This book gives a comprehensive account of methods in philosophy of education, it also examines their application in the 'real world' of education. It will therefore be of interest to philosophers and educators alike.

Das Buch wendet sich fachubergreifend an Historiker, Staatsrechtler, Philosophen, Politologen und Theologen. Das politisch-philosophische Werk von Hobbes wird als Teil der komplexen Debatten der Revolutionsjahre 1640-1660 gesehen. Die Analyse ist bestrebt, Hobbes' Haltung gegenuber den aktuellen politischen Problemen seiner Zeit aufzudecken, um einen neuen Zugang zu seinen zentralen politischen Aussagen und ihrer Ausformung zu gewinnen. Sie versucht daruber hinaus, durch das Heranziehen von zeitgenossischen Quellen die Rezeptionschancen fur das Hobbes'sche Werk auszuloten und Ruckwirkungen auf das praktische Verhalten und die Theorie (...) von Hobbes zu erhellen. (shrink)

Der Status des Liberalismus in der Französischen Revolution und ihrer Folgezeit lässt sich nicht näher bestimmen, ohne zunächst von dem Wort zu reden, das seinen Kern ausmacht: Freiheit. Zu diskutieren sind die Unterscheidung zwischen zwei Freiheitsbegriffen, die die französischen Liberalen der ersten Stunde vorschlagen, und die These, dass die politische Freiheit als Instrument für die private oder bürgerliche Freiheit anzusehen sei. Am Ende soll das Verhältnis zwischen Französischer Revolution und Liberalismus anhand eines markanten Votums TocquevillesTocqueville, Alexis de illustriert werden.

This article aims to revise the well-established self-conception of the modern man based on the combination between self-preservation and autonomy. On a systematic level, the attempt to revise this self-conception is based on the notions of participation and sympathy; it explores their bearings for social philosophy, the philosophy of language and the idea of a “moral sentimentalism.” In a historical perspective, this article focuses on Johann Gottfried Herder, criticizes the readings put forward by Isaiah Berlin and Charles Taylor, discusses Herder′s (...) opposition to Immanuel Kant, and re-contextualizes his work in relation to Hutcheson, Burke, Rousseau, and others. (shrink)

Social Capital belongs to the core repertoire of social theory. Its potential can be spelled out in the economic dimension of ownership and in the social dimension of belonging. Renowned scholars from philosophy, sociology, economics, and religious.

The article discusses Wittgenstein’s notion of language-game by focusing on his inversion of the relation between foundation and construction. By examining Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language and life, the article attempts to gain general information about the purposes of philosophy.

The critical analysis of habit is regularly complemented by scenarios of how to defy it. Heidegger’s conceptual pairing for taking on this twofold task is “everydayness” and “authenticity.” In this paper, his account is put to test. By choosing an unusual line-up of authors – Heidegger, Hegel, and Diderot –, it identifies three different strategies for overcoming the danger of being ridden by a type. They appeal to authenticity, universality, or individuality. After discussing Hegel’s and Diderot’s accounts, the paper turns (...) to Heidegger’s confrontation between everydayness and authenticity and shows that it remains inconclusive. In order to create a bulwark against habit Heidegger establishes a link between authenticity and the anticipation of death which makes Dasein turn away from the “multiplicity of possibilities” and secures the “simplicity” of resoluteness. This total demolition of particularities and differences paves the way to a totalitarian conception of overcoming customs: The individual is prone to affirm a destiny marked by total homogeneity and equalization. The paper comes to the conclusion that, among the different readings of habit and its discontents, Diderot’s account is the most plausible. (shrink)

Die Theorie menschlicher Tätigkeiten, die Arendt in Vita activa entwickelt, fällt hinter dem Anspruch, eine Anthropologie vorzulegen, zurück, weil das Verhältnis von Aktionen und Passionen ungeklärt bleibt. Dieses Defizit lässt sich teilweise beheben, indem man auf die Überlegungen zu den Passionen und zur Liebe zurückgeht, die sich unter anderem in ihrem Denktagebuch finden. Diese Ausweitung der Perspektive profitiert von einem Vergleich mit Adornos Theorie des Subjekts und eines antidualistischen Konzepts des „Impulses”.

This paper analyzes the scenario for a post-revolutionary society as developed in Lenin’s “The State and Revolution.” Lenin heavily relies on Marx and Engels’s metaphors of waking up and falling asleep: Post-revolutionary society is marked by a grand awakening and a conversion of dreams into reality, while the State is said to fall asleep or wither away. Lenin applies these metaphors yet applies them in a strangely inverted manner. Instead of embracing agency, he argues for a new regime of “habit,” (...) which has sedating effects on humans, while the state survives its demise and returns under the title of “administration.” Lenin’s plea for “habit” and “administration” is discussed in a broader context of other philosophical accounts reaching from Kant to Hegel, Max Weber, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hannah Arendt and beyond. These critical considerations lead to some general findings on the status of moral agency in revolutionary change. Trotsky’s account of permanent revolution with its experimentalist and theatrical implications is a case in point here. The paper concludes by discussing the intricate relation between revolution, democracy, and the state. (shrink)

The paper outlines the debate on European state socialism as a social and political order. There are different attempts to obtain a better understanding of the core principles of this type of society and a continuing public debate on it. Following the end of the decade of the transition from “socialism to capitalism” we can observe a renewal in the debates on the “Ancient regime” and its heritage. There are different reasons for this phenomenon; these include new insights from the (...) archives and the recent politics on history in post-socialist societies. The new “zeitgeist” following the world financial crisis of 2008 might be an additional reason. The issues that developed are discussions on the nature of state socialism, some hypotheses on the role of reformers within the changes to late socialism from the perspective of political science, and some assumptions on the methods adopted by former reform socialists after 1989. (shrink)