Religious Philosophy and Messianism in the Late Hermann Cohen

Abstract

Hermann Cohen is one of the best known German philosophers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He developed a highly idealistic system of philosophy, which he believed provided a basis for all science. In his later years, he began to write about religion. Although he tried to argue the theme within his system of philosophy, the system could not hold the argument because of Cohen’s special attachment to his own religion, Judaism. In this paper, I examine Cohen’s works (from 1880 to his death in 1918) that deal with religion and Judaism, and show how this theme came to dominate his thinking in later years. In the earlier stages of his life, Cohen disputed the contemporary anti-Semitism, but did not regard religion as an intrinsic element of the system because he believed in the total assimilation of German Jews into Germany and in the possibility of reducing Jewish monotheism to idealistic ethics. But as World War I broke out, Cohen started to discuss religion as a substantial part of his philosophical system. The more apologetic his argument became, the more the argument contradicted the system. His personal faith in messianism was strongly reflected in this change, after his hope of a German-Jewish symbiosis was destroyed in the course of the war.