Re-evaluating Jakob Friedrich Fries: 200th Anniversary of the Publication of System der Metaphysik

“Re-evaluating Jakob Friedrich Fries: 200th Anniversary of the Publication of System der Metaphysik”

*co-sponsored by the 2nd Numazu Congress of Philosophy.

Date:

August 16–17, 2024

The history of philosophy began with Thales in ancient Greece and reached a pinnacle in 19th-century Germany. However, the conventional image of 19th-century German philosophy must be reconsidered. To accomplish this, it is essential to illuminate a forgotten philosophical stream that existed alongside so-called ‘German idealism’.

Philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries, a contemporary and frequent challenger of Hegel, emerges as one of the most important figures in this context. One of Fries’ most significant books is System der Metaphysik – a bible for the philosophy of Fries and his followers, the so-called ‘Friesian School’, which dominated the philosophical and scientific world of the 19th century. After the fall of the Friesian school, the Neo-Friesian school, founded by Leonard Nelson, dominated the scientific world in the 20th century.

The year 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of System der Metaphysik. This conference aims to reconsider Fries’ philosophy and the significance of Fries, as well as Friesian and Neo-Friesian thought, in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

This conference will also attempt to reconstruct the picture of 19th-century German philosophy. During the 19th and 20th centuries, thinkers beyond Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel – especially Fries – significantly influenced the history of philosophy, presenting alternatives to Hegel’s vision.

From this perspective, this conference will address themes including but not limited to:

- The historical background of Jakob Friedrich Fries

- The Friesian and Neo-Friesian schools

- Friesian philosophy and the history of philosophy

- Fries and the philosophy of science

- Fries and the philosophies of culture

- Fries and Japanese philosophy

- Fries and contemporary philosophy

Program:

16th August 2024  

JST (CEST)

15:45 (8:45) Opening Remarks  

16:00 (9:00) Tadahiro Oota (National Institute of Technology, Numazu College):
“On Background of Fries’ Philosophy by Rudolf Otto:  Focusing on the Role of De Wette”  

16:45 (9:45) Fumitaka Shimoyama (Kyoto University): 
“Regression or Constitution?: A controversy on  the foundation of science among Hermann Cohen  and Fries, the Friesian School, the Neo-Friesian School”  

17:30 (10:30) Pierluigi D'Agostino (Università di Parma): 
“The Limit of Knowledge and the Structure of Will:  Fries's Solutions to Intelligible Fatalism”  

18:15 (11:15) Pause  

18:30 (11:30) Christian Bonnet (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne):
“Jakob Friedrich Fries: die andere kantische Schule in Jena”  

17th August 2024 

JST (CEST)

16:00 (9:00) Michele Vagnetti (Universität Paderborn): 
“The Role of Psychology in the Thinking of Fries”  

17:00 (10:00) Pause  

17:15 (10:15) Kay Herrmann (Technische Universität Chemnitz): 
“Die Metaphysik der inneren Natur und  das Körper-Geist-Verhältnis bei Jakob Friedrich Fries”  

18:15 (11:15) Closing Remarks  

18:30 (11:30) Online Dinner / Lunch

Languages:

The languages of the event will be English and German.

Format:

The conference will be conducted online.

Registration:

Registration is available here:

https://forms.gle/dwwsXSE28foxPS3J6

Date of submission of abstracts:

The deadline for submission is June 1, 2024.

We will inform authors of accepted submissions on June 17, 2024.

Presentations will be in the form of an abstract of 300–500 words and should be sent to the organizers as a Word or PDF document.

The presentations will have a maximum duration of 30 minutes with an additional 15 minutes for discussion.

Abstracts should be sent to: [email protected]

Organizers:

Tadahiro OOTA (National Institute of Technology, Numazu College)

This conference is also promoted as the 2nd Numazu Congress of Philosophy.