To act and to refrain from actions comprises according to the logic of ethical consequentialism to be responsible in any case. This argument is particularly important in medical ethics: Setting actively limits to a life or permitting a long-term suffering of a patient is sometimes interpreted as equally important in the view of morals or ethics. The foundation of this argument is a one-sided theory of causation. The essay presented here tries to differentiate between the idea of causation in activities (...) and the ascription of consequences of non-interference in certain cases. In former times nature presented reasons for nonintervention: God was at work. But when the idea of God is deficient in evidence in certain Western societies a qualified idea of life could replace the former basis of naturallaw or natural theology. (shrink)

An overall view of the 50 year’s issues of the ›Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik‹ tries to get on the track of the main discussions by often prominent authors. In the fifties and sixties of the 20th century the periodical offered the rare case of intellectual and ethical alternatives to preceding theologies which were in an affinity to antidemocratic traditions. The tradition of the ›kingdom of God‹ was rehabilitated to overcome a theology of divine orders, but the interpretation oscillated. Perspectives of (...) universalization and the sense of democracy and human rights were developed. A simple proposition of divine commandments was overcome by differentiated models of ethical judgment. Fundamental assumptions, however, were pluralistic. For more than twenty years the periodical was ahead of continental practical philosophy which was revived in the last quarter of the century. (shrink)

Just is not only a procedure, but an evoluating set of criteria which point to certain fundamental human goods as survival and participation in social activities. The main challenge behind the appeal to justice is not an abstract obligation, but the general idea of the other, who can be known face-byface or mediated by social structures. There are spheres of obligations and its strength; and the realization of basic human principles, which should be universal, is correlated to culture.

To act and to refrain from actions comprises according to the logic of ethical consequentialism to be responsible in any case. This argument is particularly important in medical ethics: Setting actively limits to a life or permitting a long-term suffering of a patient is sometimes interpreted as equally important in the view of morals or ethics. The foundation of this argument is a one-sided theory of causation. The essay presented here tries to differentiate between the idea of causation in activities (...) and the ascription of consequences of non-interference in certain cases. In former times nature presented reasons for nonintervention: God was at work. But when the idea of God is deficient in evidence in certain Western societies a qualified idea of life could replace the former basis of naturallaw or natural theology. (shrink)

This interpretation of the conditions of the reception of the Decalogue in medieval Christianity and the Reformation period supports the hypothesis that the leading perspectives of ethics are formed by basic assumptions of the reality of human life. This hypothesis is contrary to G.E. Moore’s socalled ›naturalistic fallacy‹, because the ›natural law‹ as an important basic assumption implies a view of nature different from modern times. It is either founded in the eternal divine law or in a flexible conception close (...) to history and change. The Melanchthonian conception, however, relies more or less on a nonhistoric view which implies the notion of human dignity combined with the construction of practical principles appealing to all human persons. In contrast to the Anglosaxon mainstream of ethical thought we find here first indicators of an ethics which combines a transcendental foundation and an examination of everyday’s norms. Thus the Decalogue inspires the search for the conceptions of reality in the background of norms. (shrink)

This contribution to a colloquy of Roman-catholic moral theologians and Protestant teachers of ethics challenges the simple juxtaposition of reasonable and biblical foundation of norms and moral systems. The hypothesis of this paper however, presupposes, that >foundation< implies more than a simple deduction from a general point of view or a formal Iegitimation of single norms by the principle of universalizability, but it includes transeendental considerations- concerning the problern of human freedom- and the regulating idea of a communion by consensus, (...) integrated into basic perspectives ofconduct oflife. Biblical points ofview regulating ethical systems presuppose such perspectives. Appeals to reason in Protestant ethics transport questions and ideas of the natural-law-tradition even in systems which are deeply linked with a theology of revelation. If this analysis indicates correctly the present situation of Protestant ethics at least in Germany, the often assumed antagonism of a humanist and reason-oriented ethics on the one hand and a heteronomaus ethics relying on revelation on the other tends to be delusive. (shrink)

Just is not only a procedure, but an evoluating set of criteria which point to certain fundamental human goods as survival and participation in social activities. The main challenge behind the appeal to justice is not an abstract obligation, but the general idea of the other, who can be known face-byface or mediated by social structures. There are spheres of obligations and its strength; and the realization of basic human principles, which should be universal, is correlated to culture.

The article questions the empty formula of the concept of life and examines its theological and ethical implications. A critical survey of various positions found in the history of philosophy and theology illustrates its ambiguity and normative use. In the light oftbis historical and systematic investigation the author inquires into a handling of the concept which would be justifiable today in theological and ethical terms. Neither moral evidence nor theological structure are cited. Instead the concept - inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer's (...) distinction between the ›Letzter‹ and ›Vorletzter‹- should be made relative and placed into perspective by a critical understanding of the revelation. (shrink)