Howitz Dispute: Free Will, Responsibility and Madness

Abstract

For the first time, detailed information about the Howitz dispute is presented in Russian. His events are a vivid and original example of how philosophy has a decisive impact on public life. The debate about free will involve not only philosophers, but also doctors, lawyers, politicians, theologians and writers. They published works analyzing the problem of free will in the context of the philosophy of Hume and Kant, and sought to adapt the results of their re­search to Danish public life. The results of the philosophical debates related to the Howitz dispute formed the basis of the Danish legal system, but its influ­ence extends far beyond the borders of the country. The article reconstructed the events of the Howitz dispute based on the material of Danish dictionaries and studies of the 19th century, as well as a few English-language sources. It exa­mines Howitz’s philosophical concept as outlined in his major work, which pro­voked the debate. The author pays special attention to discussing the current state of historical and philosophical discussions around the dispute. The pa­per analyzes the latest hypothesis about the connection between Arthur Scho­penhauer and the Howitz controversy. It was probably in connection with the Howitz dispute that Schopenhauer’s competition essay “On the Foundation of Morals” was rejected by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. The article questions the assertion that the members of the competition jury knew Schopen­hauer’s philosophy well, but there is no doubt that Schopenhauer’s views were similar to Howitz’s concept, which the members of the competition jury were fiercely opposed to. Thus, the refusal Schopenhauer received from the members of the competition jury can be considered in the context of the Ho­witz dispute, which captured the Danish intellectual community in the first half of the 19th century