Social philosophy of science: German version. Friedrich Schleiermacher on the reformation of German university and the role of faculty of philosophy

Abstract

The author discusses the concept of social philosophy of science by Friedrich Shleiermacher. He argues that the purpose of Schleiermacher’s project was to transform the old-fashioned structure of German university as Middle Ages guilds into a modern corporation that fits the political conditions of modernity and the needs of Prussian state. This project was closely connected with the Prussian foreign policy ambitions - i.e., widespreading the German Geist in the cultural, educational and scientific spheres. The key point of this project was the idea of the hermeneutic circle. The author claims that Schleiermacher worked within the borders of externalism, while Kant preferred the internalist point of view in his “The Conflicts of the Faculties”.