Dennis J. Schmidt

On the Significance of Nature for the Question of Ethics

The purpose of this article is to begin to renew the theme of nature as a central, even unavoidable, question for philosophizing today. Furthermore, the argument is made that this question is most productively posed as a question concerning ethical life. Texts by Aristotle, Kant and Hoderlin are considered. Attention to Heideggers concerns with technology also serves to guide the issues here.

On the Sources of Ethical Life

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to argue that the connection between hermeneutics and practical philosophy is so strong that one needs to consider hermeneutics as the outline of an ethical sensibility, one that takes up the challenges that are outlined by Heidegger’s call for an “original ethics.” Part of this argument entails demonstrating how understanding, the real task of every hermeneutic project, is ultimately a form of self-understanding.

Why is Spirit Such a Slow Learner

A typical view of Hegels Phenomenology of Spirit takes the view that it traces the forward march of spirit and that this forward moving education outlines a path of pure progress. My contention is that what most needs to be said about spirit is that it is indeed a slow learner: lessons must be learned over and over again, structures get repeated, the same mistakes are made in different contexts. Repetition, not progress, is the rule of spirits education. Two questions are addressed in this essay. First, what is it about spirit that makes it such a slow learner of the lessons it must learn? Second, how is it that the crisis of tragedy and its resolution in the form of comedy represent a new stage in the education of spirit, one in which there is some hope of finally learning the lessons it must suffer?

Keeping Pace with the Movement of Life: On Words and Music

AbstractThe largest purpose of this paper is to ask about how it is that life is re-presented by us. The argument is that life should be considered as a matter not of a collection of objects, but of a movement, of time. Furthermore, the claim is that the conceptual language of philosophy has the liability of ossifying this movement of life but that music, which is time and movement above all, is able to keep pace with this movement of life.

Klee’s Gardens

AbstractThe image and the idea of the garden play a prominent role in both Klee’s paintings and in his theoretical work. The purpose of this paper is to ask about the significance of gardens for Klee. In the end, I argue that the garden provides an image of growth and of place that opens possibilities for understanding the human place in the world.