The Unknown Reviews by S.L. Frank in the “Neue Züricher Zeitung”

Abstract

Оffers a historical-philosophical reconstruction of Frank’s collaboration with the Swiss newspaper “Neue Züricher Zeitung” in the late 1920s and 1930s. The circumstances of Frank’s contacts with the newspaper’s editor Hans Barth are analysed on the basis of archival material and the correspondence ran between the philosophers. It is established that the beginning of their intensive collaboration was laid at the 8th International Philosophical Congress, held in Prague in 1934. Following this event, Barth not only began to publish regularly Frank’s texts in the Swiss newspaper, but was also involved in organising his lecture tours to Switzerland and assisted in finding publishers for the first German edition of Frank’s work, Das Unergründliche ( The Unknowable ). Particular attention is paid to the context of Frank’s publications in the “Neue Züricher Zeitung”, and in particular to his reviews of works by French thinkers René Le Senn ( Obstacle and Value ) and Eugene Augustovich Minkowski ( Towards a Cosmology. Philosophical Fragments ). The circumstances of the Russian philosopher’s acquaintance and communication with the French authors are discussed. Their responses to Frank’s reviews, which are preserved in their personal correspondence, are described. Frank’s critical approach toward M. Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, which appear in the review, is also presented.