The seven essays collected in this book address the history of modern ideas and contemporary cultural issues. The first is the discourse of Marquard's acceptance of the Sigmund Freud prize; the second addresses the equivalence of modernity and the theodice'e; the third confronts the idea of "meaning"; the fourth considers the notion of world history; the fifth addresses world alienation; the sixth deals with the human sciences; and the seventh is a mediation on chance and luck as essential aspects (...) of the human condition. (shrink)

This book is the latest addition to the Odeon series, a multidisciplinary series devoted to original works and translations by European writers in the areas of literature, criticism, philosophy, history and politics. An English translation of the German best-seller Abschied vom Prinzipiellen, the book offers a series of essays that present a philosophy of human morality critical of philosophical utopianism. Marquard, widely considered the heir of Gadamer, Habermas, and Blumenberg, describes his role as "skeptical philosopher" and discusses the 18th-century (...) formation of such themes and disciplines as aesthetics, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of history, the nature of myth and attempts to account for it, and hermeneutics. (shrink)

Vers la moitié du XVIII-ème siècle la crise de la théodiocèe de Leibniz provoque le remplacement du Dieu-créateur par ľ homme-createur et depuis c’est l'homme qui sera coupable du mal existent dans le monde. A partir de ce moment-lá l'homme est oblige á se justifier perpetuellement. Il en reśulte l'evasion d l'homme dans le doméne dont il ne se sent pas responsable, par exemple: l'evasion dans la Nature-vierge, dans les voyages, dans la maladie, dans ľ'esthétique.

Aufsatz von 0. Marquard zur "Diätetik der Sinnerwartung" beschränkt sich auf die Frage nach dem Sinn in Zusammenhang mit dem Problem "Diagnose der Gegenwart". Verfasser versucht die moderne Sinnlosigkeitserfahrung mit dem modernen Anspruchsdenken in den Zusammenhang zu bringen. Er stellt die These: die moderne Sinnlosigkeitserfahrung rührt nicht aus Sinnamangel her, sie entsteht aus einer Übererwartung von Sinn. Heuzutage Sinnanspruch ist übermäßig. Marquard plädiert für eine Einschränkung des unmäßig gewordenen Sinnanspruchs -für eine Diät in Sachen Sinnerwartung. Und- so meint (...) erwas man dabei am meisten lassen muß, ist der direkte Sinnanspruch und Sinnperfektionismus. Marquard stellt die These fest, das die Sinnfrage wird nicht prinzipiellentschieden, sondern wird indirekt und positiv mitentschieden durch die Besorgung der nächsten Dinge: durch die Erledigung des Details (Kleine Lebenspflichten und Lebensgewonheiten). Auf die Frage: wozu ist überhaupt etwas und nicht vielmehr nichtskönnen die Menschen keinen absoluten Sinnbeweis geben, weil unser Leben zu kurz ist. Aber daraus folgt nicht, nach Marquard, die Veneinung des Lebens. Wenn wir bereits leben, haben wir faktisch-zwar nicht prinzipiell-dem Leben durch Leben jeweils schon irgendiwie zugestimmt. Menschen können weder das absoluten Sinnlosigkeitsbeweis noch absoluten Sinnbeweis liefern. Mir haben - unser Leben ist zu kurz - nicht die Zeit das Leben absolut zu führen. Daraus folgt-nach Marquard-daß unseres Leben in unprinzipiellen, zu fälligen, unsensationellen Weise sinnvoll ist. (shrink)

An integral part of Odo Marquard’s texts is both humour and reflections of humour, which he connects with human reason. That is why the theme of this contribution to commemorate Odo Marquard is the potential connection between humour, laughter, and reason. Marquard’s reflections on the connections between humour and reason are preceded in the text by an interpretation of evolutionary biological research on the emergence and role of laughter, which is considered to be important in understanding the (...) development of man, and, as a result, man’s reason. From biological perspective, laughter is considered to be a form of social behaviour. Due to social aspects of laughter, one can trace a clear line between humour, which causes laughter, and reason, which is capable of producing humour and laughter. I continue with Marquard’s thoughts on potential connections between reason and humour in the framework of his philosophical anthropology. In the final part of my micro-etymological contribution I outline why humour is one the philosophically supreme activities of the human brain and show where Marquard’s ideas can supplement the evolutionary biological research of laughter. (shrink)

Nedílnou součástí textů Odo Marquarda je humor i úvahy o humoru, který spojuje s rozumem člověka. Proto je tématem příspěvku na počest Odo Marquarda připomenutí možného spojení humoru, smíchu a rozumu. Marquardovým úvahám o spojení humoru a rozumu předsazuji v textu nejprve interpretaci dílčích výzkumů evolučně biologického pohledu na vznik a roli smíchu, jemuž je přisuzována podstatná role při porozumění vývoje člověka, tedy i schopností jeho rozumu. Z biologické perspektivy je smích chápán jako typ společenského chování. Díky sociálním aspektům smíchu (...) je zřetelná linie mezi humorem, který smích vyvolává a rozumem, který je schopen humor a smích produkovat. Dále navážu Marquardovými tezemi, představujícími některá možná spojení mezi rozumem a humorem v intencích jeho filozofické antropologie. V závěru s pomocí mikroetymologického připomenutí naznačím, proč humor náleží mezi filozoficky vrcholné aktivity lidského rozumu a kde se Marquardovy úvahy mohou doplňovat s evolučně biologickým výzkumem smíchu. (shrink)

This paper aims at offering an interpretation and critique of Odo Marquard’s philosophy regarding his analysis on the complex relationship between past and present within our regimen of historicity. By resorting to the conceptual tools of philosophy of history and by delving further into Marquard’s notion of “compensation” and his interpretation of modernity, this paper explores the different layers sourrounding his approach to the philosophical problem of historical time. Such interpretation will bring new light into the potentialities and (...) weaknesses of Marquard’s philosophy. El objetivo fundamental de este artículo es el de ofrecer una interpretación y crítica del pensamiento filosófico de Odo Marquard, con especial atención a la potencialidad heurística de su análisis para interpretar las complejas relaciones entre pasado y presente que se proyectan desde nuestro régimen de historicidad. Desde el ámbito de la filosofía de la historia contemporánea, profundizaremos en su noción de “compensación” y en su interpretación de la modernidad para explorar los diferentes estratos que subyacen a la aproximación de Marquard al problema del tiempo histórico. Ello nos permitirá sacar a la luz tanto las fortalezas de su análisis como sus debilidades. (shrink)

This article is an introduction to the metaphilosophical thought of the contemporary German philosopher Odo Marquard. He understands the philosopher’s competence as a competence in compensating for incompetence or, with a German neologism, as Inkompetenzkompensationskompetenz. I offer two interpretations of Marquard’s most famous notion. Both interpretations have been developed in order to answer a central question: if philosophers are incompetent, how can they live with their incompetence? The first interpretation goes back to Marquard’s early work. It leaves (...) no option for philosophers but to flee into dogmatism or skepticism. The second interpretation is inspired by Marquard’s pluralist later work. It advocates what I have called 'philosophy with a human face'. (shrink)

The lecture focuses on the role of O. Marquard in the discussions on post-war Germany. His study The Difficulties with Philosophy of History is introduced as a valuable guide to the characterization of the main features of the reflection of German identity and it outlines the ways to the resolution of a stalemate that this theme has reached in both literary and non-literary texts. In this study, the clash between philosophy of history and anthropology, which Marquard outlined and (...) which resulted in his sceptical stance, is applied outside philosophy. It describes repeated conflicts between German historians and enables an apt characterization of the changes in the discussions on German identity in the works of German authors – Marquard’s contemporaries – such as Martin Walser, Günter Grass or H. M. Enzensberger. (shrink)

This paper aims to show current philosophical anthropology pertinence to face up the question of meaning of human life. Exploring Marquard’s theory and his comprehension of human being as Homo Compensator‒ which allow to overcome the problems of modernity plunged in the gnosis dilemma, that in the absence of an absolute meaning it fails to understand the problem of evil‒ this paper firstly analyzes how modernity answered that problem from theodicy and philosophy of history. Afterwards, due to the failures (...) of these attempts, Marquard’s compensation proposal will be discussed as a search on a substitute meaning in the context of a philosophy of finitude, which advocates for a rhetorical-narrative meaning. The paper concludes with the problem of the non-compensable and its dilemmas on understanding meaning. (shrink)

English summary: Rochus Leonhardt discusses the relationship between Protestantism and scepticism in a critical analysis of the philosophical approach used by Odo Marquard. He shows that the most important goal of Marquard's philosophy was to establish a pluralism in hermeneutics. In view of this fact, the author questions the extent to which such a pluralism is related to the Protestant emphasis on the Scriptures. German description: Rochus Leonhardt diskutiert das Verhaltnis von Protestantismus und Skeptizismus anhand einer kritischen Analyse (...) des philosophischen Ansatzes von Odo Marquard. Als Pointe des Marquardschen Skeptizismus stellt er die Forderung nach einer pluralisierenden Hermeneutik heraus und konfrontiert diese Forderung mit dem protestantischen Schriftprinzip. Dessen originare Gestalt, Luthers Betonung der uneingeschrankten Schriftautoritat ( sola scriptura ), schliesst zwar einen hermeneutischen Pluralismus kategorisch aus, aber die immer drangendere eKrise des Schriftprinzips' macht die Problematik dieser esingularisierenden Hermeneutik' deutlich. Im Gesprach mit wichtigen Vertretern der zeitgenossischen evangelischen Theologie pladiert der Autor daher fur eine Integration der in der Literaturwissenschaft langst etablierten pluralisierenden Hermeneutik in die Bibelauslegung - und damit fur eine Ubernahme des hermeneutischen Skeptizismus in die Theologie. (shrink)

Resumen: Este texto introduce la primera traducción al español de los textos Schönheit [Belleza] de Hans-Georg Gadamer (trabajo escrito en los años ’70 y que vio la luz en alemán póstumamente en 2007) y Schönheit und Bürgerlichkeit [Belleza y burguesía] de Odo Marquard, publicado también en 2007 como respuesta demorada al trabajo del filósofo de Marburgo. Gadamer explora el desarrollo histórico del concepto de belleza en los siglos XIX y XX, poniendo énfasis en que la belleza siguió y seguirá (...) siendo no sólo un concepto estético sino un concepto normativo. Por su lado, Marquard contextualiza las ideas de Gadamer en su marco de producción original y realiza un análisis crítico de las mismas a partir de sus propias tempranas contribuciones a una teoría de las “ya no bellas artes”.// Abstract: This text introduces the first Spanish translation of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Schönheit [Beauty] (work written in the 1970s and posthumously published in German in 2007) and Odo Marquard’s Schönheit und Bürgerlichkeit [Beauty and Bourgeoisie], published also in 2007 as a delayed response to Gadamer’s views. Gadamer explores the historical development of the concept of beauty in the 19th and 20th centuries, emphasizing that beauty continued and will continue to be not only an aesthetic concept but also a normative concept. For his part, Marquard contextualizes Gadamer’s ideas in their original production framework and performs a critical analysis of them based on his own early contributions to a theory of the “no longer beautiful arts”. (shrink)

The paper is based on the author’s dissertation project, which maps the intellectual proximity of Hans Blumenberg and philosophers of the Ritter School – Odo Marquard, Hermann Lübbe, Robert Spaemann and Martin Kriele. The author presents a general characterization of the Ritter School and the „sceptical generation“ (H. Schelsky), seeks arguments to shed light on the reasons for the emphasis on the intellectual proximity of Blumenberg and the Ritter School, and highlights its philosophical convergences in practical philosophy. The analysis (...) is based on several indisputable affinities between Marquard’s and Blumenberg’s intellectual world: their continuity with Gehlen’s conception of man as a deficient (and compensating) being, their appreciation of polytheism, their common difficulties with philosophy of history, which lead to the critique of discursive ethics (in the spirit of the New Left). Further, the study presents and justifies the claim that Ritter’s students became closer to each other as well as to Blumenberg mostly after they were forced to respond to the student movement of the late 1960s, which cast doubt on the democratic structures of West Germany as well as Neo-Marxism, which formed the foundation of the student movement. The second part of the study consists of an analysis of the liberal conservative critique of discursive ethics, the core of which is Marquard’s unique interpretation of Descartes: the Descartes of temporary and tentative morality is confronted with the Descartes of indubitability and methodological security. (shrink)

Příspěvek vychází z autorova disertačního projektu, který mapuje myšlenkovou spřízněnost mezi Hansem Blumenbergem a jednotlivými filosofy tzv. Ritterovy školy, tedy Odo Marquardem, Hermannem Lübbem, Robertem Spaemannem a Martinem Krielem. Autor předkládá obecnou charakteristiku Ritterovy školy a „skeptické generace“ (H. Schelsky), hledá argumenty, které by osvětlily, proč bývá zdůrazňována spřízněnost mezi Blumenbergem a „Ritterovci“, a poukazuje na její filosofické konvergence v oblasti praktické filosofie. V analýze vychází z několika nesporných afinit mezi Marquardovým a Blumenbergovým myšlenkovým světem: z návaznosti na gehlenovské pojetí (...) člověka jako deficitní (a kompenzující) bytosti, z oslavy polyteismu, ze společných obtíží s filosofií dějin, které je vedou ke kritice diskurzivní etiky (v duchu Nové levice). Předkládá a zdůvodňuje tezi, podle níž se zmínění Ritterovi žáci přiblížili k sobě navzájem – a současně i k Blumenbergovi – nejvíce poté, co byli nuceni reagovat nejen na studentské hnutí druhé poloviny 60. let, jež zpochybnilo demokratické struktury Spolkové republiky, ale i na neomarxismus, o nějž se studentské hnutí opíralo. Druhou část studie tvoří analýza liberálně konzervativní kritiky diskurzivní etiky, jejíž jádro představuje překvapivé Marquardovo čtení Descarta: Descartes dočasné a provizorní morálky je zde postaven proti Descartovi nepochybnému metodicky zajištěnému. (shrink)

El artículo presenta la vertiente práctica del escepticismo alemán de Odo Marquard y Wilhem Weischedel en tres momentos: inicio con la propuesta de Marquard, quien lo define como la sensibilidad para lo usual, en vez de un sistema de criterios veritativos; prosigo con la Ética Escéptica de Weischedel, mostrando que la cuestionabilidad radical de la realidad abre un espacio para que el escéptico pueda formular siempre una pregunta; y termino mostrando que, a partir de Weischedel y Marquard, (...) la despedida se erige como la actitud fundamental del escepticismo práctico. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to determine to what extent the concepts of causality and finality are theoretically applicable in interpreting history from the perspective of hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Odo Marquard. The author demonstrates that causality and finality, in their metaphysical and epistemological sense, are subject to explicit criticism by these two authors. He also shows that, despite their explicit repudiation, the senses of those concepts are reappropriated, thus revealing their key importance in their hermeneutical (...) conceptions. The cause-and-effect relationship is being transformed into a game occurring in-between the present and the past. The finality expresses itself in three interrelated ways in: the autotelic nature of historical tradition, the task of understanding a specific tradition, and the interpretation of the current historical situation. (shrink)

Contemporary aesthetics, reaching the remotest limits of theory in its determined endeavours to embrace new artistic phenomena, often questions the very idea of beauty. According to Christian Enzensberger, however, all attempts at such questioning are doomed to failure. Beauty, as he claims, seems to be timeless. Still, beauty in contemporary art has its faults and, among others, it is accused of being something else that it purports to be. There is ample evidence to support this view: comparisons between the illusory (...) beauty with rich terminology borrowed from aesthetic pluralism; failed attempts at redefining beauty, its false comebacks under the guise of plagiarism and quotations, and, finally, it is more than obvious that beauty is being confused with other phenomena, not necessarily of aesthetic or artistic nature. Writers who would be able to persuasively combine the philosophy of beauty with modern and contemporary art are in great scarcity. Hans G. Gadamer and Odo Marquard can be counted as the rare exceptions. They refrain from offering subjective redefinitions of beauty, but instead they re-evaluate the concept of beauty in keeping with the tradition of aesthetics. (shrink)