A Constellation analysis between Germany and France. Digitalyzing Max Scheler

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthias Schloßberger
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 469960485

The current popularity of Scheler's philosophy is supported by a re-evaluation of his fundamental contributions to the theory of intersubjectivity, the philosophy of feelings and the theory of values. However, many reinterpretations do not see Scheler as an isolated thinker but consider him an author whose thought movements can only be understood from constellations within early phenomenology. The applicants share this perspective but are of the opinion that the eminent French influence on Scheler’s philosophy must also be taken into account. Scheler was in contact with many French authors and gained many crucial insights from these contacts, on the other hand his thoughts made a remarkable impact in France, which was essential for the establishment of phenomenology in France. How did Scheler's broad reception in France come about? Perhaps only a juxtaposition of different factors can answer this question. The attraction of the public intellectual must be also considered: Scheler impressed with brilliant diagnoses of his times. The aim of the project is to combine the current research on the development of Scheler's thinking and its reception in order to understand the Franco-German constellations within Scheler’s thought as well as Scheler’s impact on French intellectual history. The approach of constellation analysis makes it necessary to combine the content-related questions of our philosophical-historical project with an editorial undertaking. The basic thesis of constellation research is the assumption that thinking can only be understood through relationships with others. For our context, this means (1) dealing with Scheler's immediate environment, which can be reconstructed by including letters and lectures and the specific milieus of the journals in which Scheler published. (2) Many important traces for a constellation analysis can be found in unpublished materials. (3) Constellation analysis not only wants to reconstruct the author of a text in his environment, but also his thought movements in this environment. (4) The development of thought movements can be reconstructed particularly well based on the development of texts which - as was often the case with Scheler - have repeatedly been supplemented and revised. The historical-critical edition of texts is therefore a condition for the possibility of a comprehensive approach to constellation analysis. Hence, our project relies on the development of a digital database. Such a database could at the same time provide a way out of the often-described desolate textual situation of Scheler's Collected Works. The textual material will be presented on an open-access-website which allows every interested scholar to work with it.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France, Russia
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Gerald Hartung; Dr. Christian Sternad; Professorin Dr. Ingrid Vendrell Ferran
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Olivier Agard; Professor Dr. Mikhail Khorkov, until 3/2022