Alterity and Difference in Hermann Levin Goldschmidt’s Thought (20 to 21 April 2012)

In the context of the work of the philosopher Hermann Levin Goldschmidt who was born 1914 in Berlin and died 1998 in Zurich, the theses on nature, the environment, technology, economy, society, education, culture, identity, and self-realization represent an important aspect of his philosophy. Since the 1960s and especially developed in the context of adult education – a project in which Goldschmidt was deeply engaged – the theses of which so far only parts have been published and often scattered in different places have now made accessible for the first time for the purpose of this workshop. They offer insights into an important aspect of the practice but also the theorizing of dialogic thinking.

The theses originated primarily in the context of the development of Goldschmidt’s thought to what he called dialogic and had introduced first in his book Philosophy as Dialogic, published in 1948, and Dialogic: Philosophy on the Grounds of Modernity, published in 1964, and later developed further in Contradiction Set Free (1976). Emerging from this background of critical dialogic thinking – and read with an eye to this context – Goldschmidt’s theses assume a critical importance that points beyond the reflections of the individual theses to their more general philosophical significance as expression of the critical practice of dialogic engagement.

Link to Stifung Dialogik

The workshop was initiated by Prof. Dr. Willi Goetschel (Fellow 2011/12).