The Concept of Culture in the German Enlightenment
28th of May 2013, 9.30-16.30
The focus of the workshop will be to explore the crystallization of modern ideas and visions of culture within the movement of German Enlightenment represented foremost by Immanuel Kant, Moses Mendelsohn, and Ephraim Lessing but also by J. G. Herder, and J. G. Hamann. Their discussions of and conflicts over how to define culture both analytically and normatively, and what stance to take towards different contemporary cultural, political, and scientific developments vis-à-vis the improvement (Verbesserung) of Jews and Judaism, will make up the basis for explorations into historically preceding and succeeding discussions of culture. The aim of the workshop is to enable an interdisciplinary scholarly discussion between researchers within the fields of philosophy, intellectual history, and Jewish philosophy in order to exchange ideas and develop research topics within this broad and interesting field.
