RESUMO 07 | PALESTRA INTERNACIONAL

Frege, Cohen and the issue of origins: An early parting of the ways

RECK, Erich | University of California Riverside, Germany

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the relationship between analytic philosophy and other philosophical traditions, including episodes that constitute “partings of the way” between them. At the center of this talk will be an early, so far neglected example, namely a brief interaction between Gottlob Frege and Hermann Cohen. This interaction consisted of a review of Cohen’s 1883 book, Das Prinzip der Infinitesimal Methode und seine Geschichte, published by Frege in 1885. Cohen’s book would turn out to be highly influential within Marburg Neo-Kantianism, although it was also always contentious in some respects. Outside that school, it provoked strong criticisms, e.g., by Georg Cantor and Bertrand Russell. Frege is critical in his review too, but in an unusual, interesting way, namely by pointing to certain methodological differences. These differences illustrate well a main divergence between analytic and continental philosophy, but also one with respect to which there might be a “merging of minds” again today. The core issue is the role the history of philosophy can play for systematic philosophy.