The Anthology of Swiss Legal Culture

 

Cluster "Philosophy of Law and General Jurisprudence"

 

3^rd Section "Legal Structures as an Integrative Part of Cultural Phenomenons, leading to an Inter­disciplinary Approach as Part of the Theory of Science"

 

Entry 3.8 "Nikolaus Kreissl, Das Rechtsphänomen bei Wilhelm Dilthey"

 

Selected, Elaborated and Discussed by Michael Walter Hebeisen

 

 

 

Author: Nikolaus Kreissl

 

Title: Das Rechtsphänomen in der Philosophie Wilhelm Dilt­heys

 

Edition(s): in: Basler Studien zur Rechtswissenschaft, vol. 93, Basel/ Stutt­gart: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1970, pp. 38-81

 

 

 

[Introduction/Historical Situation and Systematic Context]

 

Wilhelm Dilthey was called to the University of Basel in 1867, after having been a private lecturer at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin. However, his stay in Switzerland had only been episodic, since he left for Kiel in 1868. From 1883 until 1908 he had a principal chair for philosophy at the Humboldt-University in Berlin. He is to be considered as the founder of a philosophical foundation of the human sciences in general, to the hermeneutical tradition in specific, but also inspired the current of so-called life philosophy. His influence on modern philosophical theory building is immense but not always reflected and explicitly declared.

 

The legal thought of Hermann Heller, of the eminent representative of public law in the Weimar Republic, has been inspired by Wilhelm Dilthey, mediated by Theodor Litt and Hans Freyer. In order to free jurisprudence and legal philosophy from natural law theories and their naturalistic background, it appears essential to refer to an understanding of legal thought as belonging to the human sciences to the framework sketched by Dilthey. Preceded by Italian philosophers, Michael Walter Hebeisen has undertaken this task lately (see no. 2.24 of this Legal Anthology). It has been the deeply founded conviction of Dilthey that “Das Problem, welches sich das Naturrecht stellte, ist nur lösbar im Zusammenhang der positiven Wissenschaften des Rechts. [...] Hieraus folgt, dass es eine besondere Philosophie des Rechts nicht gibt, dass vielmehr ihre Aufgabe dem philosophisch begründeten Zusammenhang der positiven Wissenschaften des Geistes wird anheimfallen müssen (Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften − Versuch einer Grundlegung für das Studium der Gesellschaft und der Geschichte (Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 1), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 9^th ed. 1990, p. 79)”. This announcement of an abolition of legal philosophy turns to its contrary, however, namely to a philosophical theory of the law as a cultural phenomenon and of jurisprudence as a human science.

 

 

 

[Content, Abstracts/Conclusions, Insights, Evidence]

 

An exception to the neglection of Wilhelm Dilthey among legal scholars is the promotion thesis presented by Nikolaus Kreissl in 1970 at the University of Basel. The approach is dominated by the difficulties to select the material out of the twenty volumes of collected works by Dilthey. There is to be mentioned a significant distance from intellectualistic conceptions of law and jurisprudence. In short, on the ninety pages of the all too generic arguments the author does not arrive to decisive conclusions. “Die Begriffe Recht und Sittlichkeit treten in der Philosophie Diltheys meist in jener auffälligen Parallelstellung auf, die die besondere Diltheysche Fassung von Leben, Geschichte und Objektivation gerade kennzeichnet”. This assertion indicates a lack of distinction in Dilthey himself, and cannot be considered as a great achievement, in fact. In this context, it is impossible to grasp the nuances of critique Dilthey’s of Hegelianism, apart from identifying an inclination towards historicism, and a refusal of traditional metaphysics.

 

 

 

[Further Information About the Author]

 

After having received his doctorate in 1970, Nikolaus Kreissl entered the administration of the Canton of Basel Stadt.

 

 

 

[For Further Reading]

 

Otto Friedrich Bollnow: Dilthey – Eine Einführung in seine Philosophie, Schaffhausen: Novalis, 4^th ed. 1980;

 

Ilse N. Bulhof: Wilhelm Dilthey – A Hermeneutic Approach to the Study of History and Culture (Martinus Nijhoff Philosoph Library, vol. 2), The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1980;

 

Giuseppe Cacciatore: Vita e forme della scienza storica – Saggi sulla storiografia di Dilthey (Collana di filosofia, N. S. vol. 7), Napoli: Morano, 1985; Idem: Vico e Dilthey – La storia dell'esperienza umana come relazione fondante di conoscere e fare, in: Bolletino del Centro di Studi vichiani, vol. 9 (1979), pp. 35 ss.;

 

Arne Homann: Diltheys Bruch mit der Metaphysik – Die Aufhebung der Hegelschen Philosophie im geschichtlichen Bewusstsein, Freiburg im Breisgau/ München: Karl Alber, 1995;

 

Hans Ineichen: Erkenntnistheorie und geschichtlich-gesellschaftliche Welt – Diltheys Logik der Geisteswissenschaften (Studien zur Philosophie und Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, vol. 28), Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 1975;

 

Thomas Leinkauf (Ed.): Dilthey und Cassirer – Die Deutung der Neuzeit als Muster von Geistes- und Kulturgeschichte (Cassirer-Forschungen, vol. 10), Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 2003;

 

Arthur Liebert: Wilhelm Dilthey – Eine Würdigung seines Werkes zum 100. Geburtstage des Philosophen, Berlin: E. S. Mittler & Sohn, 1933;

 

Rudolf A. Makkreel: Dilthey – Philosoph der Geisteswissenschaften (Dilthey – Philosopher of the Human Studies), translated from the American by Barbara M. Kehm, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1991 (Princeton University Press, Princeton 1975);

 

Giuliano Marini: Dilthey e la comprensione del mondo umano, Milano: A. Giuffrè, 1965;

 

Clara Misch (geborene Dilthey): Der junge Dilthey – Ein Lebensbild in Briefen und Tagebüchern 1852-1870, Mit einem Jugendbildnis, Leipzig/ Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1933;

 

Georg Misch: Vom Lebens- und Gedankenkreis Wilhelm Diltheys, Frankfurt am Main: Gerhard Schulte-Bulmke, 1947;

 

Frithjof Rodi: Pragmatische und universalhistorische Geschichtsbetrachtung – Anmerkungen zu Diltheys Skizzen einer Historik, in: Dilthey und Yorck – Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften im Zeichen von Geschichtlichkeit und Historismus (Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis, vol. 1788), ed. Jerzy Krakowski and Gunter Scholtz, Wroclaw, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrochlawskiego, 1996, pp. 119 ss.;

 

Erich Rothacker (Hrsg.): Briefwechsel zwischen Wilhelm Dilthey und dem Grafen Paul Yorck von Wartenburg 1877-1897 (Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften, vol. 1), Halle an der Saale: Max Niemeyer, 1923;

 

Werner Stegmaier: Diltheys Denken des Lebens. In: Hermeneutik des Lebens – Potentiale des Lebensbegriffs in der Moderne, ed. Ralf Elm, Kristian Köchy and Manfred Meyer, Freiburg im Breisgau/ München: Karl Alber, 1999, pp. 100 ss.;

 

Arthur Stein: Der Begriff des Geistes bei Dilthey, Bern: Max Drechsel, 1913;

 

Julius Stenzel: Dilthey und die deutsche Philosophie der Gegenwart (Philosophische Vorträge, veröffentlicht von der Kant-Gesellschaft, ed. Paul Menzer, vol. 33), Berlin-Charlottenburg: Pan-Verlag, 1934.

 

 

 

24 November 2017                                                                     Michael Walter Hebeisen