ABSTRACT

As in the case of analytic philosophy and logical empiricism, for Critical Theorists the turn away from subjectivity is justified because a focus on subjectivity appears to jeopardize the objectivity of both philosophical analysis and social research. This book focuses on the work of Dieter Henrich as the most vocal and most important continental philosopher advocating a return to subjectivity. There are two major reasons why Henrich's philosophy is challenging. The main one is that it makes a very strong case for a return to subjectivity as a first principle of philosophy that cannot be ignored without risking a serious impoverishment of nearly all philosophizing. Second, it offers a conception of philosophy that is of existential relevance. Henrich's extensive interpretive work on Immanuel Kant, J. G. Fichte, F. Holderlin, and G. W. F. Hegel is guided by a number of further beliefs and procedures that go far beyond the aims of any mere history of philosophy.