Review of "Widmer E. T., Left-Kantianism in the Marburg School"

Abstract

Written by Elizabeth Widmer and published in 2024 by De Gruyter, Left-Kantianism in the Marburg School the thirteenth volume in the series New Studies in the History and Historiography of Philosophy, which aims to reevaluate the history of modern and contemporary Western philosophy.

Written by Elizabeth Widmer and published in 2024 by De Gruyter, Left-Kantianism in the Marburg School the thirteenth volume in the series New Studies in the History and Historiography of Philosophy, which aims to reevaluate the history of modern and contemporary Western philosophy. In this work, Widmer claims that the term Left-Kantianism is more appropriate to identify the theoretical divergences about the political philosophy of this left-wing movement than the term “ethical socialism”. According to Widmer, Left-Kantianism, which originated in the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, is characterized as a philosophical movement that intends to renew Kant’s critical methodology to critique capitalism. I believe the main contribution of this work is to revitalize the study of Left-Kantianism, demonstrating how it can still provide an interesting basis for a social and  political critique, as well as offering new perspectives on the normative dimension of the Marburg school, which contrast with the historically prevailing view that assumes the movement only as logicist and scientistic.