Abstract
The question concerning the nature of the human soul links the philosophical thought of Edith Stein and Hedwig Conrad-Martius. This contribution follows a historical and biographical approach that traces and delineates the influence of Conrad-Martius on Stein in “Individual and Community.” I focus on the positions that the two philosophers defend and their respective ways of developing them in their philosophical work. First, I chronicle Stein’s disappointments concerning various conceptions of the soul. Second, I present Conrad-Martius’s alternative account of the soul as found in her 1917 essay “Von der Seele.” Third, I comment on Stein’s reception of Conrad-Martius’s conception and its integration into her work. Finally, I critically evaluate the shared insights of the two philosophers, as well as their differences.
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Notes
- 1.
“Von da aber war ich weitergegangen zu etwas, was mir persönlich besonders am Herzen lag und mich in allen späteren Arbeiten immer wieder neu beschäftigte: zum Aufbau der menschlichen Person” (Stein, 2002, 328).
- 2.
See also Stein 2002, 173.
- 3.
For more detail, see Holzhey (1995, 26–52), especially 49.
- 4.
“Die ‘Psychologie ohne Seele’ verwechselt, wie uns scheinen möchte, die Ausschaltung der Seelenentität im Sinne irgendwelcher nebulösen Seelenmetaphysik mit der Ausschaltung der Seele überhaupt, d.i. der in der Empirie faktisch gegebenen psychischen Realität, deren Zustände die Erlebnisse sind.”.
- 5.
The first and the last three chapters of Stein’s original dissertation are lost. See Sondermann (2008, xi–xxvi, xx–xxi).
- 6.
See also Stein (2008, 108, 129).
- 7.
Roman Ingarden mentions Conrad-Martius’s influence on Stein (Ingarden, 1979) and the discussion of the soul (478f).
- 8.
Conrad-Martius remarks that this story does not take into account the objective idea of lower spirits, for the fact of desiring already presupposes the rudimentary makings of a soul.
- 9.
Their first encounter took place in August, 1920 in the house of the then deceased Adolf Reinach in order to prepare his manuscripts and posthumous writings for publication (Avé-Lallemant, 2015, 67).
- 10.
See also Stein (2010, 197, 212f).
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
Angela Ales Bello notes, “Il nucleo sembra coincidere piuttosto con l’anima perché entrambi, il nucleo della persona e l’essere dell’anima determinato da tale nucleo, non mostrano alcuna capacità di sviluppo” (Ales Bello, 2009, 57).
- 14.
- 15.
See Stein’s investigation of personal properties in her dissertation, which correspond to the “resting” or “lying” qualities of the soul in “Individual and Community.” Just as the “resting” qualities are reflected in the character traits, the unchangeable, personal traits are expressed in the concrete person as changeable, emotional qualities.
- 16.
We already encountered this problem in Stein’s Introduction to Philosophy when she notes that not all people recognize an essential individuality. One explanation for this conclusion can be that one’s individuality does not always affect one’s life and, therefore, remains imperceptible.
- 17.
Stein adopts this terminology from Conrad-Martius, who in her discussions of the soul almost always speaks of human beings and not persons. I prefer here to use the word “person” or “concrete person.”.
- 18.
This reflection also includes the borderline case of a completely externally determined or, what Stein calls, “‘absolutely’ soul-less behavior” (Stein, 2000, 235). See also Stein’s investigations on psychic contagion in Stein (1922, 158–171, 2000, 175–191, 2010, 148–159). Here “a modification of the behavior of one individual under the influence of another” is possible, which leads to “conformity in behavior of a series of individuals” (Stein, 1922, 168, 2000, 187, 2010, 156).
- 19.
On the other hand, it is not in our power to provoke what can lead to the expression or manifestation of the soul in the actuality of a life, as Stein emphasizes: “What can help your soul along to its ‘awakening,’ that’s completely beyond saying. Anything and everything can suddenly strike in the depths, to where nothing was able to make headway before. And if that happens, it doesn’t impart training to this or that ability. Rather, the whole abundance of your soul bursts forth in the actuality of living, an actuality which discloses that that living is just now becoming ‘soul filled’” (Stein, 1922, 210f., 2000, 233, 2010, 195).
- 20.
There are personality disorders that can fundamentally prevent or at least conceal the expression or manifestation of one’s own soul: see World Health Organization 2021.
- 21.
See Stein’s account of her condition in a letter written on September 16, 1919 to Roman Ingarden toward the end of the editing of “Individual and Community”: “Physically excellent as always; mentally quite tolerable with enough energy expenditure; emotionally extremely fluctuating, but never really bad; psychologically (which you can translate from my terminology into the usual way of speaking as ‘nerves’) permanently miserable” (Stein, 2001, 123).
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Betschart, C. (2022). The Influence of Hedwig Conrad-Martius’s Early Conception of the Soul on Edith Stein’s “Individual and Community”. In: Calcagno, A., Miron, R. (eds) Hedwig Conrad-Martius and Edith Stein: Philosophical Encounters and Divides. Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14759-3_3
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