Mo 27.04.2026 | 19.00 – 20:00 Uhr
Shira Billet, The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York
An account of the virtues is a central but neglected part of Hermann Cohen’s philosophical ethics and Jewish philosophy. In this lecture, we will examine the role of modesty (Bescheidenheit) and humility (Demut) in Cohen’s Tugendlehre. Cohen understood his own neo-Kantian ethics in contrast with two broad opposing ethical systems: the “eudaimonia” of Aristotle and the “pantheism” of Spinoza. Our examination of Cohen on the virtue of humility sheds light on these contrasts and also on Cohen’s positive reception of the philosophy of Maimonides, whom he understood, surprisingly, as sharing his opposition to Aristotelean ethics. As we will see, central to Cohen’s Tugendlehre is an understanding of power and agency in opposition to determinism and fatalism, on the one hand, and to common alternative understandings of power, on the other hand.
Der Vortrag wird in englischer Sprache gehalten, bei Bedarf gibt es eine Zusammenfassung in deutscher Sprache.
Online-Veranstaltung per Zoom.
