German Philosophy and Theory After 1945

Catalog description

"To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric," Theodor Adorno wrote after the end of World War II, casting doubt on the poet's ability to capture the horrors of the third Reich. But what about theory or philosophy? Is philosophy better equipped to meet the social and cultural demands of life in postwar Germany? In this course, we will explore the wide range of philosophical movements and topics taken up by German thinkers after 1945, from post-war existentialism and the Frankfurt school to the philosophical Anthropology of Arnold Gehlen and Peter Sloterdijk. How does meaning making relate to the writing of history in Hannah Arendt and Hans Jonas? What role does history play in Gadamer's hermeneutics or Blumenberg's metaphorology? How do Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Kittler, and Niklas Luhmann respond to the development of new technology? And how do these analyses relate to the myriad cultural and political concerns that emerged in a rapidly complexifying society? Taught in German and English.