ArgumentThe paper is based on a hitherto unexplored document (audiotape of an interview accompanied by a German transcript) from 1953, located in the Freud Papers at the Library of Congress. It contributes to a better understanding of the impact of Freud and of Psychoanalysis on personalities from the exact sciences, here represented by the noted applied mathematicians Richard von Mises and Hilda Geiringer from Vienna. The detailed discussion of the interview sheds some new light on the different roles of Kraus (...) and Freud in the Vienna culture, on the Vienna Jugendkulturbewegung (youth culture movement) during WWI in which Geiringer was involved, on Freud’s and Siegfried Bernfeld’s standing around 1930 among German philosophers and psychologists, and on Wilhelm Fließ’ theory of periodicity, which von Mises—based on his attitude as an applied mathematician—defended against superficial accusations. Finally, new biographical material is provided for von Mises and the remotely related Freud family, and for Geiringer’s and von Mises’ early lives. The interview, which was taken during the Cold War, also allows conclusions as to how politics influenced the memories and views of the participants. Part of the aim of the paper is historical documentation of unknown material (letters by Karl Kraus and Wolfgang Köhler, one book review by Wilhelm Ostwald, a file on Richard Pfennig), including some correction of erroneous information in the literature. (shrink)

What follows shall provide an introduction to a predominantly philosophical and polemical, but historically revealing, paper on the foundations of the theory of probability. The leading Russian probabilist Aleksandr Yakovlevich Khinchin wrote the paper in the late 1930s, commenting on a slightly older, but still competing approach to probability theory by Richard von Mises. Together with the even more influential Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, who was nine years his junior, Khinchin had revolutionized probability theory around 1930 by introducing the modern measure-theoretic (...) approach, which is still standard today and which allowed for a sufficiently general treatment of important new notions such as “stochastic processes.” This development had its first culmination in Kolmogorov's booklet, Grundbegriffe der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung, written in German in 1933, which has exerted an enormous influence world wide. (shrink)

The article discusses the “paradox of the late (around 1940) arrival of academic applied mathematics in the U.S.” as compared to Europe, in particular Germany. A short description of both the indigenous traditions in the U.S. and (in some more detail) of the transfer of scientific ideas, persons, and ideals originating in Europe, particularly in Germany, is given, and some theses, relevant literature, and a tentative solution of the “paradox” are provided.

Modem theory of law in a certain extent needs theological foundation. The dialogue of both law and theology, however, requires specific presuppositions in theological understanding. Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology in its peculiar character of combining theological »paradoxon« and openess for cultural recognition meets these demands.

Modem theory of law in a certain extent needs theological foundation. The dialogue of both law and theology, however, requires specific presuppositions in theological understanding. Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology in its peculiar character of combining theological »paradoxon« and openess for cultural recognition meets these demands.

After National Socialism had destroyed any tradition in the history of thought, humanities in post-war Germany answered by criticizing this tradition, initiating a number of projects in the field of the history of concept. Erich Rothacker and Carl Schmitt, both compromised by National Socialism, can be seen here as predecessors of Joachim Ritter and also of Hans-Georg Gadamer. The letters, of which there are only a few, display consensus as well as dissent between the writers.

Hermann Lübbe’s distinctive contribution to conceptual history needs to be seen in the discipline’s wider political context in post-war Germany. This contribution outlines the cultural conditions, intellectual backgrounds and institutional prerequisites of Lübbe’s pertinent work. An additional focus is twofold: On the one hand, the article describes Lübbe’s inimitable rhetoric of presence as a means of keeping philosophy in touch with contemporary real-world problems; on the other, it explores the question of how this philosopher’s style and conceptual productivity translate into (...) the peculiarities of a late work that awaits posterity’s interest and judgement in ever more changing and uncontrollable times. (shrink)

Die Dokumentation ist eine zentrale Quelle zur Geschichte der deutsch-judischen Emigrationsphilosophie. ARthur Liebert (1878-1946) war bis 1933 in Berlin der zentrale Organisator der Kant-Gesellschaft und Kant-Studien; Emil Utitz (1883-1956) profilierte als Ordinarius in Halle die philosophische Asthetik und Charakterologie; Liebert emigrierte 1933 nach Belgrad, 1939 nach England und kehrte 1946 nach Berlin zuruck; Utitz wechselte nach Prag, uberlebte das KZ Theresienstadt und blieb dann nach 1945 in Prag. BEide begrundeten nach 1933 philosophische Gesellschaften, die eng miteinander kooperierten und in der (...) Sicherung des Nachlasses von Edmund Husserl sowie der Herausgabe der Emigrationsfachzeitschrift Philosophia bis 1939 wichtige Aufgaben fanden. Das Buch rekonstruiert ihr Emigrationsschicksal, dokumentiert es durch die erhaltene Korrespondenz zwischen Utitz und Liebert sowie weitere sehr gewichtige Korrespondenzen und macht das Spatwerk der Autoren mit weithin unbekannten Texten zuganglich. Es erganzt die 2015 bei K&N erschienene Edition Ethik nach Theresienstadt. SPate Texte des Prager Philosophen Emil Utitz (1883-1956) historisch-biographisch. (shrink)

This essay points out the great importance of the recently published exchange of letters between Carl Schmitt and his publisher Ludwig Feuchtwanger. Using unknown letters, it also outlines Schmitt's relationship with Jewish intellectuals before 1933, describes the dramatic development of the political-theological controversy, and honors Feuchtwanger as a postassimilationist Jewish intellectual and legal historian.