Selbstüberschreitung: Jonas Cohns Wertphilosophie und Pädagogik vor dem Hintergrund der Ethik Friedrich Nietzsches
ABSTRACT: Teaching philosophy and pedagogy at the University of Freiburg from 1897 to 1933, Jonas Cohn fought mainly against Friedrich Nietzsche and the influence of the ethics of Nietzsche on the youth of his time. A declaration made by Cohn in the Preface of his Science of Value (1932) shows this: "The title 'science of value' means polemics, too: I fight against all, who following Nietzsche deny the possibility of a science of value." But this opposition to Nietzsche and to his followers is not the only aspect of Cohn's relation to Nietzsche. On the other side, Cohn attempted to integrate some of the important traits of Nietzsche's ethic in his own conception of philosophy and pedagogics. The expression "self-transcendence" (Selbstüberschreitung) stands for this ambition of Cohn. This can be demonstrated by some biographical data and by the interpretation of Cohn's philosophy of value.
"'Wertwissenschaft' ist auch polemisch gemeint: Ich kämpfe gegen alle, die im Gefolge Nietzsches eine Wissenschaft vom Werte leugnen." - Diese eindeutige Erklärung stellte der reife Jonas Cohn, Philosoph und Erziehungswissenschaftler an der Universität Freiburg von 1897 bis 1933, seiner "Wertwissenschaft" von 1932, seinem Hauptwerke, im Vorwort voran. Hat Jonas Cohn seine Lebensarbeit gegen Friedrich Nietzsche und dessen Wirkung ausgerichtet? Ich möchte diese, von Cohn selbst nahegelegte, Auffassung relativieren und aufweisen, daß Cohns Wertphilosophie und Erziehungslehre trotz weitreichender Differenzen Züge Nietzschischen Geistes aufgenommen hat. Der Titel und Grundbegriff der Cohnschen Ethik "Selbstüberschreitung" signalisiert nicht nur Parallelität und Nähe zu Nietzsche; "Selbstüberschreitung zeigt auch an, daß Cohn Intentionen Nietzsches, Momente des für Nietzsche signifikanten Begriffs der "Selbstüberwindung" in seine "objektive Wertlehre" übergeführt hat. Ich werde zunächst anhand einiger biographischer Daten die Bedeutung Nietzsches für Cohn wahrscheinlich machen, bevor der Inhalt der Wertphilosophie und Ethik Cohns selbst kurz zur Sprache kommen soll.
Drei Momente sind auszuführen, die Cohn in seiner Biographie mit Nietzsche konfrontierten: Zeitliche und örtliche Nähe zu Nietzsche und die persönliche Begegnung mit Denkern, die Cohn beeinflußten.
Jonas Cohn (1869-1947) studierte nach einem glänzenden Abitur in Berlin (1888) zunächst in Leipzig, Heidelberg und Berlin Naturwissenschaft und promovierte mit einer experimentellen Arbeit in Botanik in Berlin 1892 zum Doktor der Philosophie. Nach der Promotion in Botanik wandte sich Cohn dem engeren Gebieten der Philosophie zu, ohne dabei zu unterlassen, seinem "geistigen Leben durch empirische Einzelarbeit gleichsam einen festen Unterbau zu schaffen". (SD, (1) S. 6) Diesen empirischen Unterbau erwarb sich Cohn in der experimentellen Psychologie bei Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) und Oswald Külpe (1862-1915) in Leipzig, wo Cohn in den Jahren 1892 bis 94 am Psychologischen Institut arbeitete.
“On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” is an unfinished work written by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1873. In this work, Nietzsche takes an approach to explaining the truth in a way that we would all find very unusual, but that is merely the Nietzsche way. In this essay I will analyze how Nietzsche views the truth, as explained in “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”
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In American football, helmets are required to decrease traumatic brain injuries and have been successful in doing so. A large part in the success of helmet design is improvements in technology. The sizes of athletes have gone up to make football more dangerous. To protect against brain injury, helmets designs have changed to become heavier and wider, filled within the space are energy absorbing materials, air space and padding to protect the skull upon impact. Originally, helmets were designed to prevent only traumatic brain injuries, but technology is advancing to fill the gap of concussions. Until recently, the seriousness of concussions were not considered part of the equation that needed to be addressed, so manufactures did not utilized in constructing helmets to address this issue (Post et al. 653). Upon predicting risk of concussions in tests, by themselves linear and rotational acceleration are not suitable measurements for modern helmets. These testing measurements do not address the rotational forces and minor hits to the brain which are associated with concussions (Post et al. 654). Given the seriousness of concussions in contact sports, more attention is given to prevent and reduce concussions through testing methods and advancing technology, stronger regulation and changes to the sport. As stated in the article involving the National Football League (NFL), “The risk involved in playing sports are also very real. The NFL is struggling with serious mental and physical health problems because they sustained repeated mild traumatic brain injuries, is what concussions are called. (“Concussions and Marketing of Sports Equipment” 6).
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In the second chapter of Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche develops a fragmented portrait of a character type to which he refers as the "free spirit." Throughout the rest of Beyond Good and Evil, he expands on this portrait and connects it with another type, the "new philosopher," which he connects with the type of the free spirit in a specific (although complex) way. Nietzsche conceptualizes himself, as I will show, as both a "free spirit" and as a "new philosopher."
Friedrich Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense represents a deconstruction of the modern epistemological project. Instead of seeking for truth, he suggests that the ultimate truth is that we have to live without such truth, and without a sense of longing for that truth. This revolutionary work of his is divided into two main sections. The first part deals with the question on what is truth? Here he discusses the implication of language to our acquisition of knowledge. The second part deals with the dual nature of man, i.e. the rational and the intuitive. He establishes that neither rational nor intuitive man is ever successful in their pursuit of knowledge due to our illusion of truth. Therefore, Nietzsche concludes that all we can claim to know are interpretations of truth and not truth itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s own skepticism symbolized the secular changes in contemporary Western civilization, in which he details mankind’s break away from faith into a new rule of chaos. In Book 5 of The Gay Science, Nietzsche establishes that “God is dead”, meaning that modern Europe has abandoned religion in favor of rationality and science (Nietzsche 279). From this death, the birth of a ‘new’ infinite blossoms in which the world is open to an unlimited amount of interpretations that do not rely on the solid foundations of faith in religion or science. However, in contrast to the other philosophers of his age such as Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Nietzsche deviates from the omniscient determinism of history towards a more disorganized progression of history. In short, Nietzsche objects to Hegel’s and Kant’s notion of the teleological aspect of the progressive history of humanity because Nietzsche views that human progress cannot be distinctly determined by a single plan but rather random events that support individual freedom.
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Psychology started, and had a long history, as a topic within the fields of philosophy and physiology. It then became an independent field of its own through the work of the German Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology and structuralism. Wundt stressed the use of scientific methods in psychology, particularly through the use of introspection. In 1875, a room was set-aside for Wundt for demonstrations in what we now call sensation and perception. This is the same year that William James set up a similar lab at Harvard. Wilhelm Wundt and William James are usually thought of as the fathers of psychology, as well as the founders of psychology?s first two great ?schools? Structuralism and Functionalism. Psychologist Edward B Titchner said; ?to study the brain and the unconscious we should break it into its structural elements, after that we can construct it into a whole and understand what it does.? (psicafe.com)
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Roy Cohn’s embodiment of Nietzsche’s concepts is perfectly depicted by scene nine of act one, where Roy is told he has AIDS. Upon hearing the news, Roy immediately begins intimidating the doctor. He keeps asking him to accuse him of being a homosexual, and once the doctor finally states that Roy has sex with men, Roy retaliates with a speech on how he is hung up on terms. Roy states that, “Homose...
One physiologist that contributed to psychology was Hermann Helmholtz. Helmholtz believed the deductive method and the strength at which results were defended were not stable, or reliable. Helmholtz, along with fellow colleagues called for a change in the way research was done (Jurkowitz, 2010). Helmholtz made many advances in physiology developing tools to aid the medical community. Of his many contributions to society his contributions to psychology were game changers. Helmholtz compared the mind to the function of a machine and believed that it was possible to scientifically test its functions. Helmholtz was able to successfully determine a way to accurately test the rate of a neural impulse. His results determined that the thought and movement happened separate from each other and it can be measured. With this advancement he was able to disprove that a nerve impulse was simultaneous and too fast to measure (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). This opened the door for the experimental nature of many concepts previously thought to be impossible. Now that there was an empirical value that could be applied to the mind and the body a new science was preparing to be formed. All it needed were motivated individuals willing to dedicate the time to perfect and analyze the scientific nature of the human
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