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Scheler, Max (1874–1928)

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Encyclopedia of Phenomenology

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Max Scheler (1874–1928) had a pivotal and prominent role in the early development of the phenomenological movement and at the height of his career was one the most sought after and admired intellectuals in Germany. He had earned such a reputation not only by virtue of his oratory style, a style that left those in attendance “breathless,” but also by virtue of the ground-breaking nature of his thought (Mader 1995). Most widely known for his original work on an ethical theory of value, Scheler’s restless and creative mind sought out new areas of thought for phenomenological investigation. Scheler pioneered work in the phenomenology of religious experience, communal existence, the sociology of knowledge, philosophical anthropology, politics, history, aging and death, epistemology, and metaphysics. In comparison to his now more famous contemporary phenomenologists, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, Scheler’s work has not garnered the same attention. However, the avenues of thought that...

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Scheler edited and added to this work on the feeling of sympathy and publish the revised work in 1923 under the title On the Nature of Sympathy (Wesen und Formen der Sympathie).

  2. 2.

    In the work, On the Nature of Sympathy, Scheler does not use the notion of collective person and describes two different types of communities, what he calls a spiritual-community and a love-community. It is not clear why he uses different language in this text. There is, nonetheless, consistency between the Formalism and Sympathy book. When he describes the collective person in the Formalism, he also describes both a sense of community related to the value of spirit, what he calls culture, and a community related to the value of the holy, what he calls the church. Because Scheler makes use of the term collective person in his later work, specifically his political works, I have chosen to use collective person.

References

The Collected Works (Gesammelte Werke) of Max Scheler

  • Vol. I, Frühe Schriften. 1971. Maria Scheler and Manfred S. Frings (eds.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. II, Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die matierale Wertethik. Neuer Versuch der Grundlegung eines ethischen Personalismus. 1980. Maria Scheler (ed. 1st to 5th ed.). Manfred S. Frings (ed. 6th ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. III, Vom Umsturz der Werte. 1972. Maria Scheler (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. IV, Politisch Pädagogische Schriften. 1982. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. V, Vom Ewigen im Menschen. 1954. Maria Scheler (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. VI, Schriften zur Soziologie und Weltanschauungslehre. 1963. Maria Scheler (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. VII, Wesen und Formen der Sympathie. 1973. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. VIII, Die Wissensformen und die Gesellschaft. 1980. Maria Scheler (ed. 1st and 2nd ed.). Manfred S. Frings (ed. 3rd ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. IX, Späte Schriften. 1976. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. X, Schriften aus dem Nachlass, I. Zur Ethik und Erkenntnislehre. 1957. Maria Scheler (ed.). Bern: Francke Verlag.

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  • Vol. XI, Schriften aus dem Nachlass, II. Erkenntnislehre und Metaphysik. 1979. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bonn: Bouvier Verlag.

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  • Vol. XII, Schriften aus dem Nachlass, III. Philosophische Anthropologie. 1987. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bonn: Bouvier Verlag.

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  • Vol. XIII, Schriften aus dem Nachlass, IV. Philosophie und Geschichte. 1990. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bonn: Bouvier Verlag.

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  • Vol. XIV, Schriften aus dem Nachlass, V. Varia I. 1993. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bonn: Bouvier Verlag.

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  • Vol. XV, Schriften aus dem Nachlass, VI. Varia II. 1997. Manfred S. Frings (ed.). Bonn: Bouvier Verlag.

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Current English Translations

    Books and Collection of Essays

    • Cognition and work: A study concerning the value and limits of the pragmatic motifs in the cognition of the world. 2021. Zachary Davis (trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

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    • Formalism in ethics and non-formal ethics of values. 1973. Manfred S. Frings and Roger L. Funk (trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

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    • Man’s place in nature. 1961. Hans Meyerhoff (trans.). New York: Noonday.

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    • On the eternal in man. 1960. Bernard Noble (trans.). London: SCM Press.

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    • Person and self-value. Three essays. 1987. Manfred S. Frings (ed. and partial trans.). Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.

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    • Philosophical perspectives. 1958. Oscar Haac (trans.). Boston: Beacon Press.

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    • Problems of a sociology of knowledge. 1980. Manfred S. Frings (trans.), Kenneth Stikkers (ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Press.

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    • Selected philosophical essays. 1973. David Lachterman (trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

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    • The constitution of the human being. 2008. John Cutting (trans.). Marquette University Press.

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    • The human’s place in the cosmos. 2009. Manfred S. Frings (trans.). Evanston Northwestern University Press.

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    • The nature of sympathy. 1970. Peter Heath, Hamden (trans.). CN: Archon Books (first printing, London: Routledge & Kegan Press, 1954).

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    Essays

    • An a priori hierarchy of value-modalities. 1967. In Readings in existential phenomenology, trans. Daniel O’Connor, ed. Nathaniel Lawrence and Daniel O’Connor.

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    • Concerning the meaning of the feminist movement. 1978. In Philosophical forum, trans. Manfred S. Frings.

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    • Future of man. 1928, February. In Monthly criterion 7, trans. Howard Becker.

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    • Humility. 1981. In Altheia II, trans. Barbara Fiand.

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    • Love and knowledge. 1992. In Max Scheler. On feeling, knowing, and valuing. Selected writings, trans. Harold J. Bershady with Peter Haley. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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    • Max Weber’s exclusion of philosophy (on the psychology and sociology of nominalist thought. 1989. In Max Weber science as vocation, trans. R.C. Speirs, ed. Peter Lassman, Irving Velody with Hermino Martins.

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    • Metaphysics and art. 1974. In Max Scheler (1874–1928) centennial essays, trans. and ed. Manfred S. Frings. The Hague.

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    • On the positivistic philosophy of the history of knowledge and its laws of three stages. 1970. In The sociology of knowledge: A reader, trans. Rainer Koehne, ed. James E. Curtis and John W. Petras.

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    • On the tragic. 1954. In Cross Currents 4 (reprinted in Tragedy: Vision and form), trans. Bernard Stambler, ed. R. W. Corrigan.

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    • Reality and resistance: On being and time, section 43. 1977, Fall. In Listening 12, 3, trans. Thomas Sheehan.

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    • Sociology and the study and formulation of Weltanschauung. 1989. In Max Weber’s science as vocation, ed. R.C. Speirs, Peter Lassman, Irving Velody with Hermino Martins.

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    • The idea of man. 1978, October. In Journal of British Society for Phenomenology 9, trans. Clyde Nabe.

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    • The idea of peace and pacifism. 1976, October and continued 1977, January. In Journal for the British Society for Phenomenology 8, trans. Manfred S. Frings.

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    • The meaning of suffering. 1992. In Max Scheler. On feeling, knowing, and valuing. Selected writings, trans. Harold Bershady. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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    • The psychology of the so-called compensation hysteria and the real battle against illness. 1984, Fall. In Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 15, 2, trans. S.J. Edward Vacek.

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    • The Thomist ethic and the spirit of capitalism. 1964. In Sociological Analysis, 25, trans. Gertrude Neuwith.

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    • Toward a stratification of the emotional life. 1989. In Max Weber’s science as vocation, trans. R.C. Speirs, ed. Peter Lassman, Irving Velody with Hermino Martins.

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    Suggested Secondary Literature

    • Good, Paul, ed. 1975. Max Scheler in Gegenwartsgeschehen der Philosophie. Bern: Francke Verlag.

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    • Mader, Wilhelm. 1995. Max Scheler in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten. Hamburg: Rowohlt.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. St. John’s University, Queens, NY, USA

      Zachary Davis

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    1. Zachary Davis
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    Correspondence to Zachary Davis .

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    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

      Nicolas de Warren

    2. Dept of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

      Ted Toadvine

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    Davis, Z. (2024). Scheler, Max (1874–1928). In: de Warren, N., Toadvine, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Phenomenology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47253-5_69-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47253-5_69-1

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