A little book on self-awareness

[Shuixiang Xiansi] The study of German philosophy, no matter whether the topic focuses on classical idealism, Nietzsche, phenomenology or hermeneutics, will more or less encounter related topics of self-consciousness (Selbstbewusstsein, self-consciousness). Recently, I participated in a reading group with self-awareness as the axis. The participants happened to have studied in Germany, and they also happened to be divided into different schools of German philosophy. Everyone advances in different interests and research directions, and finally converges on self-consciousness, the heartland of German philosophy.

After some deliberation, we finally decided to read a small book by the philosopher Manfred Frank, "Präreflexives Selbstbewusstsein: Vier Vorlesungen" (Präreflexives Selbstbewusstsein: Vier Vorlesungen). Frank is a professor emeritus at the University of Tübingen, known for his research on the subject of self-consciousness in German idealism. As the name suggests, this little book is a collection of his lectures, less than 200 pages in total. I guess it may be suitable as an introductory guide to help you outline the core ideas of the German philosophical tradition on self-awareness, so I recommend everyone to try it.

Frank has always been quick-talking, daring to speak out against injustice, not for fear of offending criminals. At the end of 2015, he published a gunpowder article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung entitled " Hegel no longer lives here" (Hegel wohnt hier nicht mehr) . The article severely criticized the German academies after World War II for blindly following the trend, abandoning the tradition of "Continental Philosophy" that they should have been proud of, and eagerly imitating the trendy "Anglo-American Analytical Philosophy". German philosophy has lost its character and charm, and has become a shoddy product that no one cares about. What exactly is "Anglo-American Analytical Philosophy" and what is "Continental Philosophy"? Maybe in the future we will find an opportunity to discuss in detail.

"Pre-Reflective Self-Awareness" was published in the same year. In his introduction, Frank also denounces the current situation with similar sternness. Although the study of self-awareness is a forte in the German philosophical tradition, due to the decline of its tradition in the local area and the popularity of imported analytic philosophy, related discussions often move to the philosophy of mind dominated by English academic circles. On the other hand, Frank inherited the academic plan of his teacher, Dieter Henrich, to overthrow some common fallacies in philosophy of mind, and to introduce relevant insights of German idealism to the English-speaking academic community, in order to supplement current research. But he encountered two obstacles. As a result, most of his philosophical colleagues he knew were unable to understand German literature, and were reluctant to even read the English translation. Second, university presses in the English-speaking world do not seem to welcome English translations of German literature. This is the background for the book, and he hopes that his work will make more people recognize the treasures of the German philosophical tradition.

My own research on phenomenology belongs to the same broad continental philosophy as the Heidelberg School represented by Frank, and my research directions are overlapping and intricate. If anyone is interested, I may write some related reading notes later.