Alexandre Koyré’s thesis defense

What follows is a translation of Alexandre Kojève’s account of Alexandre Koyré’s doctoral defense on March 1st, 1929.   As you’ll see from the text below, Husserl was in attendance for Koyre’s defense.  The event took place between Husserl’s Paris and Strasbourg lectures.  A copy of the original Russian text is attached.

Kozhevnikov, A. “The defence of A. V. Koyré’s Thesis,” Eurasia 16 (1929), p.8

– Translated from the Russian by Anna Yampolskaya, Russian State University for the Humanities

The defence of Koyré’s thesis took place on the 1st of March in Sorbonne. As per the stated university rules, two theses were presented, the primary, entitled The Philosophy of Jakob Böhme (1929. Paris: Vrin) and the supplementary, Philosophy and the National problem in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century (1929. Paris: Champion). Koyré’s opponents for each thesis were, respectively, MM. [???] Oman and [Louis] Eisenmann for the supplementary, and MM. [Étienne] Gilson, [Léon] Brunschvicg and [Émile] Brehier for the primary. A number of Sorbonne professors were also in attendance, as was [Edmund] Husserl, Koyré’s teacher, who was invited to sit among them as an honorary guest.

It must be stated that such was the candidate’s reputation that this was less of a defence but more of a celebration in his honour. The supplementary thesis was held to be of such quality that it could have been submitted as a primary thesis in its own right. This was particularly remarkable considering that neither works were greatly overlapping and as such were a testament to the candidate’s worth. Gilson, who had also considered the primary thesis, went through and described the candidate’s previous works, stating that his monograph on Anselm of Canterbury was the best in the field. Likewise, Gilson noted the huge amount of work that the candidate performed in exploring and understanding the sources and influences of Böhme, work that had not actually been reflected in the thesis itself. He concluded stating that this thesis was one of the greatest books on the history of philosophy and was exactly what everyone had expected from the candidate.

As any critical comments were only of superficial concern with regards to the text, it is not necessary to restate them at this stage. The defence concluded when the jury conferred on Koyré the degree of Doctor.

A. K

evrazia 16 8

Reading Room Update – The Husserl-Festschrift and Masaryk-Festschrift

Now in the Reading Room you will find the articles from the JPPF Husserl-Festschrift – Festschrift E. Husserl zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet.  Ergänzungsband zum Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung (1929).
Here is a list of the contents:

Hermann Ammann, Zum deutschen Impersonale, pp.1-25

Oskar Becker, Von der Hinfälligkeit des Schönen und der Abenteuerlichkeit des Künstlers, pp.27-52

Ludwig Ferdinand Clauss, Das Verstehen des sprachlichen Kunstwerks.  Ein Streifzug durch Grundfragen der verstehenden Wissenschaften, pp.53-69

Martin Heidegger, Vom Wesen des Grundes (omitted)

Gerhart Husserl, Recht und Welt, pp.111-158

Roman Ingarden, Bemerkungen zum Problem “Idealismus-Realismus”, pp.159-190

Fritz Kaufmann, Die Bedeutung der künstlerischen Stimmung (Erster Teil), pp.191-223

Alexandre Koyré (Übersetzt von Hedwig Conrad-Martius), Die Gotteslehre Jakob Boehmes, pp.225-281

Hans Lipps, Das Urteil, pp.283-296

Friedrich Neumann, Die Sinneinheit des Satzes und das indogermanische Verbum, pp.297-314

Edith Stein, Husserls Phänomenologie und die Philosophie des heiligen Thomas v. Aquino. Versuch einer Gegenüberstellung, pp.315-338.

Hedwig Conrad-Martius, Farben. Ein Kapitel aus der Realontologie, pp.339-370

Please go to the Reading Room to download the individual files.

In addition, we have also uploaded the first volume of the Masaryk-Festschrift – Festschrift Th. G. Masaryk zum 80. Geburtstage, Erster Teil.  Ergänzungsband zur Zeitschrift Der russische Gedanke (1930).
Here is a list of the contents of this volume (note that I have altered the transliteration of Russian names in accordance with common English renderings):

Antonio Aliotta, Dell’ esperimento scientifico e di quello metafisico, pp.1-15

Leon Brunschvicg, Politique et philosophie, pp.17-23

Sergei Bulgakov, Was ist das Wort?, pp.25-70

Benedetto Croce, La grazia e il libero arbitrio, pp.71-73

Hugo Fischer, Der Realismus und das Europäertum (In Beziehung auf die Gedankenwelt und Weltanschauung Masaryks), pp. 75-106

Sergei Hessen, Der Zusammenbruch des Utopismus, pp.107-120

Sydney E. Hooper, Man and Philosophy, pp.121-124

Boris Jakovenko, Die Philosophie in ihrem Verhältnisse zu denanderen Hauptgebieten der Kultur, pp.125- 150

Wladyslaw Mieczyslaw Kozlowski, L’idee de l’homogeneite de la science et les types des sciences, pp.151-172

Oskar Kraus, Zur Frage nach dem “Sinne der Geschichte”, pp.173-177

Ivan Lapschin, Die Metaphsik Leo Tolstois, pp.179-202

Nikolai Lossky, Die Lehre Vladimir Solovyovs von der Evolution, pp.203-208

Piero Marinetti, L’intelletto e la conoscenza noumenica in Kant, pp. 209-216.

Dimitri Michaltschew, Der Zufall als Bestandteil der Wirklichkeit, pp.217-223

Pavel Milyukov, Eurasianism and Europeanism in Russian History, pp.225-236

Branislav Petronijevic, Ueber das Wesen der mathematischen Induktion, pp.237-239

Emanuel Radl, Natur und Geschichte, pp.241-264

Dimitri Tschizewsky, “Uebermensch”,  “übermenschlich” (Zur Geschichte dieser Worte und Begriffe), pp.265-269

This volume has been uploaded as a single file, which you can download by clicking here: Masaryk-Festschrift, Erster Teil.
Unfortunately, we do not yet have a copy of the second volume of the Masaryk-Festscrift.  However, we do have an image of the table of contents if you are interested.
Masaryk Festschrift, Teil 2 Inhalt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Husserl had started to write a piece to be included in the volume, but it was not completed in time for publication.  You can now find it under the title “Über Urspung” in Hua XXVII, p. 129-142)

Husserl - Ueber Ursprung

Reading Room Update – selections from the Jahrbuch

Along with Husserl’s Ideen I, the first volume of the Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung (1913) also contains Alexander Pfänder’s Zur Psychologie der Gesinnungen, Erster Artikel.  In the ‘Translator’s Introduction’ to Phenomenology of Willing and Motivation, Herbert Spiegelberg remarks that the ‘Psychology of Sentiments’ is easily Pfänder’s “richest phenomenological case study, which I nominate as the next candidate for a complete translation.”  Sadly, it has never been translated into English.

Next we have posted Moritz Geiger’s Fragment ueber den Begriff des Unbewussten und die psychische Realität from JPPF IV (1921).  This brings the total number of pieces by Geiger in our reading room up to 4.  From the same issue of the Jahrbuch, we have also included Jean Hering’s  Bemerkungen ueber das Wesen, die Wesenheit und die Idee, and Roman Ingarden’s Ueber die Gefahr einer Petitio Principii in der Erkenntnistheorie.  Together with his dissertation, Intuition und Intellekt bei Henri Bergson,published in JPPF V (1922), these are the first posts in our Reading Room by Ingarden.  Though Husserl famously stated “We are the true Bergsonians” at a meeting of the Göttingen Circle, you will find little mention of the connection between Bergson and the early phenomenologists in Bergson and Phenomenology, ed. Michael Kelly (2010).

Finally, I have included Alexandre Koyré’s essay Bemerkungen zu den Zenoischen Paradoxen from JPPF V (1922). This article stems from research on Cantor’s set theory and Russell’s paradox which Koyré had submitted to Husserl and David Hilbert as a draft-dissertation in 1912.  (The draft was, however, rejected.)  Both the Hering article and this piece by Koyré have been more recently reproduced in Anthologie der realistischen Phänomenologie, ed. Josef Seifert and Cheikh Mbacké Gueye (2009).

Along with the piece on Zeno’s Paradoxes, I have added two other short pieces by Koyré, both in English.  First is a translation of his essay ‘Réflexions sur le mensonge,’ published as The Political Function of the Modern Lie in the Contemporary Jewish Record VIII (1945).  Second is Koyré’s wonderful Introduction to Descartes Philosophical Writings, ed. G.E. Anscombe and Peter Geach (1950).

We hope that you put these materials to good use!

CFP – Describing and Exploring Early Phenomenology, NASEP 2013

The North American Society for Early Phenomenology announces their 2nd Annual Conference, Describing and Exploring Early Phenomenology, to be held at King’s University College, Western University, 12-14 June, 2013.

Keynote Speaker: Lester Embree

NASEP invites all scholars to submit abstracts on any aspect of early phenomenology. This includes all philosophical investigations into the members of the Munich and Göttingen circles, their place within the early period of phenomenology (roughly 1900-1939), their relationship to other philosophers, and their contributions to the development of early phenomenology.  The aim of this conference is to investigate the works of early phenomenologists across a broad range of topics, including ethics, mathematics, logic, aesthetics, politics, epistemology, ontology, psychology, etc.  Figures covered include, but are not limited to: Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, Moritz Geiger, Alexander Pfänder, Adolf Reinach, Carl Stumpf, Theodor Conrad, Johannes Daubert, Dietrich Mahnke, Hans Lipps, Hedwig Conrad-Martius, Wilhelm Schapp, Edith Stein, Alexandre Koyré, Jean Hering, Winthrop Bell, Maximilian Beck, Roman Ingarden, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Fritz Kaufmann, Theodor Celms, Aron Gurwitsch, Gustav Shpet, Gerda Walther, Wolfgang Köhler, Dorion Cairns, and Eugen Fink.  We also welcome papers on the relationship between early phenomenology and the School of Brentano, Hermann Lotze, Theodor Lipps, the American Pragmatists, and the Neo-Kantians.

Senior researchers and graduate students both are welcome to submit proposals. Graduate students should indicate their status in the email with their submission. Abstracts should be prepared for blind review, and should not exceed 300 words.

Deadline for submissions: March 1st, 2013.

Please send submissions and inquiries to:
Dr. Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray
phenomenology@me.com

Downloadable/printable PDF poster for distributing, click here:  NASEP2013CFP