„On 23rd February 2022, when the editors had worked out topical issues of dispute relating to politics, ethics, technology and religion for a Hans Jonas Centre conference on responsibility for the future and discourse ethics, it was suddenly foreseeable that Russia would invade the core area of Ukraine the next night. We immediately informed our Ukrainian colleagues that we would allow them asylum, if desired, and invite them to the conference in Bad Kissingen as keynote speakers. In no time at (...) all, the new programme for the confer-ence was ready: After commemorating Hans Jonas' honorary doctorate in Berlin under the motto ‘Fatalism would be a mortal sin’ exactly 30 years ago, we now focus on ‘Discourse despite war’. After that, we discuss digitalisation as well as theology, philosophy and commitment". With contributions by Prof. Dr. Claus Altmayer; Harald Asel, M.A.; Dorothee Bär, MdB; Dr. Thomas Bausch; Prof. Dr. Dietrich Böhler; Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt; Wolfgang Freese; Bernadette Herrmann, M.A.; Sebastian Höpfl; Bischof em. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Huber; Dr. Grigori Katsakoulis; Pfarrer Wolfgang Klein; Wolfgang Korb; Dr. Lena Kornyeyeva; Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus Leisinger; Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Lenk; Prof. Dr. Ulf Liedke; Prof. Dr. Alfons Matheis; Dr. Olaf Meyer; Dr. Jürgen Naeher-Zeiffer; Stephanie von Dallwitz; Dr. Marianne Rabe; Dr. Manuela Rottmann, MdB; PD Dr. Dr. Thomas Rusche; Prof. Dr. Johann Michael Schmidt; Dr. Eva-Maria Schwickert; Maritta Strasser, M.A.; OB Dr. Dirk Vogel and Prof. Dr. Anatoliy Yermolenko. (shrink)

In the Metaphysics of Morals Kant repeats Hamann's remark that “only the descent into the hell of self-cognition can pave the way to godliness”. This article pursues the question what Kant and Hamann meant by a “descent into the hell of self-cognition” and a “way to godliness”. It will be shown that they share an affinity in their assessment that evil is rooted in humanity and that moral improvement is necessary, but that their views nevertheless differ significantly. For this reason (...) Kant later distances himself from Hamann. Whereas Hamann's view is that the recognition of one's own depravity leads to an experience of one's dependence on God, with the consequence that the concept of godliness is understood as salvation through grace, Kant emphasizes the inscrutability of evil within us and calls for moral improvement through our own effort. In this way the divergent moral conceptions of the age of Enlightenment with their theological and philosophical aspects are reflected in the respective views of these two authors. (shrink)

Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist es, einige Grenzen der Theorie der Gerechtigkeit von John Rawls zu skizzieren. Es wird gezeigt, dass seine Theorie der Gerechtigkeit von zwei Arten von Limitierungen bestimmt wird: Einerseits gibt es intendierte Begrenzungen seines postmetaphysischen und deontologischen Politischen Liberalismus, andererseits nicht gewollte Lücken. Besondere Beachtung wird Rawls' Rekurs auf Kant geschenkt: Rawls verdankt Kant die Konzeption einer Art moralischer Geometrie. In dieser Fundierung eines modernen Paradigmas der Gerechtigkeit fokussiert sich die Attraktivität von Rawls' Versuch, aber auch dessen (...) Grenzen. (shrink)

Die Moderne hat zwei widerstreitende Fundierungen, einerseits den Rationalismus und andererseits den Romantizismus. Indem er eine neoromantische Ordnung von Gütern rehabilitiert und Quellen des Selbst erschließt, versucht Taylor das punktuelle Selbst des Rationalismus zu überwinden. Dieser Versuch ist nicht ohne Vorbild: Schon Hegel versuchte, eine Lösung für dieses epochale Dilemma zu finden. Wir können heute Hegels Vorschlag einer Vermittlung von Rationalismus und Romantizismus nicht zustimmen, aber das Dilemma, das er lösen sollte, besteht weiterhin. Vor dem Hintergrund von Taylors genealogischen Studien (...) und mit einem Blick auf Isaiah Berlin und William James wird verdeutlicht, dass Taylor Hegels Scheitern kopiert, um zu zeigen: Hegels Dilemma ist immer noch unser Dilemma. (shrink)

According to the results of medieval studies, modern rationalism depends on late Medieval Age and medieval nominalism. Reconstructing some of Ockham's innovations it is possible to open a new view of the development of modern subjectivity: Ockham's ontological individualism, his thesis that unnecessary individuals are epistemologically prior to universals and that evident knowledge of individuals is possible, his theological nominalism and his expliction of God's omnipotence and his creation, his logic of supposition and the use of his ,,razor" are essential (...) innovations at the end of the Medieval Age. In this way, it can be substantiated, in contrast to the classical prejudicial view of history of philosophy, that the crystallization of modern subjectivity as a postmedieval rationalism was basically influenced by the innovations of Ockham's nominalism. (shrink)

Political Theory is a broad field, comprising subjects as varied as conceptual analysis, positive political theory, political philosophy, and the history of normative political thought. The present edited volume includes contributions to all of these fields: Contested concepts such as extremism or freedom are discussed, issues such as expertocracy, dirty hands, global poverty and inequality are tackled from a normative perspective; empirical topics such as the conditions of democratic stability or the relationship between rational action and informational inequalities are illuminated (...) from a theoretical point of view, and “Eastern” critiques of “Western” political ideals are presented. (shrink)

Analogy making from examples is a central task in intelligent system behavior. A lot of real world problems involve analogy making and generalization. Research investigates these questions by building computer models of human thinking concepts. These concepts can be divided into high level approaches as used in cognitive science and low level models as used in neural networks. Applications range over the spectrum of recognition, categorization and analogy reasoning. A major part of legal reasoning could be formally interpreted as an (...) analogy making process. Because it is not the same as reasoning in mathematics or the physical sciences, it is necessary to use a method, which incorporates first the ability to specify likelihood and second the opportunity of including known court decisions. We use for modelling the analogy making process in legal reasoning neural networks and fuzzy systems. In the first part of the paper a neural network is described to identify precedents of immaterial damages. The second application presents a fuzzy system for determining the required waiting period after traffic accidents. Both examples demonstrate how to model reasoning in legal applications analogous to recent decisions: first, by learning a system with court decisions, and second, by analyzing, modelling and testing the decision making with a fuzzy system. (shrink)

'History' in the modern sense of the word refers to both the way in which human beings develop in time and the way in which this is interpreted. Thus 'Critique of History' concerns a way of life as well as a mode of reflection.

In the course of the long 18th century, medical theory and theories underwent profound changes. These in turn reflected discontinuities and often conflicting assumptions and premises, engendering divergent concepts of physiology and pathology. However, most theoretical considerations were only very inconsistently and partially reflected in therapeutic practice, which continued to be governed by experience with traditional and known medicinals and by patient expectations regarding provider practices. Additional factors in therapeutic decision making were economic considerations and preferences for particular therapies in (...) certain social and religious networks. The present volume deals with some aspects of this complex relationship between medical theory and therapeutic practice, using a transatlantic perspective. Individual essays reflect the current state of historical research in Germany, the US and Great Britain. (shrink)

Soren Kierkegaard’s Lutheran existentialism represents a distinctively postmetaphysical philosophy of religion, focused in particular on a Christian vision of ethical authenticity. His philosophy continues to pose challenging questions for postmetaphysical philosophers in contemporary pluralistic settings. Focusing on specific works of Kierkegaard, this essay develops three such questions: (1) Can philosophy in a postmetaphysical vein still give advice for the pursuit of the good life, today’s diversity of life styles and values notwithstanding? (2) How can a postmetaphysical philosophy relate to the (...) ethical teachings and truth claims of religious doctrines? (3) Is postmetaphysical philosophy still capable of an “upbuilding and awakening” discourse that can induce and stabilize an ethical self-consciousness? (shrink)

"Besonders der Anfang der,Phiinomenologie des Geistes', niimlich die Dialektik der sinnlichen Gew~heit, setzt dem Verstiindnis oft einen scheinbar uniiberwindlichen Widerstand entgegen.,,1 Ein Buch, das, wie das vorliegende, in die Idealistische Dia­ lektik (Hegels) vorrangig am Beispiel der beriihmten "Pha­ nomenologie des Geistes" (im folgenden: PhdG) einftihren will, am Beispiel also eines der schwierigsten Texte der philosophischen Literatur iiberhaupt: mu~ das auch ein besonders schwieriges Buch sein? Es ware unverantwortlich, in diesem Vorwort den Eindruck nahezulegen, da~ es - trotzdem - durchweg (...) "ganz leicht" zugehen wird, z. B. aufgrund der Darstellung. Unverant­ wortlich nicht nur, weil dem Text der PhdG yom besonders schwierigen Anfang her gefolgt wird - iiber eine weite Strecke. "Kein Problem!" sagt die Sprache des Alltagsja dort, wo es wahrhaftig urn keine philosophischen Probleme geht, urn keine philosophischen Problemstellungen. J edenfalls urn noch keine, bzw. urn so1che, die noch nicht als philosophi­ sches Problem bewu~t sind. Philo sophie - Dialektik zumal - ist kein bequemer Weg zum Ziel; keine bequeme Methode etwa (griech.: methodos heillt ja: der Weg)... Vermittlung", ein zentrales Motiv der Dialektik, ist kein "goldener Mittelweg" (Vermittlung, einmal populiir gespro­ chen: als "Synthese" von "These" und "Antithese"). Banalisierung darf nicht der Preis sein; Vereinfachung darf nicht Simplifizierung, Abkiirzung nicht Verklirzung be­ deuten. 1 W. Wieland: Hegels Dialektik der sinnl. GewUlheit, a.a.O., S. 69. (shrink)