Two methods of dealing with the addiction to narcotics are being examined: the restrictive as well as the permissive approach. The former aims to set up a society which is totally free from drugs, while the latter is in favour of a more liberal solution. The restrictive approach appears to have failed, but the more sensible attitude towards these problems is rapidly gaining ground.

At the present time Karl Barths criticism of modernity is certainly a decisive subject of Protestant ethics. The ethical theory of Trutz Rendtorff on the other hand advises a change to the notion of critical modernity. The author regards on both sides tendencies, which Iead to a new modell of an ethic of reponsibility in the context of pluralistic societies.