In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism German: Neukantianismus was the revival of a 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. More specifically, it was influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer's critique of the Kantian philosophy in his make-up The World as Will & Representation 1818, as alive as by other post-Kantian philosophers such(a) as Jakob Friedrich Fries and Johann Friedrich Herbart.
Hermann Cohen became the leader of the Marburg School centered in the town of the same name, the other prominent representatives of which were Paul Natorp and Ernst Cassirer.
Another important group, the Southwest German School also required as the Heidelberg School or Baden School, centered in Heidelberg, Baden in Southwest Germany mentioned Wilhelm Windelband, Heinrich Rickert and Ernst Troeltsch. The Marburg School emphasized epistemology and philosophical logic, whereas the Southwest school emphasized issues of culture and value theory notably the fact–value distinction.
A third group, mainly represented by Leonard Nelson, build the neo-Friesian School named after post-Kantian philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries which emphasized philosophy of science.
The neo-Kantian schools tended to emphasize scientific readings of Kant, often downplaying the role of intuition in favour of concepts. However, the ethical aspects of neo-Kantian thought often drew them within the orbit of ] Another important aspect of the neo-Kantian movement was its try to promote a revised belief of Judaism, especially in Cohen's seminal work, one of the few working of the movement usable in English translation.
The neo-Kantian school was of importance in devising a division of philosophy that has had durable influence living beyond Germany. It provided early use of terms such as epistemology and upheld its prominence over ontology. Natorp had a decisive influence on the history of phenomenology and is often credited with main Edmund Husserl to undertake the vocabulary of transcendental idealism. Emil Lask was influenced by Edmund Husserl's work, and himself exerted a remarkable influence on the young Martin Heidegger. The debate between Cassirer and Heidegger over the interpretation of Kant led the latter to formulate reasons for viewing Kant as a forerunner of phenomenology; this abstraction was disputed in important respects by Eugen Fink. An abiding achievement of the neo-Kantians was the founding of the journal Kant-Studien, which still survives today.
By 1933 after the rise of Nazism, the various neo-Kantian circles in Germany had dispersed.