Karl Löwith (9 January 1897 – 26 May 1973) was a German philosopher in the
phenomenological tradition. A student of
Husserl
, thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations)
, thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view
, thesis1_year = 1883
, thesis2_title ...
and
Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
, he was one of the most prolific German philosophers of the twentieth century.
He is known for his two books ''
From Hegel to Nietzsche'', which describes the decline of German classical philosophy, and ''
Meaning in History'', which challenges the modern, secular
progressive narrative of history, which seeks to ground the meaning of history in itself.
He was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature.
Life
Löwith was born in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
to a
Christian family of Jewish descent. He was trained in
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
under Heidegger, and they developed a close friendship. However this relationship became estranged with Heidegger's affiliation with
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...
, therefore Löwith had to emigrate from Germany in 1934 because of the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
regime. He was an important witness in 1936 to Heidegger's continuing allegiance to Nazism. He went to Italy and in 1936 he went to Japan (as did figures like Brunner) where he lectured at
Tohoku University
, or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...
, which had its own tradition of phenomenology.
[Eiichiro Ishida, ''Japanese Culture: A Study of Origins and Characteristics'' (Hawaii University Press, 1974), pp. 3–4] But because of the alliance between the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and Japan he had to leave Japan in 1941 and went to the United States.
From 1941 to 1952, he taught at the
Hartford Theological Seminary
The Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary) is a private theological university in Hartford, Connecticut.
History
Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when the Pastoral Union of Connectic ...
and
The New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...
. In 1952 he returned to Germany to teach as professor of Philosophy at
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, where he died.
Thought
His main influences include Heidegger,
Hegel,
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...
, and
Kierkegaard. His writing after WWII can be read in the same vein as other Christian philosophers and theologians of the 20th century. Often called responses to "crisis", Christian intellectuals of this era, such as
Karl Barth (Protestant),
Florovsky (Orthodox), and
Erich Przywara (Roman Catholic), attempted to articulate an understanding of Christian faith in response to the challenges of scientism, secularism, and skepticism.
''From Hegel to Nietzsche''
''Meaning in History''
Löwith's argument in ''Meaning in History'' is that the western view of history is confused by the relationship between Christian faith and the modern view, which is neither Christian nor
pagan.
[ He writes," The modern mind has not made up its mind whether it should be Christian or pagan, it sees with one eye of ]faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people ofte ...
and one of reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
. Hence its vision is necessarily dim in comparison with either Greek or biblical thinking." The modern view is progressive, which is to say that it believes that the trajectory of history is moving towards a fulfillment in the bettering of the world by rational
Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abi ...
and technological
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
means. Löwith believes that the modern view is a sort of Christian "heresy" insofar that this depends on the theology that history has a linear movement, in contrast to Greek pagan cyclical view of history. In this critique Löwith is prophetic in the sense that he anticipates the way post-secular theologians will pick up a similar critique of modernity in the 1990s (such is the case in the Radical Orthodox movement). The modern historical consciousness is, according to Löwith, derived from Christianity. But, this is mistaken because Christians are not a historical people, as their view of the world is based on faith. This explains the tendency in history (and philosophy) to see an eschatological
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
view of human progress. Löwith traces the "regression" of history as opposed to a progression through famous western philosophers and historians. Whereas most genealogies begin from the most antique to the modern, Löwith begins with the most current. He moves from Burckhardt
Burckhardt, or (de) Bourcard in French, is a family of the Basel patriciate, descended from Christoph (Stoffel) Burckhardt (1490–1578), a merchant in cloth and silk originally from Münstertal, Black Forest, who received Basel citizenship i ...
, to Marx, to Hegel, Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
, Vico, Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), French bishop and theologian, uncle of Louis
* Louis Bossuet Louis Bossuet (22 February 1663 – 15 January 1742) was a French parle ...
, Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...
, Orosius, and others. He argues that the closer we get to the Biblical vision of history, " I cannot discover the slightest hint of a "philosophy of history". By this he means that a truly theological view of history is not movement to an immanent end, but a transcendent eschatological hope in the consummation of the world. It is not a "philosophy" or attempt to systematize the movement of history. This point is clear in the epilogue of ''Meaning in History'' where he says, "The attempt at elucidation of the dependence of the philosophy of history on the eschatological history of fulfillment and salvation does not solve the problem of historical thinking." Here he seems to argue that like the progressive view any theological view that tries to equate the happenings of history with God's action is inadequate, which reveals his true argument: We cannot understand the happening of history by reason.
Returning to the idea that Löwith, like Barth, and others was trying to rethink Christian faith in light of the crisis of world war, Lowith's real concern is the relationship between faith and reason or more specifically faith and history. He writes, "The Christian hope is not a worldly desire and expectation that something will probably happen but a cast of mind based on an unconditional faith in God's redemptive purpose. Genuine hope is, therefore, as free and absolute as the act of faith itself. Both hope and faith are Christian virtues of Grace. The reasons for such an unconditional hope and faith cannot rest on rational calculation of their reasonableness. Hence hope can never be refuted by so-called facts; it can neither be assured nor discredited by an established experience." His analysis of the relationship between faith and the observable events of history is one of absolute disconnect, which is an idea he seems to adopt from Kierkegaard's similar argument in ''Practice in Christianity''. Lowith's answer to the change of modernity is to say that Christianity has nothing at all to do with history or reason, rather it is about being given faith, which becomes hope in the God-man. He writes, "The question is therefore not the justification of absolute hope and faith by their relative reasonableness, but whether such an unconditional hope and faith can be put into man instead of God and the God-man. Hope is justified only by faith which justifies itself."
So, whereas the "liberal" Christianity of his contemporaries tried to accommodate or assimilate faith with reason, Löwith maintains that faith justifies itself.
Bibliography
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loewith, Karl
1897 births
1973 deaths
20th-century essayists
20th-century German male writers
20th-century German non-fiction writers
20th-century German philosophers
Christian philosophers
Continental philosophers
Cultural critics
German expatriates in Italy
German expatriates in Japan
German expatriates in the United States
German male non-fiction writers
German male writers
German military personnel of World War I
German Protestants
Hegelian philosophers
Heidelberg University faculty
Historians of philosophy
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Jewish philosophers
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Nietzsche scholars
People from the Kingdom of Bavaria
Phenomenologists
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Philosophy writers
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University of Freiburg alumni
University of Marburg faculty
Writers from Munich