

    monologues

    n 1942

    at

    the

    Fhrerhauptquartier :

    I

    have

    a hatred and

    an aversion of

    the

    deepest

    sort

    against

    Americanism.

    There

    is not

    a

    single

    European

    state

    with which one feels

    ess

    sympathy .18

    Although

    a new

    picture

    of

    the

    philosophy

    f

    American

    pragmatism

    has

    developed

    mong

    informedGerman

    philosophers

    ince

    the renaissance

    of interestn Peirce, t would be unrealistic o assertthat for the mass

    of

    public

    opinion

    in

    Germany

    and

    Europe

    as a whole

    the word

    prag-

    matism is

    free of

    prejudices.

    To

    the

    average,

    uninformed

    mind,

    it

    is

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    34 Klaus Oehler

    today

    still

    vaguely

    associated with the

    conception,

    which

    Heidegger

    so

    clearly

    but

    erroneously

    ut

    into

    words,

    of

    something

    hat

    promotes

    technical

    operation

    nd

    manipulation,

    ut

    at

    the

    same time

    bars

    the

    way

    to

    an

    awareness

    f the

    specific

    haracter

    f modern

    technology .

    Anyone

    who

    knows

    the

    history

    f

    American

    pragmatism

    from Peirce

    to

    Dewey

    will

    realise that

    just

    the

    opposite

    s the

    case.

    Universitat

    amburg

    NOTES

    *

    Translator's

    ote: This is

    an

    authorized ranslation f

    a

    text

    based

    on Klaus

    Oehler's

    ntroductions

    o

    the

    Jerusalem

    ranslation f

    James'

    Pragmatism

    W. James,

    Der

    Pragmatismo:

    Ein

    Neuer

    Name

    fur

    alte

    Denkmetboden,

    elix

    Meiner

    Verlag,

    Hamburg

    1977)

    and to his

    own translation f Peirce's

    How to

    Make Our

    Ideas

    Clear

    (Charles

    S.

    Peirce,

    Ueber

    die

    Klarbeitunserer

    Gedanken,

    ittorio

    Klostermann

    Frankfurtm

    Main,

    1968)

    -

    John

    topford,

    niversity

    f

    Hamburg,

    xford

    University.

    1. WilhelmJerusalem,McincWege und Ziclc in RaymundSchmidt d., Die

    Pbilosopbie

    er

    Gegenwart

    n

    Selbstdarstellungen,

    II

    (Leipzig:

    Felix

    Meiner

    erlag, 922)

    S3-9S.

    2.

    Bericht

    ber

    den

    III.

    Internationalen

    ongress

    r

    Philosophic

    u

    Heidelberg

    1.

    bis

    5.

    September

    908,

    Th.

    Elsenhans

    d.,

    (Heidelberg,

    909).

    3.

    Ludwig

    Stein,

    Pragmatism

    n Archiv

    fur

    Gescbicbte

    der

    Pbilosopbie,

    XI,

    1909

    (Berlin:

    Carl

    HaymannsVerlag).

    4.

    Gnther

    acoby,

    er

    Pragmatismo.

    Neue Babncn n

    der

    Wissenscbaftslebre

    es

    AusUnds.

    Eine

    WrdigungLeipzig:

    Drr,

    1909).

    5.

    Max

    Schei

    r,

    Erkenntnis nd

    Arbeit. Eine

    Studie

    ber Wert

    und

    Grenzen

    e*

    pragmatischen

    otivs in

    der

    Erkenntnis er Welt

    in Die

    Wissens

    ormen

    und

    die

    Gesellscbaft,Leipzig:Der Neue-Geist erlag,1926), 231-486.

    6.

    Gustar

    Mller,

    Charles

    Peirce n

    Archiv

    fr

    Gescbicbte

    er

    Pbilosopbie,

    L,

    1931

    (Berlin:

    Carl

    Hermanns

    Verlag),

    227-238.

    See also

    E.

    Waibel,

    Der

    Pragmatismo

    hi

    der

    Gescbicbte

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    in

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    Semiotiscben

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    ed.,

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    7.

    Cf.,

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    (1935)

    in Kritiscbe

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    (Frankfurt-am-Main:

    .

    Fischer,

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    228-76 and

    Zur Kritikder instru-

    mentellen

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    m

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    967).

    8.

    Martin

    Jay,

    The

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    magination:

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    History

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    chool

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    the nstitute

    f

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    Boston:

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    9. Ibid.,p. 289.

    10.

    Arnold

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    er

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    und

    seine

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  • 7/26/2019 Oehler - Notes on the Reception of American Pragmatism in Germany, 1899-1952

    12/12

    NotesonReceptionfAmericanragmatismnGermany,899-1952 35

    11.

    Ibid.,

    pp.

    326f.

    12.

    Ibid., p.

    18*.

    13.

    Jrgcn

    on

    Kempski,

    harles

    Sanders

    Prirce

    nnd der

    Pragmatismus

    Stuttgart:

    Kohlhammer,

    952).

    14. Martin

    Heidegger,

    eing

    and

    Time,

    tr.

    John

    Macquarrie

    nd

    Edward

    Robinson

    (Oxford:

    Basil

    Blackwell,

    9*2).

    If.

    Jrgcn

    Habermas,

    Zur

    Logik

    der Sozialwissenschaften

    n

    Pb'tlosopbiscbe

    Rundschau,

    eiheft

    ,

    1967,

    179.

    16. Der

    Spiegel,

    976,

    No.

    23,

    pp.

    193-219.

    17. Ibid.,p. 214.

    18.

    Adolf

    Hitler.

    Monologe

    m

    FMbrerbauptquartier,

    941-1944.

    Albrecht

    Knauer

    Vcrlag,

    Hamburg,

    980,

    tub 7.1. 1942.