Das Phänomen des Ethischen ist dem Konflikt der Interpretationen ausgesetzt. Er äußert sich nicht nur in ethischen Kontroversen, sondern auch als Konflikt ethischer Grundkonzeptionen und Menschenbilder. Verstärkt wird in jüngster Zeit über das spezifische Profil evangelischer Ethik und Urteilsbildung nachgedacht. Die Beiträge dieses Buches konfrontieren entsprechende Bemühungen mit der provokanten These R. Bultmanns, es gebe gar keine christliche Ethik, sofern darunter einer Theorie über das verstanden werde, was Christen zu tun und zu lassen haben.

Empiricists mostly prefer an epistemic notion of causality intending thereby to avoid metaphysical entanglements. General relativity however provides examples for causality without predictability, i. e. world models in which for geometrical reasons there exist no spacelike hypersurfaces containing traces of all future events. Yet local determinism for every single event remains valid in these cases. Therefore the problem arises how to account for a causal structure that implies local but not global predictability. This problem, it is argued, cannot be solved (...) by characterizing the causal connection of events itself by means of its epistemic aspects. Instead the ontological ground must be emphazised which allows for varying epistemic properties of causal connections according to the space-time structure. This can be done by use of the energy transfer concept of causality which involves no reminiscence of dubious natural necessity. (shrink)

Toleration and respect belong to those concepts that in contemporary political debates are very frequently used, but also misused. This review article is an attempt to enter these discussions and clarify the meaning of the concepts. It is done through reference to the most advanced theory on toleration today, by the German philosopher Rainer Forst. Since his approach allows for ill-considered implications, in the final part of my article I introduce arguments that question some of them. It seems too far-reaching (...) to presuppose an ongoing process of advancement in toleration. Furthermore, one cannot argue that we have to establish a ranking in universal morality at the bottom and the particular ethicality above. Forst, however, explains toleration as a balanced conflict between universally accepted moral norms and particular ethical world-views. (shrink)

English summary: Sigmund Freud's atheism was a model for various movements critical of religion in the 20th century. This book places his claim of absoluteness under scrutiny. While in that time, religious-critical struggles led to decisive advances, while we live in a time of greater reflectiveness. The author presents a historical line of conflict, which is developed between faith and faithlessness, atheism and church, secular and religious thought. The author shows how Freud was enmeshed in his life and thought in (...) a very human way, and he describes how differently the sociologist Max Weber and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein shaped their relationships to religion and secularity in order to engage the reader to reflect on their own experiences and convictions in the conflict between modern rationality and enchanting religiosity. German description: Sigmund Freuds Atheismus wurde zum Vorbild vieler religionskritischer Bewegungen im 20. Jahrhundert. Dieses Buch stellt seinen Absolutheitsanspruch infrage. Wahrend seinerzeit religionskritische Kampfe zu entscheidenden Fortschritten gefuhrt haben, leben wir heute in einer Zeit grosserer Nachdenklichkeit. Der Autor stellt eine historische Konfliktlinie vor, die sich zwischen Glaube und Unglaube, Atheismus und Kirche, sakularem Denken und Religion entfaltet hat. Er zeigt, wie Freud in seinem Leben und Denken auf sehr menschliche Weise darin verstrickt ist, und schildert, wie andersartig der Soziologe Max Weber und der Philosoph Ludwig Wittgenstein ihr Verhaltnis zu Religion und Sakularitat gestalten. Er mochte die Leser anregen, ihre eigenen Erfahrungen und Uberzeugungen im Konfliktfeld zwischen moderner Rationalitat und verzaubernder Religiositat zu reflektieren. (shrink)

The book on "Science and the image of man" pursues different pathways by way of which science contributes to the understanding of human beings as a species: the scope and limits of human cognition are revealed by the history and the mental structure of science in a more precise manner than by any other cultural effort. Insights into the evolution and function of the human brain elucidate the origin and the range of general human capabilities, such as language, self-representation and (...) strategic thought. These capabilities are the products of biological evolution as well as preconditions of cultural development, which is based on traditions rather than on genetic inheritance. At the metatheoretical level, modern science reveals its own intrinsic limitations and is open to different cultural and philosophical interpretations. Human consciousness is a product of evolution of the human brain, and yet it may not be possible to decode the mind-brain relation fully by finite procedures. One of the specifically human capabilities is cognition-based empathy; it may have evolved in conjunction with strategic thought, because it facilitates the prediction of the behaviour of others, but it also motivates altruistic behaviour. Stereotyped controversies between sociologists and social biologists on human ethics appear somewhat outdated; there is a biological basis in humans not only for egoism but, to a limited extent, also for cooperativity and solidarity. Ethical demands should respect the biological conditions of the human species. They imply that cooperativeness is a real but limited resource. It requires activation, but excessive moralism is counterproductive. -/- -/-. (shrink)

English summary: Ideas of man and concepts of the body are closely linked, and are a key factor in defining anthropological theories and problems. In addition, they are closely connected to the social structure of each cultural region, which itself has a continuous influence on human actions and attitudes, but which at the same time is also the result of human actions and attitudes. Scholars from various disciplines used this as their basis to explore the subject in their own cultural (...) field, each of them taking the perspective of their own methodological approach. The studies incorporate both, text and image sources. It is the authors' common goal to provide a precise description of specific anthropological developments which are dependent on time and culture and to include a discussion of basic issues of the conditio humana. German description: Menschenbilder und Korperkonzepte gehoren eng zusammen und bestimmen massgeblich anthropologische Lehren und Fragestellungen. Sie sind zudem eng mit der Sozialstruktur des jeweiligen Kulturraums verflochten, wobei dieselbe zwar ununterbrochen konditionierenden Einfluss auf menschliche Handlungen und Haltungen hat, sie aber zugleich auch das Ergebnis menschlicher Handlungen und Haltungen ist. Auf diesen Grundlagen haben sich Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher Disziplinen zusammengefunden, um aus der Perspektive ihres jeweiligen methodischen Ansatzes dem Thema in ihrem jeweiligen Kulturbereich nachzugehen. Dabei werden Textquellen ebenso in die Untersuchungen mit einbezogen wie Bildquellen. Gemeinsames Ziel ist, zeit- und kulturgebundene Spezialentwicklungen prazise zu profilieren und Grundfragen der conditio humana in den Blick zu nehmen. (shrink)

What does Kant mean when he claims that a moral conflict is only possible as a conflict between obligating reasons (rationes obligandi)? How does this differ from a conflict of duties? And how does Kant’s idea relate to the understandings of moral conflict prevalent in his time? This paper distinguishes three influential traditional models (as represented by Wolff, Baumgarten, and Jesuit casuistry) for a comparison with Kant’s own conception of moral conflict. Before investigating these issues more deeply, the paper discusses (...) a preliminary point regarding the liminal localization of the moral conflict between the domains of theory and practice. As a result, its solution depends both on the consistency of the moral theory and on the agent’s conscientiousness in the practice of moral judgment. (shrink)

From a legal philosophical perspective one can speak confidently about the concept of man in Europe. Fundamental implications of the so called homo europaeus, to be discussed in this article, are represented above all in the Treaty established a Constitution for Europe. The two contrasting concepts of man are responsible for the present crises surrounding the ratification of the new EU constitution. 3Philosophical reflections are required in order to deduce the concept of man from a constitutional text, in which the (...) concept itself is not explicitly mentioned. The implications of certain connotations are considered as basic values for a peaceful co-existence. Human dignity, fundamental rights, separation of powers, the right to resist, citizenship of the union, family, democracy, solidarity, subsidiarity and pluralism all cast a revealing light on the unapparent concept of the homo europaeus. (shrink)

Zusammenfassung The sophist Callicles in Plato’s Gorgias is one of the few interlocutors of the Platonic Socrates who persistently refuses to be refuted by Socrates’ arguments. In the contrary, he develops an alternative conception of man which he believes can show Socrates’ ideas about the good and man’s happiness wrong and illusory. This contribution analyses Callicles’ anthropology in the Gorgias and argues that Callicles’ position indicates a systematic problem in Socrates’ conception of happiness. Therefore, its function within the Gorgias is (...) to introduce in to the conception of the Politeia where Plato abandons his earlier individualistic concept of happiness and replaces it by the idea of the philosopher’s state. (shrink)

Die Frage nach dem Menschenbild im Praxisfeld der Kunst ist neben anderen mit zwei Problemen konfrontiert. Einerseits gibt es nach wie vor keine normierte Definition dessen, was Kunst ist. Andererseits überlagern mit Blick auf die Anfänge der Kunst – vor allem angesichts der Tatsache, dass Kunst eine die Welt deutende kulturelle Erzählung ist – anthropologische Konstanten die Frage nach einem hinter der Kunstproduktion stehenden Menschenbild. Was die Kunst betrifft, werden im Folgenden zwei wesentliche Kennzeichenpaarungen unterschieden: Mimesis und Ausdruck sowie Werkästhetik (...) und Rezeptionsästhetik. Was die anthropologischen Konstanten angeht, scheint in den meisten kulturellen Erzählungen das Muster von Ermächtigung und Entmächtigung des Menschen in seiner Stellung zur Wirklichkeit eine zentrale Rolle gespielt zu haben. In dieser Spannung kristallisiert sich das Bild eines Menschen heraus, der sich einerseits heterogenen und einschränkenden Sinngebungen unterwirft, andererseits um seine Emanzipation und Souveränität ringt, wie es die lange Geschichte der Genieästhetik dokumentiert. (shrink)

Boethius’ adaption of the myth of Circe and Odysseus (cons. 4 carm. 3) is an anthropologically based manifesto for self-assertion. Following the example of the ars vivendi, which is established in the text, a human being who is in distress can harden himself against inner (mental) anguish by keeping outer (physical) dangers at a distance. However, a poetic transformation is needed to convey this technique: It is only through the poetic treatment of the disenchanted myth that the world order which (...) is out of joint is restored and the human being regains his place in the cosmos. In this poem, Boethius expresses in figurative language how a narrated myth functions as a rational means of establishing order. Thus, he sets the genuinely aesthetic powers of poetry apart from the modes of display used in philosophical prose. (shrink)