Cohen's Idea of a Philosophy of Culture and the Question of the Human Subject

"The paper treats the human subject in the context of Cohen's philosophy ofculture. In addition to his Logic of Pure Cognition, Ethics of Pure Willing andAesthetics of Pure Feeling, Cohen's planned System of Philosophy was to becompleted by a fourth volume, intended to be a Psychology and to deal withthe “unity of cultural consciousness” (Einheit of Kulturbewusstein). His Ethics– in the Introduction and the final chapter 16 “Humanity” – contain some interestingremarks and passages on the nature of the human subject, testifyingto Cohen's peculiar treatment of the individual. The key term for his considerationof the human being is thus the “unity of cultural consciousness”, theunity of human being and culture, the alleged unity of theory of consciousnessand theory of culture. Ethics itself «as the doctrine of the human being» is the«doctrine of the concept of the human being»." [Publisher's text]