Hermann Cohen on the Concept of History: An Invention of Prophetism?

Abstract

Abstract At the beginning of his best seller Meaning in History, Karl Lowith launches a violent attack against Jewish prophetism, using the philosophy of history of Hermann Cohen as his first and foremost example. This article purports to show that Lowith misinterpreted the thought of Hermann Cohen. It also reclaims Cohen’s own position on history and on the philosophy of history by identifying the questions Cohen himself had asked in his time. At the end of the article, some paths of research are indicated that might prove themselves fruitful today, in a further study of Cohen’s thought.