Report of the Roundtable “The Relevance of Hermann Cohen’s Philosophy”

Abstract

This report of the roundtable that took place on 25 November 2021 at The Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) attempts to explain the obvious growth of interest in Neo-Kantian philosophy in general and the philosophy of the head of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, Hermann Cohen, in particular. In their contributions, the participants in the discussion demonstrated that the current interest in Neo-Kantianism does not solely or even largely have to do with the history of philosophy but rather with the relevance of many of the ideas of Marburg Neo-Kantianism for the modern theory of cognition, the philosophy of culture, ethics and the philosophy of religion. The course of the discussion highlighted the relevance of Cohen’s theory of cognition based on logic and rationality. The main outcome of the discussion was the conviction that the potential of many of Cohen’s ideas has yet to be fully tapped and there are grounds for considering them to be heralds of a new philosophy which, in many of its features, is only maturing.

Keywords

• cohen
• neo-kantianism
• critical philosophy
• religion of reason
• first principle
• act
• dialogue