Knud Ejler Løgstrup’s Reception of Max Scheler’s Ethics of 1932 and Beyond

TY - CHAP

T1 - Knud Ejler Løgstrup’s Reception of Max Scheler’s Ethics of 1932 and Beyond

AU - Rabjerg, Bjørn

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

PY - 2022/5

Y1 - 2022/5

N2 - This article explores Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup’s prize dissertation from 1932: An Exposition and Evaluation of Max Scheler’s “Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die materiale Wertethik.” In this work, Løgstrup praises Scheler’s phenomenological approach to values, seeing it as an important contribution to the field of ethics. However, Løgstrup rejects Scheler’s phenomenological foundation of the ethical “ought,” arguing that the “ought” lies outside the scope of phenomenology. Furthermore, Løgstrup rejects Scheler’s philosophical (and theological) anthropology, where he finds this to be too optimistic and not sufficiently concerned with human self-centredness. Finally, the article presents how Løgstrup is inspired by Scheler in his later work, where Løgstrup combines an optimistic ontological view on values with a pessimistic anthropological view on human nature. This duality constitutes the core of Løgstrup’s own approach to ethics, where he focuses on what he calls “the ethical demand,” “sovereign expressions of life,” and “circling thoughts and emotions.”.

AB - This article explores Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup’s prize dissertation from 1932: An Exposition and Evaluation of Max Scheler’s “Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die materiale Wertethik.” In this work, Løgstrup praises Scheler’s phenomenological approach to values, seeing it as an important contribution to the field of ethics. However, Løgstrup rejects Scheler’s phenomenological foundation of the ethical “ought,” arguing that the “ought” lies outside the scope of phenomenology. Furthermore, Løgstrup rejects Scheler’s philosophical (and theological) anthropology, where he finds this to be too optimistic and not sufficiently concerned with human self-centredness. Finally, the article presents how Løgstrup is inspired by Scheler in his later work, where Løgstrup combines an optimistic ontological view on values with a pessimistic anthropological view on human nature. This duality constitutes the core of Løgstrup’s own approach to ethics, where he focuses on what he calls “the ethical demand,” “sovereign expressions of life,” and “circling thoughts and emotions.”.

KW - Divine command

KW - Ethical demand

KW - Ethics

KW - Metaphysics

KW - Ontology

KW - Philosophical and theological anthropology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130914865&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-94854-2_9

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-94854-2_9

M3 - Book chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85130914865

T3 - Contributions To Phenomenology

SP - 173

EP - 189

BT - Contributions To Phenomenology

PB - Springer Nature

ER -