Abstract
There can be little question that in the early twenties before the advent of Martin Heidegger Max Scheler was in the eyes of the German public the number two phenomenologist; in fact to many he was more — a star of the first magnitude whose dazzling light revealed more than the prominent member of a new school: a philosopher of the age. Fortunately it is not my assignment to discuss the validity of such contemporary estimates. Mine will be merely to describe and to evaluate Scheler the phenomenologist, leaving aside as far as possible the overflow of Scheler’s boundless energies and ideas into fields like sociology, politics, and education. For Scheler was certainly more than a phenomenologist. It may even be asked to what extent, in the last analysis, he was a phenomenologist. Scheler’s impact on the Phenomenological Movement as a whole, however, is an indisputable historical fact. Besides, he probably did more for the spread of the entire Movement abroad, especially in the French- and Spanish-speaking world, than any other phenomenologist. This alone secures him a central place in the history of the Movement.
“The first man of genius, the Adam of the new Paradise. was Max Scheler.”
José Ortega y Gasset, Obras Completas IV, 510
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Selective Bibliography
Major Works
Zur Phänomenologie und Theorie der Sympathiegefühle und von Liebe und Hass (1913); second edition under the title Wesen und Formen der Sympathie (1923).
Translations: French (1928), Spanish (1943), English, The Nature of Sympathy (1954) by Peter Heath — at times rather free, but faithful to the main meaning; the Introduction by W. Stark is often quite misleading.
Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die materiale Wertethik (1913, 1916) Translations: Spanish (1940), French (1955).
A bhandlungen und A ufsätze (1919); second edition under the title Vom Umsturz der Werte (1923).
Vom Ewigen im Menschen (1921).
Die Wissensformen und die Gesellschaft (1926).
Die Stellung des Menschen im Kosmos (1928).
Translations: Spanish (1929), French (1951), English (Beacon Press, to [2] appear soon).
Posthumously Published
Philosophische Weltanschauung (1928).
Translations: English (1958) under the title Philosophical Perspectives by Oscar A. Haac — good, except for technical passages.
Schriften aus dem Nachlass I (1933).
Gesammelte Werke Francke, Bern, 1954 ff.
Scheler’s works, published and unpublished are now appearing in a comprehensive edition by Maria Scheler, of which 4 volumes (2, 3, 5, and 10) have come out thus far. It contains valuable editorial comments [1] and indexes.
Monographs in German and French
DUPUY, MAURICE, La Philosophie de Max Scheler. Son évolution et son unité. 2 vols. Paris, Presses universitäres, 1959.
Comprehensive, scholary work; biographically not quite adequate.
——, La Philosophie de la religion chez Max Scheler. Ibid., 1959.
This collateral study deals perceptively and critically with Scheler’s early phenomenology of religion.
GURVITCH, GEORGES, Les Tendances actuelles de la Philosophie allemande. Paris, J. Vrin, 1930.
Chapter II (“L’intuitionisme émotionel de M.S.”) contains a detailed analysis of Scheler’s phenomenological philosophy.
KRäNZLIN, GERHARD, Max Schelers phänomenologische Systematik. Leipzig, Hirzel, 1934.
Not without value, but not very penetrating; often quite critical. Extensive bibliography.
Important Articles
HARTMANN, NICOLAI, “Max Scheler” Kantstudien XXXIII (1928), IX–XVI.
SCHUETZ, ALFRED, “Max Scheler” in Merleau-Ponty, M., ed., Les Philo sophes célèbres. Paris, Mazenod, 1956, pp. 330-35.
Studies in English
BECKER, HOWARD, “Some Forms of Sympathy: A Phenomenological Analysis,” Journal of Social and Abnormal Psychology XXVI (1931), 58–68.
BECKER, HOWARD and DAHLKE, HELMUT OTTO, “Max Scheler’s Sociology of Knowledge,” PPR II, (1931) 310–22.
BUBER, MARTIN, “The Philosophical Anthropology of Max Scheler,” PPR VI (1946), 307–21.
CLARK, MARY EVELYN, “A Phenomenological System of Ethics,” Philosophy VII (1932), 414–430, VIII (1933), 52-65 (Clear and sensitive account).
COLLINS, JAMES, “Scheler’s Transition from Catholicism to Pantheism,” in Ryan, John K., ed., Philosophical Studies in Honor of the Rev. Ignatius Smith O.P., Westminister, Md., Newman, 1952. p. 179-207.
FäRBER, MARVIN, “Max Scheler on the Place of Man in the Cosmos,” PPR XIV (1954), 393–400 (Misleading).
GUTHRIE, HUNTER, “Max Scheler’s Epistemology of the Emotions,” The Modern Schoolman XVI (1939), 51–54.
HAFKESBRINK, HANNA, “The Meaning of Objectivism and Realism in Max Scheler’s Philosophy of Religion: A Contribution to the Understanding of Max Scheler’s Catholic Period,” PPR II (1942), 273–291.
(Clear and sympathetic; written by a German student of Moritz Geiger). [2].
MCGILL, V. J., “Scheler’s Theory of Sympathy and Love,” PPR II (1942), 273–291 (One-sided and often unfair).
OESTERREICHER, JOHN M., “Max Scheler and the Faith,” Thomist XIII (1950), 135–203.
SCHILPP, PAUL A., “The Doctrine of ‘Illusion’ and ‘Error’ in Scheler’s Phenomenology,” Journal of Philosophy XXIV (1927), 624–633.
SCHILPP, PAUL A., “The ‘Formal Problems’ of Scheler’s Sociology of Knowledge,” Philosophical Review XXXVI (1927), 101–120.
SCHILPP, PAUL A., “Max Scheler 1874–1928,” Philosophical Review XXXXVIII (1929), 574–588.
SCHUETZ, ALFRED, “Scheler’s Theory of Intersubjectivity and the General Thesis of the Alter Ego,” PPR II (1942), 323–347.
SCHUETZ, ALFRED, “Max Scheler’s Epistemology and Ethics,” Review of Metaphysics XI (1957), 304-314, 486-501 (Best concise account thus far of Scheler’s main phenomenological doctrines).
SCHUSTER, GEORGE N., “Introductory Statement to a Symposium on the Significance of Max Scheler for Philosophy and Social Science,” PPR II (1942), 269-272 (The papers introduced by this statement are of very unequal value and omit Scheler’s phenomenology and ethics).
WILLIAMS, RICHARD HAYS, “Scheler’s Contributions to the Sociology of Affective Action, with Special Attention to the Problem of Shame,” PPR II (1942), 348–358.
Ph. D. Theses
KOHLE, ECKHARD JOSEPH, Personality. A Study according to the Philosophy of Value and Spirit of Max Scheler and Nicolai Hartmann. Columbia University, 1941; published Trenton N. J., 1941. Bibliography.
MUNSTER, RALPH F. W., The Development of Ethics in the Philosophy of Max Scheler. A Study in Personalistic Phenomenology. Duke University 1953.
SCHNEIDER, Rev. MARIUS, Max Scheler’s Phenomenological Philosophy of [1] Values. Catholic University, 1951.
VAN TUINEN, JACOB, The Phenomenological Ethics of Max Scheler. University of Michigan, 1936.
WALRAFF, CHARLES, S., Max Scheler’s Theory of Moral Obligation. University of California, 1939.
WELCH, E. PARL, Max Scheler’s Philosophy of Religion. University of Southern California, 1934.
Most Comprehensive Recent Bibliographies
DUPUY-MAURICE, La Philosophie de Max Scheler, pp. 741-8.
KRäNZLIN, GERHARD, Max Schelers phänomenologische Systematik, pp. 84-97; also Ziegenfuss, Werner, Philosophenlexikon, Artikel “Scheler, Max”.
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Spiegelberg, H. (1965). The Phenomenology of Essences: Max Scheler (1874–1928). In: The Phenomenological Movement. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7394-8_6
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