We are glad to give notice of the conference Communism Of Spirits. Aesthetics and Critique of Coexistence in Classical German Philosophy. The event will take place on February 26th-28th, 2026 at the University of Potsdam (Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam).
The conference is organised by Jonas Heller, David Jacobs, Gregor Schäfer.
Below you can find the description and the program of the event.
For further information, please visit the conference’s website.
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How can a social condition be criticized and transformed that only functions at the price of restricting and suppressing the freedom and needs of the people living within it? And how can a new form of political coexistence be made possible in which self-determination is not a privilege but a common good on which collective order is based? These issues are at the heart of classical German philosophy. However, when asked about its contemporary relevance and critical potential, the debate still focuses mostly on the line leading from the mature Hegel to Marx. Complementing this discussion, this conference will concentrate on the aesthetic discussion around 1800 which outlines a “Communism of Spirits” (Hölderlin) and contains unexplored resources for a trenchant critique of contemporary society.
February 26, 2026
Campus Neues Palais, Haus 8, Raum 0.58
- 13:00-13:15 – Welcome and Introduction
- 13:15-14:15 – Barbara Santini (University of Padova): “alles Menschliche an uns und andere in immer freieren und innigen Zusammenhang bringen”. Hölderlin und die Frage nach der menschlichen Gemeinschaft
- 14:15-14:30 – Break
- 14:30-15:30 – Alexander Hufford (Stony Brook University/University of Potsdam): Hegel and Hölderlin: The Heroic Age of Modern Revolution
- 15:30-16:00 – Break
- 16:00-17:00 – Elizabeth Millán (DePaul University): Poetry as Republican Discourse and Schlegel’s Call for a New Critique of Philosophy
- 17:00-17:15 – Break
- 17:15-18:15 – Jacob Blumenfeld (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg): Planning on an Unstable Planet: Fichte in the Anthropocene
February 27, 2026
Campus Neues Palais, Haus 8, Raum 0.58
- 10:00-11:00 – Jonas Heller (Goethe University Frankfurt a.M.): Dissolving the Fatherland in Retrospect: The Next Political Step According to Hölderlin
- 11:00-12:00 – Diogo Ferrer (University of Coimbra): Imagination and Aesthetic Act in Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism
- 12:00-12:15 – Break
- 12:15-13:15 – Arash Abazari (Bilkent University of Ankara): Hegel’s Emancipatory Theology: The Attempt to Ground the Society on “Love”
- 13:15-15:15 – Lunch Break
- 15:15-16:15 – Erzsébet Rózsa (University of Münster): Das Versöhnungsmotiv im Blick auf unsere Existentialität als Hegels Beitrag zum Einheitsprogramm im Deutschen Idealismus
- 16:15-16:30 – Break
- 16:30-17:30 – Félix Duque (Autonomous University of Madrid): Schellings Philosophie der Offenbarung oder die Dialektik der Geschichte
February 28, 2026
Campus Neues Palais, Haus 8, Raum 0.58
- 10:00-11:00 – Gregor Schäfer (University of London/University of Basel): Art’s – Critical – Place in the Political-Historical World. A Hegelian Setting
- 11:00-12:00 – David Haunschmid-Jacobs (University of Potsdam): Being and Consciousness. On the Necessity of Philosophy in Marxism
- 12:00-12:45 – Lunch Break
- 12:45-13:45 – Francesca Iannelli (University of Roma Tre): Ästhetische Blitzlichter und politische Kurzschlüsse zwischen Idealismus und Vormärz
- 13:45-14:00 – Coffee Break
- 14:00-15:00 – Allen Speight (Boston University): Hegel at Frankfurt: Critique, Exegesis, and the “Needs of Humankind”
- 15:00-15:15 – Closing Remarks
