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Benedikt Korf and Eberhard Rothfuß have published a joint afterword in the current special issue on “German Theory” in Geographica Helvetica. In it, they look back on the beginnings of “German Theory” as a discussion group on the shores of Lake Zurich and revisit the various contributions in the special issue to reflect on the significance of “German Theory.”

They propose understanding “German Theory” as a constellation of German-Jewish thought that flourished in the cultural and intellectual life of the Weimar Republic, yet also embodied the contradictions and oppositions of that era. Thinking in terms of constellations means more than “thinking along”—it requires a return to the original intellectual spaces where these thinkers’ questions and oppositions were debated, and the question of whether and how these questions and debates resonate with today’s political situation. They identify two constellations—Cassirer-Heidegger and Benjamin-Schmitt—as central intellectual intersections where the key oppositions of the Weimar era and the present day are revealed, making them important theoretical foundations for contemporary critical theory within and beyond human geography.

You can find the full afterword here.