oa Hermann Cohen, joods filosoof

*Lezing gehouden op 28 januari 1991 aan de VU in het kader van een cyclus over joodse filosofie. Doelstelling van deze cyclus was 1) licht te werpen op het specifieke van het joodse denken en 2) na te gaan, of er wel van joodse filosofie gesproken kan worden.

The question dealt with in this article is whether the thought of Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) can be considered a good example of ‘Jewish philosophy’, that is, of a seamless combination of Judaism and (in Cohen’s case: Kantian) philosophy. Three reasons for nuancing the affirmation of this combination are discussed. These are related to the genesis, the outcome and the systematic content of Cohen’s thought. Although each of these three respects requires some qualification of the affirmation under discussion, the general conclusion of the article is that they are not momentous enough to subvert it.