Michael Forster

My work in philosophy has both historical and systematic aspects. Historically, I work primarily on German philosophy, and secondarily on ancient philosophy. Systematically, my main interests are in epistemology (especially skepticism) and philosophy of language (in a broad sense which includes not only such central questions as the relation between thought and language, and the nature of meaning, but also, for example, questions concerning the role of meaning and thought in apparently non-linguistic art, animals' capacities for language, meaning, and thought, the scope of possible linguistic-conceptual variations, the nature of interpretation, and the nature of translation). I also have interests in other areas of philosophy, such as moral and political philosophy, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of history. Some of my work tends more towards the purely historical-exegetical (for example, parts of the book Hegel's Idea of a "Phenomenology of Spirit"), some more towards the purely systematic (for example, the article "On the Very Idea of Denying the Existence of Radically Different Conceptual Schemes"). But my commonest way of working combines historical-exegetical and systematic goals in roughly equal measures (some examples of this are the book Hegel and Skepticism, the pair of articles on Herder's philosophy of language "Herder's Philosophy of Language, Interpretation, and Translation: Three Fundamental Principles" and "Gods, Animals, and Artists: Some Problem Cases in Herder's Philosophy of Language," and the book Wittgenstein on the Arbitrariness of Grammar).



CV (DOC)


Contact

office: Stuart Hall, Room 203
office hours: Fridays 12 noon - 2 pm
office phone: 773/702-8568
email: mnforste@uchicago.edu

Selected Articles

  • The Liberal Temper in Classical German Philosophy (PDF)
  • Hermeneutics (PDF)
  • Kant and Skepticism (PDF)
  • Gods, Animals, and Artists: Some Problem Cases in Herder's Philosophy of Language
    Inquiry, Volume 46, Number 1, March 2003 , pp. 65-96(32) (Link)
  • On the Very Idea of Denying the Existence of Radically Different Conceptual Schemes
    Inquiry, Volume 41, Issue 2 June 1998 , pages 133 – 185 (Link)
  • Das geistige Tierreich (PDF)
  • Herder's Importance as a Philosopher (PDF)
  • Hegelian VS. Kantian Interpretations of Pyrrhonism: Revolution or Reaction? (PDF)

Books Published

  • Kant and Skepticism (Princeton University Press, 2008)
  • Wittgenstein on the Arbitrariness of Grammar (Princeton University Press, 2004)
  • Herder: Philosophical Writings (Cambridge University Press, 2002)
  • Hegel's Idea of a "Phenomenology of Spirit" (University of Chicago Press, 1998)
  • Hegel and Skepticism (Harvard University Press, 1989)

Selected Reviews of Forster's Books

  • Kant and Skepticism, Princeton University Press, 2008 (Dust Jacket: PDF)
  • Author(s) of Review: John Hyman
    Reviewed Work(s): Wittgenstein on the Arbitrariness of Grammar by Michael N. Forster
    The Philisophical Review, Vol. 116, No. 3 (July, 2007), pp. 471-473 (PDF)
  • Wittgenstein on the Arbitrariness of Grammar, Princeton University Press, 2004 (Dust Jacket PDF: Back, Flap)
  • Author(s) of Review: J. K. Fugate
    Reviewed Work(s): Philosophical Writings tr. and ed. by Michael Forster
    Choice Reviews Online, Apr., 2003 (PDF)
  • Author(s) of Review: Merold Westphal
    Reviewed Work(s): Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit by Michael N. Forster
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Sep., 2002), pp. 476-478 (Link)
  • What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Interpretation of Hegel?
    Author(s) of Review: Joshua Foa Dienstag
    Reviewed Work(s): Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit by Michael N. Forster
    Idealism as Modernism: Hegelian Variations by Robert B. Pippin
    Hegel and the State by Eric Weil; Mark A. Cohen
    Hegel's Ethics of Recognition by Robert R. Williams
    Political Theory, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Apr., 2001), pp. 262-275 (Link)
  • Author(s) of Review: Frederick Neuhouser
    Reviewed Work(s): Hegel's Idea of a 'Phenomenology of Spirit' by Michael N. Forster
    The Philosophical Review, Vol. 109, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), pp. 296-299 (Link)
  • Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit, University of Chicago Press, 1998 (Dust Jacket: PDF)
  • Author(s) of Review: Michael Inwood
    Reviewed Work(s): Hegel and Skepticism by Michael N. Forster
    Times Literary Supplement (January 19-25, 1990) (PDF)
  • Author(s) of Review: David Lamb
    Reviewed Work(s): Hegel and Skepticism by Michael N. Forster
    The Times Higher Education Supplement, No. 898 (January, 1990) (PDF)
  • Hegel and Skepticism, Harvard University Press, 1988 (Dust Jacket: PDF)

Recent Courses

20705/30705. German Philosophy of Language

Open to college and grad students. This course will mainly cover Herder, Hamann, Schleiermacher, the Schlegels, von Humboldt, and Hegel. Winter 2008.

25010/35010. Plato's Early Dialogues

Open to college and grad students. In this course we will consider Plato's early dialogues from two standpoints, that of moral philosophy and that of epistemology. In the first connection the topics covered will include the transition from "competitive" to "quiet" virtues; the unity of the virtues and its bearing on the phenomenon of moral dilemmas; moral cognitivism versus (Protagorean) moral training; and the question of cosmopolitanism. In the second (epistemological) connection the topics covered will include the Socratic demand for definitions; the Socratic profession of ignorance; Socratic elenchus; and Socrates' positive methods. Dialogues read in the course will include the Apology, the Euthyphro, the Crito, the Euthydemus, and the Protagoras. Autumn 2004.

27000. History of Philosophy III: Kant and the Nineteenth Century

Open to college students. Prerequisites: Completion of the general education requirement in humanities. This course provides a broad introduction to the most important thinkers and themes in later 18th and 19th century Philosophy. Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008.

27500/37500. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

Open to college and grad students. This course begins with a general investigation of the nature of Kant's critical enterprise as revealed in the Critique of Pure Reason and other texts. We then examine selected parts of the Critique of Pure Reason with a view to achieving a fuller understanding of the work. (B) (V) Winter 2007.

28201/33001. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

Open to college and grad students. This course will attempt to give a general introduction to what is arguably Hegel's most exciting work. We will begin by spending some time discussing the overall project of the work, especially as articulated in the Preface and Introduction. After that, we will examine some of the most important sections of the work, such as "Sense-certainty" and "Lordship and Bondage" in more detail. (V) Spring 2006.

50400. German Romanticim

Open to grad students. Winter 2006.

58600. Workshop: Continental Philosophy

Open to grad students. Meets over three quarters. 2002.