Description of the research area
According to Ernst Cassirer, Georg Simmel, and other thinkers of the early 20th century, culture is not just
a random object of scientific reflection but the medium of our understanding of the world, in which even scientific thought itself is carried out. With regard to philosophy, this view implies that philosophy cannot take an external standpoint, but finds itself amidst a plurality of world interpretations. Philosophy of culture is thus no special subdiscipline of philosophy but an attempt to think philosophy as a whole under the terms of modernity in the medium of culture. The involvement into a plurality of world interpretations entails that philosophy can develop its views only in its engagement with other forms of interpretations and its respective scientific reflection, which is why the interdisciplinary dimension is an integral part of philosophy of culture.
However, humans do not only deal with cultural and historical meanings and interpretations, they also belong to a network of social relations. As a second focus of this area of research, social philosophy analyzes the structure of social relations and different ways of living together.
News
An interdisciplinary seminar with Edward S. Casey (Stony Brook University, New York) will take place on Friday, July 14. For further information follow the link below:
