Scheler's Ethical Personalism: Its Logic, Development, and Promise 9780823296583

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Scheler's Ethical Personalism

PERSPECTIVES IN CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

John D. Caputo, series editor 1. John D. Caputo, ed., Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida. 2. Michael Strawser, Both/And: Reading Kierkegaard-From Irony to Edification. 3. Michael Barber, Ethical Hermeneutics: Rationality in Enrique Dussel's Philosophy if Liberation. 4. James H. Olthuis, ed., Knowing Other-wise: Philosophy at the Threshold of Spirituality. 5. James Swindal, Rtiflection Revisited: ]urgen Habermas's Discursive Theory of Truth. 6. Richard Kearney, Poetics if Imagining: Modern and Postmodern. Second edition. 7. Thomas W. Busch, Circulating Being: From Embodiment to IncorporationEssays on Late Existentialism. 8. Edith Wyschogrod, Emmanuel Levinas: The Problem if Ethical Metaphysics. Second edition. 9. Francis J. Ambrosio, ed., The Question if Christian Philosophy Today. 10. Jeffrey Bloechl, ed., The Face if the Other and the Trace of God: Essays on the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. 11. Ilse N. Bulhof and Laurens ten Kate, eds, Flight if the Gods: Philosophical Perspectives on Negative Theology. 12. Trish Glazebrook, Heidegger's Philosophy of Science. 13. Kevin Hart, The Trespass of the Sign. Second edition. 14. Mark C. Taylor,]ourneys to Selfhood: Hegel and Kierkegaard. Second edition. 15. Dominique Janicaud, Jean-Franc;:ois Courtine, Jean-Louis Chretien, Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, and Paul Ricoeur, Phenemenology and the "Theological Turn": The French Debate. 16. Karl Jaspers, The Question if German Guilt. Introduction by Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. 17. Jean-Luc Marion, The Idol and Distance: Five Studies. Translated with an introduction by Thomas A. Carlson. 18. Jeffrey Dudiak, The Intrigue of Ethics: A Reading of the Idea if Discourse in the Thought if Emmanuel Levinas. 19. Robyn Homer, Rethinking God As Gift: Marion, Derrida, and the Limits if Phenomenology. 20. Mark Dooley, The Politics if Exodus: Soren Kierkegaard's Ethic if Responsibility. 21. Merold E. Westphal, Jr., Overcoming Onto-theology: Toward a Postmodern Christian Faith. 22. Stanislas Breton, The Word and the Cross. Translated with an introduction by Jacquelyn Porter. 23. Edith Wyschogrod, Jean-Joseph Goux, and Eric Boynton, eds., The Enigma if Gift and Sacrifice. 24. Jean-Luc Marion, Prolegomena to Charity. Translated by Stephen Lewis.

Scheler's Ethical Personalism ITS LOGIC, DEVELOPMENT, AND PROMISE

PETER

H.

SPADER

Fordham University Press New York

2002

Copyright © 2002 by Fordham University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. For permissions, see pages 319-321. Perspectives in Continental Philosophy No. 25 ISSN 1089-3938

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Spader, Peter H. Scheler's ethical personalism : its logic, development, and promise I Peter H. Spader.- 1st ed. p. em. - (Perspectives in continental philosophy ; no. 25) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8232-2177-6 (he.) -ISBN 0-8232-2178-4 (pbk.) 1. Scheler, Max, 187 4-1928. I. Title. II. Series. B3329.S484 S73 2002 193-dc21 2001007381

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For my wife, Nancy Skidmore Spader

CONTENTS Acknowledgments

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List of Abbreviations

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PART

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INTRODUCTION

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1: Introduction Prelude 3 The Promise of Scheler 4 The Problems of Scheler 8 The Task ofThis Book 13 An Abstract of This Book 15 A Note on Quotes 19 PART

2:

THE CHALLENGE OF KANT

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Kant's Rational Formalism Introduction 23 Kant's "Copernican Tum" 23 Kant's Approach to Rational, Formal Ethics 26 Kant's Kingdom of Ends 31 Scheler's Initial Objection to Kant's Formal Ethics 33 Kant's Challenge to All Nonformal Ethics 41 The Requirement ofNoncontingent Values 44 The Requirement of Noncontingent Feeling 44 The Requirement of the Noncontingent Person 45 Summary 46

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Values and Phenomenology

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Introduction 48 Values and Phenomenology 49 Scheler's Phenomenological Approach 51 The A Priori 54 The A Priori and the Phenomenological Given 56 The Immediately Given versus the Nongiven 57

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CONTENTS

The Order of Givenness 58 The Immediately Given versus the Mediately Given 60 The Immediately Given's Independence from the Senses 62 The Obscurity of the Phenomenological Given 67 Autonomous Values 68 Phenomenology as a "Procedure of Seeing" 71 The Phenomenological Given and Kant's Rationalism 77 Summary, and Transition to a New Problem 78 4:

Feelings Introduction 80 Scheler's Manifesto 82 The Complexity of "Feelings" 83 "Feeling of Something" (Fuhlen von etwas) versus "Feeling States" (Gifuhlszustanden) 84 "Preferring" ( Vorziehen) and "Placing After" (Nachsetzen) 86 Love and Hate 87 The Refutation of Relativity 89 Value Blindness 91 The Role ofLove 91 The Limited Vision ofValues 94 The Role of Hate 95 Value Distortion 96 Ressentiment 97

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Penons Introduction 101 Scheler's Critique ofKant's Person 102 Scheler's Person 102 Person as Act 104 A Phenomenological Description of Acts and Persons 106 The Nondurational Act 107 The Experiencing of Acts 110 The Experiencing ofPersons 112 Solving the First Enigma: Why Does Scheler Not Provide Phenomenological Evidence for His Claims about Values and the Person? 115 The Need for an Ethics 117

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PART 3: THE CHALLENGE 6:

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ScHELER's NEw ETHics

Scheler's New Ethics

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Introduction 121 The Hierarchical Ranks ofValues 121 The Moral Good 125 The Noncontingent Realization of Moral Values 127 The Person as Bearer of Moral Values 127 Scheler's Ethics versus an Ethics of Success 128 Basic Moral Tenor and Deeds 130 Scheler, Kant, and Utilitarianism 133 Core Elements of Scheler's Foundations for Ethics, with Practical Problems 135 Scheler's Practical Ethics 135 The Uniqueness oflndividual Persons 136 Public and Private Insight 138 The Model Person 140 The Tragic Limits ofFinite Persons 143 The Infinite Person: God 144 Solving the Second Enigma: Why Does Scheler Tum to God after the Formalism, Rather Than Complete His Ethics? 145 A Change ofDirection 147 7:

God and Ethics Introduction 149 The "Problems ofReligion" 149 The Tasks of Philosophy and Religion 151 The Nature of God 155 God as Mentality (Geistigkeit) 156 The Interrelation of the World and Mental Acts 158 Creation and Realization 160 God Is Love and God Is Good 163 A New Problem: God, Reality, and Evil 165 The Use of "Metaphysical" Insights 165 The Distinction between the Real and the Unreal 166 The Problem ofEvil 169 The Dualism Solution Rejected 170 Rejection of Human Action as the Ultimate Cause of Evil 171 The Devil Solution 173

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The Failure of the Devil as the Cause of Evil Final Comments 175

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From Theism to Panentheism Introduction 176 The Psychological Approach to Scheler 176 The Suddenness of the Change 181 Scheler's Comments on the Change 182 Panentheism 184 Geist and Drang 184 The Interaction between Geist and Drang 186 Scheler's Ethics and the New Panentheism 187 The Ideal and the Real 188 The Powerlessness of Geist 189 Reality, Will, and Drang 191 Ethics and the Ideal-Real Distinction 192 God and the Deitas 194 The Human Person and Deitas 194 The Problem ofEvil Solved 194 Scheler and Schopenhauer 195 Scheler's Optimism 196 New Problems 199

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The Troubled Relationship between Geist and Drang Introduction 201 The Problem of the Powerlessness of Geist 201 The Interaction Problem 202 Scheler's Emphasis 202 The Power of Geist 203 The Interaction between Geist and Drang 205 Geist below the Human Person 206 Defending the Uniqueness of the Human Person 211 Freedom and Interaction 213 Geist, Drang, Idealization, and Realization 217 Resolution of the Third Enigma 219 The Completion of Scheler's Ethics: The Unfinished Task 220 New Possibilities 221

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DEFENDING A SCHELERIAN ETHICAL PERSONALISM

Defending the Central Role of the Person in Scheler's Ethics The New Task 225

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CONTENTS

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Introduction to This Chapter 227 The Tragic Limits of Finite Persons-Again 228 The Two Ways to God 228 The Solution to the Problem of the Tragic Limits of Finite Persons 229 The Problem of a Change ofHeart 231 The Change of Heart 232 Husser!, Scheler, and Intersubjectivity 238 The General Problem of Intersubjectivity 239 Scheler's Phenomenology oflntersubjectivity 239 The Transcendental Ego and Intersubjectivity 243 Schutz's Criticism ofScheler's Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity 244 The Defense of Scheler's Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity 245 The Possibility of Truly Shared Thoughts 246 The Question ofWhether Persons or Values Are More Important 248 Scheler and Human Sacrifice 249 The Primacy of the Person over Values 252 The Challenge to the Primacy of the Heart 253 11:

Defending the Central Role of the Heart in ValueCeption

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Introduction 255 The Primacy of the Heart in Value-Ception 256 Strasser's Criticism of the Primacy of Feeling 25 7 The True Relationship of the Two Logics 258 Wojtyla's Criticism: Feeling and Choice 258 Choosing against Felt Values 260 Choosing Unfelt Values 261 Free Choice and the Ordo Amoris 263 The Role of Reason in Ethical Decisions 264 Von Hildebrand's Criticism: The Subjectively Satisfying and the Intrinsically Important 266 The Choice of Lower Values 269 The Values Seen 272 12:

Defending Scheler's Knowledge ofValues Introduction 273 Blosser's Critique ofScheler's Grasp ofValues 274 Blosser's Criticism of Scheler's Practical Ethics 277

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CONTENTS

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Scheler, Persons, and Children 280 Criticism of Scheler's Distinction between Moral and Nonmoral Values 282 The Relationship between Aesthetic and Moral Values 283 Criticism of Scheler's Placement of Particular Values in Particular Ranks 288 Criticism of the "Holy-Unholy" as a Separate Rank of Values 289 Heideggerian Criticism of Scheler's Understanding of the Basic Nature of Values 291 The Defense ofPhenomenology 293 Scheler and Language 294 Final Comments 296 Bibliography

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Appendix: Secondary Sources on Scheler Published between 1990 and 1999

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Permissions

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Index

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ACI