A Philosophical Resonance: Hedwig Conrad-Martius versus Edith Stein

This article seeks to unearth the philosophical resonance of Hedwig Conrad-Martius’s ideas in Edith Stein’s thinking and thus to add an element of content to the better-known personal relations between the two phenomenologists. Here, resonance has two meanings. The first is phenomenological and appears as a manifestation of a spiritual communality between the two philosophers. The second relates to the constitutive establishing of a new hermeneutical framework from which new possibilities might emerge for understanding the ideas under discussion. The discussion starts with presenting Conrad-Martius’s and Stein’s basic stance regarding core metaphysical aspects that serve as an introduction to the idea of the I, the explication of which within the writing of both philosophers occupies the bulk of the article. The discussion presents the dual structure of the I in the thinking of both Conrad-Martius and Stein and analyzes their different stances toward it: While the former regards it as an utmost indication of the realism of the I, the latter illuminates its reconciliation within the Christian religious faith.