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Geschichte und Gegenwart der Kant-Gesellschaft e.V.
(History and Present of Kant Society)
Presentation by Dr. Margit Ruffing (PDF, 178 KB), in german
Hans Vaihinger

History

The Kant-Gesellschaft was founded in 1904 by Hans Vaihinger in Halle in memory of the hundreth anniversary of Kant’s death. The first member’s assembly on April 22, 1904 decided to formulate the goal of the society as supporting the spread of the study of Kant’s philosophy.

The means used to achieve this goal came at first primarily from the journal Kant-Studien (founded in 1896, likewise by Hans Vaihinger). In addition to the publication of Kant-Studien and associated supplementary periodicals of Kant research, a substantial program of lectures constituted the center of the society’s work.

Over the course of the first decades of the 20th century, the society developed into of the leading philosophical societies in the world.

In the second half of the 1930s, the society’s work was disrupted by the domination of the National Socialism. The Kant-Studien was published—irregularly—until 1944.

Gottfried Martin brought the publication back to life in 1953, and following upon this, the Kant Gesellschaft was founded anew in Bonn by him and Gerhard Funke on July 12, 1969. According to their charter, it would “continue the work of the no-longer-existing Kant-Gesellschaft e.V. Halle.”