Wert, Rechtheit and Gut. Adolf Reinach's Contribution to Early Phenomenological Ethics

465 Pages·2013·1.54 MB·English

Wert, Rechtheit and Gut.
Adolf Reinach’s Contribution to Early
Phenomenological Ethics

by

James H. Smith, M.Litt.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Presented to:

The Department of Philosophy
National University of Ireland, Maynooth

28th February, 2013

Head of Department of Philosophy: Dr Michael Dunne

Supervisors: Dr Mette Lebech & Dr Cyril McDonnell
Dedicated to the memory of Dr Thomas A. F. Kelly,
who taught me what philosophy is and why it is so very important.
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C O N T E N T S
Preface vii
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix

INTRODUCTION 1
Section One: Reinach’s Life and Legacy 3
Section Two: Ethics in Reinach’s Philosophy 7
Section Three: The Significance of the Concept of ‘Contribution’ 10
Section Four: Methodology 12
Section Five: Structure 13

CHAPTER I Primary Sources and a Review of 16
Literature on Reinach’s Philosophy
Section One: Timeline of Reinach’s Known Works 17
1.1.1 1904–1905 17
1.1.2 1906–1909 18
1.1.3 1910–1911 19
1.1.4 1912–1913 21
1.1.5 1914–1917 24
Section Two: Selected Sources for Reinach’s Work on Ethics 25
1.2.1 ‘Die Grundbegriffe der Ethik’ 25
1.2.2 ‘Die Überlegung: ihre ethische und rechtliche Bedeutung 29
1.2.3 ‘Grundzüge der Ethik’ 35
1.2.4 ‘Die apriorischen Grundlagen des bürgerlichen Rechtes’ 39
Section Three: Editions, Biographical Sources and Translations 45
1.3.1 Compiled Editions of Reinach’s Work 46
1.3.2 Biographical Sources 47
1.3.3 English-Language Translations 48
Section Four: Secondary Literature 49
1.4.1 Critical Studies 49
1.4.2 Works Dealing with Reinach’s Ethics 53
1.4.2.1 The Phenomenology of Adolf Reinach 54
1.4.2.2 ‘Verpflichtung und Verbindlichkeit. Ethische 55
Aspekte in der Rechtsphilosophie Adolf
Reinachs’
1.4.2.3 ‘Adolf Reinach: Metaethics and the Philosophy of 57
Law’
Section Five: Concluding Remarks 59

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CHAPTER II The Philosophical Background to Reinach’s Ethics 60
Section One: What is Early Phenomenology? 61
2.1.1 Origins of Early Phenomenology 63
2.1.2 The Transcendental Turn and Later Phenomenology 68
2.1.3 Characteristics of Early Phenomenology 71
Section Two: Early Influences 72
2.2.1 Aristotle 73
2.2.1.1 Aristotelianism and Phenomenology 73
2.2.1.2 Aristotelian Ethics 74
2.2.1.3 Aristotle and Reinach 77
2.2.2 Kantian Philosophy 78
2.2.2.1 Kantian Philosophy and Phenomenology 79
2.2.2.2 Kant’s Ethics 81
2.2.2.3 Kant and Reinach 83
2.2.3 Franz Brentano 85
2.2.3.1 Brentano and Phenomenology 86
2.2.3.2 Brentano’s Ethics 88
2.2.3.3 Brentano and Reinach 92
2.2.4 Theodor Lipps 92
2.2.4.1 Lipps and Phenomenology 93
2.2.4.2 Lipps’s Ethics 93
2.2.4.3 Lipps and Reinach 96
Section Three: The Phenomenological Movement 97
2.3.1 Early Phenomenological Ethics 98
2.3.2 The Munich Circle 99
2.3.2.1 Johannes Daubert 100
2.3.2.2 Alexander Pfänder 101
2.3.3 Edmund Husserl 102
2.3.3.1 Husserl’s Ethics 103
2.3.3.2 Husserl and Reinach 105
2.3.4 Max Scheler 106
2.2.4.1 Scheler’s Ethics: Christian Values and Ethica l 108
Personalism
2.2.4.2 Scheler and Ressentiment 109
2.2.4.3 The Axioms of Scheler’s Ethics 110
2.2.4.4 Scheler’s Value Theory 111
2.2.4.5 Scheler’s Theory of the Person 114
2.2.4.6 Scheler on Good and Evil 115
2.2.4.7 Religion and Scheler’s Ethics 116
2.2.4.8 Scheler and Reinach 117

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2.3.5 Dietrich von Hildebrand 118
2.3.5.1 Von Hildebrand’s Ethics 119
2.3.5.2 Von Hildebrand and Reinach 123
Section Four: Concluding Remarks 124

CHAPTER III Critical Discussion of Reinach’s Works on Ethics 125
Section One: The Foundations of Reinach’s Ethics 127
3.1.1 The Meaning of Ethics 128
3.1.2 The Objective Attitude 130
3.1.3 Object and Objectivity 131
Section Two: The Structure of Reinach’s Ethics: The Three Spheres 135
3.2.1 The Sphere of Moral Values 138
3.2.1.1 The Meaning of Value 139
3.2.1.2 The Experiencing of Values 140
3.2.1.3 Value and Demand 141
3.2.1.4 Moral Values and their Bearers 143
3.2.1.5 The Role of Values in Ethics 144
3.2.1.6 Critique 147
3.2.2 The Sphere of Moral Rightness 150
3.2.2.1 The Meaning of Moral Rightness and the Formal 153
Moral Law
3.2.2.2 The Role of the Sphere of Rightness in Ethics 156
3.2.2.3 Moral Obligation and Duty 158
3.2.2.4 Critique: The Inaccessibility of the Formal 161
Moral Law
3.2.2.5 Burkhardt’s Criticism 166
3.2.3 The Sphere of Goods 170
3.2.3.1 The Role of the Sphere of Goods in Ethics 173
3.2.3.2 The Potential of the Sphere of Goods 174
Section Three: The Mechanics of Reinach’s Ethics: 178
Motivation, Reflection and Freedom
3.3.1 Autonomy and the Personal Structure 179
3.3.2 Action versus Project 181
3.3.3 Consequences and Value-Modification 182
3.3.4 Moral Value and Personal Interest 184
3.3.5 The Structure of Willing 186
3.3.6 The Ethical Significance of Reflection 188
Section Four: Analysing Reinach’s Work on Ethics 194
3.4.1 The Question of Objectivity 196
3.4.2 The Question of Fallibility 198
Section Five: Concluding Remarks 200
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CHAPTER IV Assessing Reinach’s Contribution to Early 201
Phenomenological Ethics
Section One: Preparing for the Assessment 202
4.1.1 The Meaning of a Contribution 202
4.1.2 Ethics and Meta-Ethics 203
4.1.3 Reinach’s Ethics as a Phenomenological Ethics 206
Section Two: The Originality of Reinach’s Work 207
4.2.1 Reinach and Scheler: Comparative Discussion 209
4.2.2 Values and Their Role in Ethics 213
4.2.3 The Sphere of Rightness and the Formal Moral Law 214
4.2.4 The Sphere of Goods 216
4.2.5 Meta-Ethics 217
4.2.6 The Theory of Social Acts 220
4.2.7 The Concerns of Ethics and Those of the Philosophy of Law 222
Section Three: The Influence of Reinach’s Ethics 225
4.3.1 Dietrich von Hildebrand 226
4.3.2 Edith Stein 229
4.3.2.1 Stein and Ethics 230
4.3.2.2 Stein’s Value Theory 231
4.3.2.3 Community Ethics 234
4.3.2.4 The State and Law 235
4.3.2.5 Stein and Reinach 236
4.3.2.6 The Influence of Reinach’s Ethics on Stein’ s 237
Philosophy
4.3.3 The Wider Field of Phenomenological Ethics 239
Section Four: Towards Assessing Reinach’s Contribution to Ethics in Genera l 242
4.4.1 Criteria for Assessment of an Ethics 243
4.4.2 Questions Facing a Reinachian Ethics 247
4.4.2.1 Does Reinach plausibly answer the questions of 247
ethics?
4.4.2.2 Does a Reinachian ethics provide a basis for 248
making normative statements?
4.4.2.3 Does a Reinachian ethics provide a means of 249
resolving moral dilemmas?
4.4.2.4 Is a Reinachian ethics capable of accounting for 250
ethical disputes?
4.4.2.5 What do Reinach’s comments on ethics have to 252
offer the wider field?
Section Five: Concluding Remarks 253

Conclusion 254
Bibliography 259
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A P P E N D I C E S

Appendix (I) Preface to the Translations 270
Glossary of Terms 271

Appendix (II) ‘Grundbegriffe der Ethik’/ ‘The Basic Concepts of Ethic s’ 276

Appendix (III) ‘Die Überlegung: ihre ethische und rechtliche Bedeutung’/ 284
‘Reflection: Its Ethical and Legal Significance’

Appendix (IV) ‘Grundzüge der Ethik’/ ‘Basic Features of Ethic s’ 375

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PREFACE

This thesis contains references from sources in both English and German. Where
titles or quotations from German texts are given in English, the translation is my
own unless otherwise indicated. I have also quoted from existing translations of
Reinach’s works where it is possible and appropriate to do so.
The thesis also contains quotations of passages from the works translated
in the appendices. These are referenced to the relevant page and paragraph of the
source text in volume I of Reinach’s Sämtliche Werke (S.W.). These page
numbers are reproduced in line with the text of the translations in the appendix
indicated.
Some passages quoted from the Sämtliche Werke contain notes inserted
by the editors. Likewise, some quotations from existing translations contain notes
inserted by the translator. For clarity, these notes have been left in the original
square brackets, i.e. [], while my own editorial notes are indicated with braces,
i.e. {}. Italic text in quotations from appendices (II) and (IV) does not indicate
emphasis, but instead distinguishes between the transcripts used to reconstruct
the texts in Sämtliche Werke. The precise meanings of these typefaces and other
formatting details in the translations can be found in appendix (I).
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank, first of all, my co-supervisors, Dr Mette Lebech and Dr
Cyril McDonnell. They have provided the guidance and structure required for me
to begin, conduct, complete and submit my research all within my own lifetime.
I cannot overstate my appreciation or my indebtedness to all my family
and friends, in particular my parents, Dr John S. Smith and Dr Penny G. Smith,
for their unwavering support over the long years of this project.
I would also like to offer my thanks for the efforts of the many others —
too many to recount in full here — who have helped me to bring this project to
fruition. To the entire philosophy department of NUI Maynooth; in particular Dr
Michael Dunne, head of department, for his unfailing dedication and fairness,
and Dr Susi Gottloeber, for her encouragement and her advice in refining my
translation. To the employees of libraries around the world who have provided
me with vital sources; most of all Bernadette Gardiner and the Inter-Library Loan
Department at the John Paul II library, Maynooth, and the staff of the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich. To the Goethe Institute, on whom I have depended
more than once to improve my German, and to everyone at the Philosophy
Postgraduate Workgroup for their feedback and support over the years. To the
much-missed Paragon Studios, the architects of the virtual world where I found
refuge from my toils, and to the tea growers of the world, for their role in
sustaining me throughout my research.
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ABBREVIATIONS

S.W. Sämtliche Werke, a collection of Reinach’s published and
posthumous works edited by Barry Smith and Karl Schuhmann
that appeared in 1989. Unless otherwise specified, this refers to
volume I, ‘Die Werke’ .

Grundbegriffe Reinach’s 1906 paper ‘Die Grundbegriffe der Ethik’ .

Überlegung Reinach’s 1912/13 article ‘Die Überlegung: ihre ethische und
rechtliche Bedeutung’.

Grundzüge ‘Grundzüge der Ethik’, an extract from Reinach’s 1913 lecture
course ‘Einleitung in die Philosophie’ .

Grundlagen Reinach’s 1913 monograph ‘Die apriorischen Grundlagen des
bürgerlichen Rechtes’.

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