BA - Philosophy

2005

BA -- Philosophy

Philosophinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts [Women Philosophers of the 20th Century]. Ed. Regine Munz. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2004. 284 p. 23 cm. ISBN 3-534-16494-6: EUR 29.90 [05-1-057]

Although women philosophers have made an indispensable impact on 20th-century philosophy, they are rarely if ever included in the important survey works, says the editor of this volume. Included here are twelve women: Edith Stein, Lynn Hankinson Nelson, Sandra Harding, Simone Weil, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Agnes Heller, Iris Murdoch, Judith Butler, Susanne K. Langer, Seyla Benhabib, and Luce Irigaray. The portraits vary in form and content, in part because of differences in the status of research. Bibliographies of the philosophers’ works as well as secondary literature are included. Also included are brief bio-bibliographies of the eleven (women) contributors to this volume. [sh/ga]

Dtv-Atlas Philosophie [DTV Atlas of Philosophy]. Peter Kunzmann, and Franz-Peter Burkard, Franz Wiedmann; graphics by Axel Weiss. 11th updated and enlarged ed. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2003. 260 p. ill. 18 cm. (dtv, 3229) (dtv Atlas). ISBN 3-423-03229-4: EUR 12.50 [05-1-058]

Philosophie-Atlas: Orte und Wege des Denkens [Atlas of Philosophy: Places and Paths of Thought]. Elmar Holenstein. Zürich: Ammann, 2004. 301 p. ill. maps. 31 cm. ISBN 3-250-10479-5: SFr. 79.50, EUR 43.90 [05-1-059]

The Dtv-Atlas Philosophie, a volume in the unnumbered dtv-Atlas series, attempts to use pictorial and visual aids to present the subject area of philosophy in an easily comprehensible form. The first edition of this work was published in 1991; judging from the number of subsequent editions, the attempt has been successful. Textual explanations are given on each right-hand page, while the graphics on each left-hand page attempt to elucidate these concepts, sometimes with only limited success. The three opening chapters consist of an introduction and two essays, one on the discipline of philosophy and the other on Eastern philosophy. Then the chase through the epochs begins, starting with antiquity and reaching well into the 20th century. The bibliography is divided into primary and secondary sources, whereby the secondary sources are limited to a number of standard reference sources and some electronic resources. The volume includes indexes of subjects and persons.

The Philosophie-Atlas also uses graphics to eludicate its topic, albeit differently from the Dtv-Atlas Philosophie. It makes much heavier use of maps, placing its primary information on the maps themselves, while comments are relegated to the textual pages facing the maps. The work consists of six chapters; the first two contain introductions and essays addressing several broad themes, while chapters 3 through 6 express the geographical and cartographical orientation of the work. Each of these four chapters is dedicated to a particular region: the West (the western half of the ancient world); the South (India and the related regions of southern and central Asia); the East (East Asia); and the North (northern and western Europe, along with North America). The author has made a deliberate effort to break away from a Eurocentric orientation; compare the ample room devoted here to non-European cultures to the few pages, which the Dtv-Atlas Philosophie allots to "Eastern philosophy." As an example of this cartographical approach: map N2 is labeled "European philosophy from the 16th to 19th centuries," and its colorcoding assigns the European nations to one of five influences: Italian Renaissance; Cartesian school; British "common-sense," German idealism, or Russian "intelligentsiia." Colored lines express connections between the regions, red lines for theoretical, blue for political. Access to the work as a whole is provided by means of two detailed indexes, by personal names and by geographical regions, which together take up more than half the space in this work. A short bibliography lists only standard reference works. [sh/crc]

Wörterbuch der phänomenologischen Begriffe [Dictionary of Phenomenological Concepts]. Ed. Helmuth Vetter. Hamburg: Meiner, 2005. ix, 699 p. 20 cm. (Philosophische Bibliothek, 555). ISBN 3-7873-1689-2: EUR 34.80 [05-1-060]

This is foremost a dictionary of German phenomenology focusing mainly on its chief figures, from Husserl, Scheler, Reinach, and Heidegger to Schütz, Fink, and Gadamer. Too little attention is paid to the important women phenomenologists Edith Stein, Gerda Walther, and Hedwig Conrad-Martius. Several topics could have been better served through more adequate terminological representation: entries for religion, the eternal, holiness, and mysticism, for example, are missing; a more detailed topical index would have helped, or a keyword-searchable CD-ROM. Finally, inclusion of a broader spectrum of figures outside of the German sphere, as well as more treatment of historical contexts, would have been welcome. Overall, this term-based dictionary for the study of the major 20th-century figures of phenomenology serves a useful purpose. [ar/rlk]

Jacques Derrida: Bibliographie der französischen, deutschen und englischen Werke [Jacques Derrida: Bibliography of Works in French, German, and English]. Peter Zeillinger. Wien: Turia und Kant, 2005. 158 p. 24 cm. ISBN 3-85132420-X: EUR 18 [05-1-063]

This bibliography is an updated version of the bibliography included in Zeillinger’s 2002 dissertation listing all the writings in French, German, and English of the French philosopher and literary critic Jacques Derrida, who died in 2004. The titles include lectures, talks, seminars, as well as publications, and are organized chronologically: a structure meant to allow readers to track the evolution of Derrida’s thinking and terminology. This "genealogical" arrangement is achieved by linking the titles to each other through the use of notations consisting of the year of publication and the appropriate appendix designated by letters of the alphabet. English and German translations are listed again separately in the second part, but still linked with the first part through the notations.

The bibliographic description is based on an inspection of the actual works, and the typographic layout makes using this exhaustive resource easier. Still, an index to the titles of Derrida’s writing in the three languages would have been helpful. This work restricts itself to writings in French, German, and English but does provide a footnote listing of web sites offering bibliographies of Derrida’s works in Italian and Spanish publications. Additions and corrections to Zeillinger’s work are available at http://www.inivie.ac.at/derrida. [sh/jb]

Karl R. Popper Bibliographie 1925-2004: Wissenschaftstheorie, Sozialphilosophie, Logik, Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie, Naturwissenschaften [Karl R. Popper Bibliography 1925-2004: Philosophy of Science, Social Philosophy, Logic, Probability Theory, Natural Sciences]. Ed. Manfred Lube. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2005. 576 p. 21 cm. (Schriftenreihe der Karl Popper Foundation, Klagenfurt, 3). ISBN 3-631-53450-7: EUR 86 [05-1-065]

Because of his numerous writings across a wide thematic range, their worldwide reception, and the vast secondary literature, an international bibliography of Karl Popper that strives for comprehensiveness must necessarily be huge. Such a task would normally exceed the capabilities of a single bibliographer. But Manfred Lube, director of the Klagenfurt university library and Popper bibliographer, has at his disposal the private archives of the philosopher’s work, which his library acquired in 1995. The coverage is divided between writings by Popper and those about him and ranges from his first publications to all but the most recent secondary literature (2004). The work offers multiple points of access to its contents, providing a collected list of the titles of Popper’s publications that includes variants and titles in translations, and, for the secondary literature, an author and subject index. Because the number of works on Popper only continues to grow, a supplement will soon be necessary. [sh/js]

Martin Heidegger. Peter Trawny. Frankfurt etc.: Campus-Verlag, 2003. 191 p. 19 cm. (Campus-Einführungen). ISBN 3-593-37359-9: EUR 12.90 [05-2-315]

Martin Heidegger is one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, perhaps the most important, whose influence extends well beyond Germany. He was a professor of philosophy who became an original philosopher in his own right. At first glance, his works seem to draw upon simple concepts without resorting to specialized terminology, but this is misleading. Seemingly common words become invested with specific meanings, linking them to their etymological roots and only gradually revealing their layers of meaning. Thus, the beginner, whether a student or lay person, often finds an introduction to Heidegger’s works useful and even necessary. The author of this volume, a university instructor of philosophy, who ably demonstrates his ability to explain his complex subject to his students, has done a good job of providing such an introduction. It compares favorably to other similar works, e.g., Günter Figal and Oliver Jahraus. Biographical material does not interest Trawny, and even the controversy over Heidegger’s appointment as Rector of the University of Freiburg in 1933/34 is given short shrift. The six chapters of his book build upon each other and explain Heidegger’s philosophical concepts and terminology, while the conclusion offers a brief history of his reception by various thinkers.

There are numerous significant omissions that would make this book inadequate for Heidegger scholars and those interested in discovering the current state of Heidegger scholarship. However, Trawny’s only aim is to guide beginning students of Heidegger into an understanding of the philosopher’s essential writings and ideas. In this regard, his book is a valuable contribution and can be recommended. [frh/akb]

"Mein liebes Seelchen!": Briefe Martin Heideggers an seine Frau Elfride 1915-1970 ["My Dear Little Soul!": Letters from Martin Heidegger to his Wife Elfride, 1915-1970]. Ed. Gertrud Heidegger. München: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2005. 414 p. ill. 22 cm. ISBN 3-421-05849-0: EUR 29.90 [05-2-316]

This collection is at once the most complete and the most closed corpus of letters from Martin Heidegger ever published, yet it contains only a selection of the letters and postcards the Freiberg philosopher wrote to his wife Elfride Petri during their courtship and subsequent marriage. The editor, the eldest daughter of Heidegger’s first son, Jörg, was willed the correspondence by her grandmother, who let her decide what to do with it. She chose to publish, either to honor her grandmother’s memory or as an act of belated revenge on the oft-betrayed Elfride’s behalf. These letters are not part of the correspondence deposited with the Deutsches Literaturarchiv [German Literature Archive] in Marbach, and it is doubtful that Martin Heidegger would have wanted them published.

The volume is well made, contains several indexes, a family tree and useful annotations, along with previously unknown photos conveying images of family togetherness belied by the texts, which show a Heidegger whose early love letters quickly give way to dutiful correspondence with the air of a son writing expected letters from college, and who spent much time away from his wife, visiting his family for weeks on end, or, after 1922, living alone in the hut he built in Todtnauberg, as a sort of creative refuge. Heidegger also sought out other women, including Hannah Arendt, whose correspondence with Heidegger was published by Klostermann in 1999 (Briefe 1925 bis 1975 und andere Zeugnisse [Letters 1925-1975 and Other Testimonials]). Heidegger hid his betrayals during the early years, but as he passed the age of sixty he seemed anxious to confess to Elfride in search of absolution. Amid decades of correspondence documenting an increasingly distant marriage, only one letter from Elfride survives. In it she asks him just what it is that actually binds him to her, since it is "not love, not trust."

This private correspondence, though full of banal details of food, sleep, bad train connections and the like, reveals few biographical details that would be new to readers of the biographies by Rüdiger Safranski (Ein Meister aus Deutschland: Heidegger und seine Zeit, 1997) and Hugo Ott (Martin Heidegger: unterwegs zu seiner Biographie, 1992). There is particularly little in these letters about Heidegger’s 1933 appointment as rector or his 1946 teaching ban, either because he lived with his wife during more stressful times or because the letters have been lost.

The volume has been cleaned up. It contains several indexes, a genealogical table, and useful introductory passages. One of the most valuable features are the unknown photographs of the family’s private life, which show a harmony of conjugal living and an idyllic sense of place that one, after reading these letters, can no longer regard as honest. [frh/rb]

Martin und Fritz Heidegger: Philosophie und Fastnacht. [Martin and Fritz Heidegger: Philosophy and Shrovetide]. Hans Dieter Zimmermann. 2d ed. München: Beck, 2005. 172 p. ill. 21 cm. ISBN 3-406-52881-3: EUR 17.90 [05-2-317]

Highly talented pairs of brothers can be found in various spheres of life, but usually one of them stands in the shadow of the other. In the case of Martin Heidegger (b. 1889) and his younger brother Fritz (b. 1894), there was little rivalry and discord, because Fritz acknowledged his brother’s genius without resentment and as an adult became one of his closest confidantes. Fritz lived out his life in his home town of Meßkirch in Baden, where he worked at a bank until his retirement in 1959. In 27 sketches in a readable style, Hans Dieter Zimmermann has created a "double biography" of the Heidegger brothers. Although one does not discover anything substantially new about Martin, the book brings insights into the personal side of his life. The philosopher was attached to his home town and returned there regularly, but the author views his love for the land and country life more as a "metaphor" than reality. He had become an academic, whose writings had little connection to the people of his childhood home, had distanced himself from the Catholic Church, and had an unconventional marriage to his Protestant wife (documented in his letters to her, published in Mein liebes Seelchen—see RREA 11:65). Fritz remained truer to his childhood roots than did his brother. He led the life of a respected small-town citizen, from which he escaped only during "Fastnacht" [Shrovetide]. Known as an outstanding speaker at the local Carnival revelries, he delivered witty satires directed against political figures, even during the Nazi era. He joined the National Socialist party only reluctantly, in 1942. In 1938, fearing the outbreak of war, Martin gave Fritz two large metal boxes with his manuscripts for safekeeping. Thus began his role as Martin’s unofficial secretary, as he took upon himself the task of typing Martin’s manuscripts, often volunteering suggestions for improving the texts. The boxes survived the war. Zimmermann’s sympathies belong to Fritz, whom he praises for his cleverness, humor, and loyalty. In the choices the two brothers made in their relationship to the Nazi party, Fritz can be seen as the more honorable one. Immediately after the war, when Martin was ostracized because of his Nazi sympathies, Fritz remained devoted to his brother. [frh/akb]

Catalogue de la bibliothèque de Montesquieu à La Brède [Catalog of the Montesquieu à La Brède Library]. Louis Desgraves, Catherine Volpilhac-Auger, and Françoise Weil. Napoli: Liguori; Paris: Universitas; Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1999. 476 p. ill. 25 cm. (Cahiers Montesquieu, 4). ISBN 88-207-2835-4 (Liguori), ISBN 2-7400-0040-5 (Universitas), ISBN 0-7294-0649-0 (Voltaire Foundation): £30 [05-2-318]

The Charles-Louis de Secondat Library (which contains the collections of Montesquieu à La Brede, one of the most famous French philosophers before Rousseau) and the Montaigne Library are two of the most studied private libraries of the ancien régime period. The eminent bibliographer Louis Desgraves has produced several works on these two libraries. Already in 1954 he had compiled a catalog of the Montesquieu library (Genève: Droz) and 45 years later, in 1999, he published a thoroughly revised version with the help of Catherine Volpilhac-Auger and Françoise Weil. This new version contains new entries for works in the Montesquieu collection, which had become accessible in 1994 when the descendents of Montesquieu à La Brède, to pay off his death duty, had handed over the remaining books in the collection. Among these newly accessible works are 1,200 books with handwritten bookplates. Even at the time Desgraves had written the 1954 version, parts of the Montesquieu collection had already been sold at two auctions in 1926. Among the sources that Desgraves had to work with was a handwritten catalog of the Montesquieu’s collection compiled between 1720 and 1730 by Montesquieu’s secretary, Abbé Bottereau-Duval, which contains 95 different categories beginning with the Bible and ending with inscriptions and numismatics for works of antiquity. The current edition has 3,236 numbered entries (some entries do not have numbers assigned to them), and lists items with bookplates in the footnotes. Those items with bookplates that were listed in the 1926 auction catalogs also have an auction number added. The catalog contains five registers besides bookplates: authors and other important mentioned persons; special title and/or author works; magazines; incunabula; and handwriting. An interesting question that this catalog does not answer for a researcher is which books did Montesquieu read from his collection and what did he borrow from other libraries. [sh/sas]

Weimarer Nietzsche-Bibliographie (WNB) [Weimar Nietzsche Bibliography]. Ed. Susanne Jung. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler. 24 cm. (Personalbibliographien zur neueren deutschen Literatur, 4). ISBN 3-476-01651-X (set): EUR 199.95 [05-2-320]

Vol. 1. Primärliteratur1867-1998 [Primary Literature, 1867-1998]. 2000. xvi, 517 p. ISBN 3-476-01646-3: EUR 134.90 (see RREA 6:89)

Vol. 2. Sekundärliteratur 1867-1998: allgemeine Grundlagen und Hilfsmittel; Leben und Werk im Allgemeinen; biographische Einzelheiten [Secondary Literature, 1867-1998: General Principles and Resources; Life and Work in General; Biographical Particulars]. 2002. x, 500 p. ISBN 3-476-01647-1: EUR 149.90

Vol. 3. Sekundärliteratur 1867-1998: Nietzsches geistige und geschichtlich-kulturelle Lebensbeziehungen, sein Denken und Schaffen [:Nietzsche’s Spiritual and Historical-Cultural Life Relationships, His Thinking and Creativity]. 2002. viii, 1,013 p. ISBN 3-476-01648-X: EUR 224.90

Vol. 4. Sekundärliteratur 1867-1998: zu Nietzsches philosophisch-literarischem Werk insgesamt; zu einzelnen Werken [Nietzsche’s Philosophical and Literary Work as a Whole; Individual Works] 2002. vi, 254 p. ISBN 3-476-01649-8: EUR 99

Vol. 5. Sekundärliteratur 1867-1998: Wirkungs- und Forschungsgeschichte; Register zu den Bänden 2-5 [History of His Influence and Research About Him; Index to Volumes 2-5]. 2002. viii, 805 p. ISBN 3-476-01650-1: EUR 189

Friedrich Nietzsche i pisarze polscy. Wojciech Kunicki and Krysztof Polechoski. Poznan: Wydawnictwo Poznanskie, 2002. 469 p. 24 cm. (Obszary literatury i sztuki). p. 269-440: Bibliographie [Nietzsche in Polen 1889-1939]. ISBN 83-7177-076-6: EUR 29.80 [05-2-321]

Depois de Nietzsche: mostra bibliográfica; 12 de julho a 19 de outubro de 2001. Ed. Miguel Castelo-Branco. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional, 2001. 51 p. 21 cm. ISBN 972-565-328-9: EUR 3.14 [05-2-322]

In the fall of 1995, with support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, work began on this five-volume bibliography of works by and about Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900). The bibliography begins with 1867, the year of Nietzsche’s fi rst published work, and ends in 1998. The appearance of volume 1 in 2000 (see RREA 6:89) was meant to coincide with the 100th anniversary of his death.

The Duchess Anna-Amalia Library in Weimar contains Nietzsche’s private library and his archive and is the nationally designated Nietzsche special collection (Sammelschwerpunkt). Published by the Weimar Classicism Foundation (Stiftung Weimarer Klassik), the Weimarer Nietzsche-Bibliographie (WNB) thus reflects the Library’s extensive holdings.

There are a total of 16,382 entries (#2084-18465) in volumes 2-5, plus the 2,083 entries in volume 1 that have their own index. The WNB’s coverage is most impressive, even if the total of 18,465 entries falls short of the "over 20,000 documents" stated on the cover. The subtitles of volumes 2-5 reflect the overall organization of the bibliography. A search can be refined by means of the detailed contents indexes in each volume. The organization scheme of all five volumes is repeated in volume 5 on pages 794-805. In some cases, blocks of entries are sub-organized within a volume by means of a heading in the outer margin, usually a date or a personal name. For example, under the heading Nietzsche’s Influence in Other Countries, the titles are arranged by geographic region, then chronologically, and then by personal name, which is given in the outer margin. Therefore, researching by subject connections is comfortably easy, and the systematic organization of the bibliography is an invaluable advantage vis-à-vis those bibliographies that are arranged only by author, chronology, or even just by entry number and then refer the poor user to a subject index.

Already in 2000 it was announced that the WNB would also be available on line (http://ora-web.swkk.de:7777/swk-db/niebiblio). This came to pass in early 2006 (just outside the scope of this review). In 2005 the on-line WNB editor, Erdmann von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, informed this reviewer that the database would focus on works published after 1998. The database is slated to be updated twice yearly. It can be searched by author, title segments, source title, name and subject heading, title of Nietzsche’s work, year, and language (but only those listed in the index). The six printed volumes and the database together provide a nearly ideal research tool, one that could be a model for other large personal bibliographies.

The Polish collection of ten essays on Nietzsche’s influence on Polish authors, published under the auspicies of the Department of Philology at Wroclaw University, contains an extensive bibliography. Marta Kopij and Grzegorz Kowal have produced a bibliography of ca. 140 pages in length, listing over 3,000 titles published between 1889 and 1939. The bibliography features a subject, name, and title index. This work is indexed in the on-line WNB, but its contents have not yet been included.

The Portuguese exhibition catalog provides a brief description of the theme of Nietzsche in Portugal. A few of the titles listed here are also found in the WNB. And conversely, the WNB lists several Portuguese titles not found here. The catalog includes a table showing the year of first publication of the original Nietzsche works and of their translations in Spain, the USA, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Portugal. It also includes a list of Portuguese translations of collected and individual works, and a list of secondary works by Portuguese authors as well as works by non-Portuguese authors in translation. There are no indexes. [sh/ga]

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