Robert Spaemann's philosophische essays

Review of Metaphysics

Volumn 51, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 105-132

  Madigan, Arthur ^a  

^a BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

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EID: 0040653540     PISSN: 00346632     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (35)

1. Robert Spaemann, Philosophische Essays (hereafter, "PE"), 2d. ed. (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1994). All references appearing in parentheses in the text are to this work. All translations from this work are my own.
2. Spaemann's Moralische Grundbegriffe (Munich: Beck, 1982) is available in English as Basic Moral Concepts, trans. Timothy J. Armstrong (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). Four of Spaemann's essays are also available in English: "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976-77): 363-9; "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, in Contemporary German Philosophy, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, and Wolfgang Wieland, vol. 2 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51; "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10, no. 1 (1984): 89-97; and "Is Every Human Being a Person?" trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996): 463-74.
3. Spaemann's Moralische Grundbegriffe (Munich: Beck, 1982) is available in English as Basic Moral Concepts, trans. Timothy J. Armstrong (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). Four of Spaemann's essays are also available in English: "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976-77): 363-9; "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, in Contemporary German Philosophy, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, and Wolfgang Wieland, vol. 2 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51; "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10, no. 1 (1984): 89-97; and "Is Every Human Being a Person?" trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996): 463-74.
4. Spaemann's Moralische Grundbegriffe (Munich: Beck, 1982) is available in English as Basic Moral Concepts, trans. Timothy J. Armstrong (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). Four of Spaemann's essays are also available in English: "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976-77): 363-9; "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, in Contemporary German Philosophy, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, and Wolfgang Wieland, vol. 2 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51; "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10, no. 1 (1984): 89-97; and "Is Every Human Being a Person?" trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996): 463-74.
5. Spaemann's Moralische Grundbegriffe (Munich: Beck, 1982) is available in English as Basic Moral Concepts, trans. Timothy J. Armstrong (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). Four of Spaemann's essays are also available in English: "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976-77): 363-9; "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, in Contemporary German Philosophy, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, and Wolfgang Wieland, vol. 2 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51; "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10, no. 1 (1984): 89-97; and "Is Every Human Being a Person?" trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996): 463-74.
6. Spaemann's Moralische Grundbegriffe (Munich: Beck, 1982) is available in English as Basic Moral Concepts, trans. Timothy J. Armstrong (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). Four of Spaemann's essays are also available in English: "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976-77): 363-9; "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, in Contemporary German Philosophy, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, and Wolfgang Wieland, vol. 2 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51; "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10, no. 1 (1984): 89-97; and "Is Every Human Being a Person?" trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996): 463-74.
7. Spaemann's Moralische Grundbegriffe (Munich: Beck, 1982) is available in English as Basic Moral Concepts, trans. Timothy J. Armstrong (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). Four of Spaemann's essays are also available in English: "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976-77): 363-9; "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, in Contemporary German Philosophy, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, and Wolfgang Wieland, vol. 2 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51; "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10, no. 1 (1984): 89-97; and "Is Every Human Being a Person?" trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996): 463-74.
8. Spaemann evaluates the emancipation brought about by modernity both positively, as a recognition and expansion of freedom, and negatively, as a disregard of norms of good and evil. In the latter sense he speaks of the Marquis de Sade as a figure of naturalistic emancipation (PE, 29-30), and of the National Socialist period in Germany as an era of radical emancipation (PE, 65).
9. Spaemann evaluates the emancipation brought about by modernity both positively, as a recognition and expansion of freedom, and negatively, as a disregard of norms of good and evil. In the latter sense he speaks of the Marquis de Sade as a figure of naturalistic emancipation (PE, 29-30), and of the National Socialist period in Germany as an era of radical emancipation (PE, 65).
10. An alternative or disjunction of two abstractions; see PE, 102.
11. More on Spaemann's conception of philosophy may be found in "Philosophie als institutionalisierte Naivität," Philosophisches Jahrbuch 81 (1974): 139-42.
12. Spaemann maintains that attentiveness to natural teleology is essential to ethical thinking, but he also insists that moral justification cannot be teleological in a utilitarian or consequentialist sense, a justification of means by ends. He discusses this point at length in "Über die Unmöglichkeit einer universalteleologischen Ethik," Philosophisches Jahrbuch 88 (1981): 70-89. Spaemann is particularly critical of the tendency of some Roman Catholic moral theologians to give up the classical notion of teleology in favor of a utilitarian approach to moral justification; see "Über die Unmöglichkeit," 88-9, and PE, 253.
13. Spaemann maintains that attentiveness to natural teleology is essential to ethical thinking, but he also insists that moral justification cannot be teleological in a utilitarian or consequentialist sense, a justification of means by ends. He discusses this point at length in "Über die Unmöglichkeit einer universalteleologischen Ethik," Philosophisches Jahrbuch 88 (1981): 70-89. Spaemann is particularly critical of the tendency of some Roman Catholic moral theologians to give up the classical notion of teleology in favor of a utilitarian approach to moral justification; see "Über die Unmöglichkeit," 88-9, and PE, 253.
14. Spaemann maintains that attentiveness to natural teleology is essential to ethical thinking, but he also insists that moral justification cannot be teleological in a utilitarian or consequentialist sense, a justification of means by ends. He discusses this point at length in "Über die Unmöglichkeit einer universalteleologischen Ethik," Philosophisches Jahrbuch 88 (1981): 70-89. Spaemann is particularly critical of the tendency of some Roman Catholic moral theologians to give up the classical notion of teleology in favor of a utilitarian approach to moral justification; see "Über die Unmöglichkeit," 88-9, and PE, 253.
15. The key issue for Spaemann is not whether the state of nature was a historical fact or a theoretical construct, but the practical issue of political philosophy: how do we keep from degenerating into a state of nature?
16. A latent function of a belief is a consequence of the belief, but a consequence that the person holding the belief does not intend and of which he or she may not even be aware; see PE, 209-13.
17. See PE, 22-3 and 44-6, discussed above.
18. Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 8. In this English version, Strauss cites Aristotle, Physics 2.4.196a25ff., and 2.8.199a3-5.
19. Natural Right and History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 8. In this English version, Strauss cites Aristotle, Physics 2.4.196a25ff., and 2.8.199a3-5.
20. I translate Naturrecht as "natural right" rather than "natural law" in order to preserve the connection between Naturrecht and das von Natur Rechte, "that which is right by nature" or "that which is naturally right" (see PE, 60-1).
21. See also PE, 78.
22. Ritter's interpretation of Aristotelian natural right may be found in the essay ">Naturrecht< bei Aristoteles," in his Metaphysik und Politik. Studien zu Aristoteles und Hegel (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1969), 133-79.
23. Spaemann understands the period of German National Socialism as a period in which a movement of "radical emancipation" was dominant, and the fifteen years after World War II as merely a breathing space before the current (the essay first appeared in 1973) renewal of the tendency toward radical emancipation.
24. Spaemann says that this circularity is also found in the Christian conception of natural right, and that it is the source of the current (1973) crisis in Catholic circles over natural right.
25. This is a criticism of Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics. More on this point can be found in Spaemann's essay, "Die Utopie der Herrschaftsfreiheit," Merkur 26 (1972): 735-52, in Habermas's reply "Die Utopie des guten Herrschers," Merkur 26 (1972): 1266-73, and in Spaemann's rejoinder, 1273-8. All three pieces are reprinted in Spaemann's Zur Kritik der politischen Utopie (Stuttgart: Klett, 1977), 104-41. For an account of Habermas's discourse ethics, see David M. Rasmussen, Reading Habermas (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1990), 56-74.
26. This is a criticism of Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics. More on this point can be found in Spaemann's essay, "Die Utopie der Herrschaftsfreiheit," Merkur 26 (1972): 735-52, in Habermas's reply "Die Utopie des guten Herrschers," Merkur 26 (1972): 1266-73, and in Spaemann's rejoinder, 1273-8. All three pieces are reprinted in Spaemann's Zur Kritik der politischen Utopie (Stuttgart: Klett, 1977), 104-41. For an account of Habermas's discourse ethics, see David M. Rasmussen, Reading Habermas (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1990), 56-74.
27. This is a criticism of Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics. More on this point can be found in Spaemann's essay, "Die Utopie der Herrschaftsfreiheit," Merkur 26 (1972): 735-52, in Habermas's reply "Die Utopie des guten Herrschers," Merkur 26 (1972): 1266-73, and in Spaemann's rejoinder, 1273-8. All three pieces are reprinted in Spaemann's Zur Kritik der politischen Utopie (Stuttgart: Klett, 1977), 104-41. For an account of Habermas's discourse ethics, see David M. Rasmussen, Reading Habermas (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1990), 56-74.
28. This is a criticism of Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics. More on this point can be found in Spaemann's essay, "Die Utopie der Herrschaftsfreiheit," Merkur 26 (1972): 735-52, in Habermas's reply "Die Utopie des guten Herrschers," Merkur 26 (1972): 1266-73, and in Spaemann's rejoinder, 1273-8. All three pieces are reprinted in Spaemann's Zur Kritik der politischen Utopie (Stuttgart: Klett, 1977), 104-41. For an account of Habermas's discourse ethics, see David M. Rasmussen, Reading Habermas (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1990), 56-74.
29. For an elaboration of this point, see Paul W. McNellis, S.J., "The Family and the Analogy of Gratitude: The Role of the Family in Johannes Messner's Thought" (Ph.D. diss., Boston College, 1993), especially chapter 4. McNellis argues that gratitude, specifically gratitude for all that we receive in the context of family, is the way to what Spaemann terms remembering nature.
30. Does Spaemann have to argue directly for the third approach? He might well answer no. At PE, 8 he says that certain things, such as that good is one thing and evil another, are simply given. People know these things even as children. They do not really have to be taught them. What they have to do is not let themselves be talked out of them.
31. A bibliography of Spaemann's published work to 1987 is found in Oikeiosis: Festschrift für Robert Spaemann, ed. Reinhard Löw (Weinheim: Acta Humaniora, 1987), 321-39.
32. Ulrich Steinvorth sees Finnis and Spaemann as representing two species of what he calls "classical ethics," with Finnis standing for a plurality of basic values and Spaemann standing for a single basic value: the life of reason and freedom. See his Klassische und moderne Ethik. Grundlinien einer materialen Moraltheorie (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1990), 122-33.
33. Glück und Wohlwollen (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1989). Jeremiah Alberg, S.J. is preparing an English translation of this work.
34. Personen: Versuche über den Unterschied zwischen >etwas< und >jemand< (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1996).
35. Prof. Spaemann received an honorary doctorate at the Catholic University of America on 7 October 1995. The address that Richard Schenk, O.P. delivered on that occasion is an excellent introduction to Spaemann's work as a whole. It deserves prompt publication and wide readership. This article has been much improved by the comments and suggestions of Jeremiah Alberg, S.J., Andrew Krivak, S.J., Alasdair MacIntyre, J. Patrick Mohr, S.J., James Swindal, and especially Paul McNellis, S.J.