The Primacy of God, the notion of justice toward God is seldom considered and often foreign. Far more discussed is how God might either undermine or motivate social justice. The Primacy of God by R. Jared Staudt offers an important intervention. With the aid of St. Thomas Aquinas, Staudt argues that it is vital for both contemporary society and contemporary Catholic theology to return to the traditional view of God as the one to whom all human and social action must (...) be ordered and to recover the virtue of religion as the virtue which orders all other virtues to God. Not only does Staudt helpfully remind readers of the ancient philosophical and biblical notion of worship as a dictate of the natural law, he also illuminates the way in which Christian liturgy, as an enactment of Christ's high priesthood, is the great fulfillment of natural and biblical worship. Accordingly, Staudt secures religion as essential for the virtue of love. This brings Staudt to criticize modern theologians like Karl Barth, who claimed that religion is inherently idolatrous, as well as Karl Rahner, who claimed that love of neighbor is the highest moral act. Staudt also considers the question of religious truth in light of the plurality of religions, soliciting the assistance of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger, as well as the way in which religion relates to the development of culture, engaging the great Catholic social historian Christopher Dawson. The Primacy of God is a much-needed work that ought to set the agenda for Catholic theology in the twenty-first century. (shrink)

Allen examines Polanyi's and Hayek's thinking with respect to the nature, value, and foundations of liberty. For Allen, only Christianity, and certainly no modern philosophy, has a conception of the unique individual and his irreplaceable value and of a political order that transcends itself into the moral order. Beyond Liberalism challenges deeply ingrained notions of liberty and its meaning in modern society.

Religion has surprised the secular elites of North American and European societies. Not only has religion survived the treacherous passage from village to metropolis, from medieval superstition to modern science, and from state support (and coercion) to voluntary membership. Apparently, it has thrived and gained new sources of strength amidst these transformations. Far from being relegated to the proverbial ash‐heap of history, modern religions and the activist movements they generate find themselves positioned at the centre of modern debates – and (...) modern wars – over territory, political sovereignty, human rights, global and local economy, scientific research and popular culture. Among these activist movements, the most virulent and sustained are ‘fundamentalisms’ – increasingly sophisticated reactions against secular modernity that seek to fight back against the enemies of traditional religion by constructing religiously inspired and quintessentially modern alternatives to ‘godless’, idolatrous governments, institutions and political and cultural elites. (shrink)

The interdisciplinary spring school “Language, music, and cognition: Organizing events in time” was held from February 26 to March 2, 2018 at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Cologne. Language, speech, and music as events in time were explored from different perspectives including evolutionary biology, social cognition, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience of speech, language, and communication, as well as computational and biological approaches to language and music. There were 10 lectures, 4 workshops, and 1 student poster session. Overall, (...) the spring school investigated language and music as neurocognitive systems and focused on a mechanistic approach exploring the neural substrates underlying musical, linguistic, social, and emotional processes and behaviors. In particular, researchers approached questions concerning cognitive processes, computational procedures, and neural mechanisms underlying the temporal organization of language and music, mainly from two perspectives: one was concerned with syntax or structural representations of language and music as neurocognitive systems (i.e., an intrapersonal perspective), while the other emphasized social interaction and emotions in their communicative function (i.e., an interpersonal perspective). The spring school not only acted as a platform for knowledge transfer and exchange but also generated a number of important research questions as challenges for future investigations. (shrink)

In this article we have tried to draw some connections between the philosophy of St Augustine and the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger. The occasion for our choosing this subject was the fact that on the next 13th November 1620 years have elapsed since Augustine's day of birth. The way Augustine approached the basic questions of human existence is closely related to contemporary phenomenological thought. This we will illustrate with the help of some notions as „memory” and „time”. Modern thought (...) is very interested in Augustine's reflection on interiority : in this respect his acute analysis of „memoria” is so timely because it tries to understand the interiority from within and in a continuous attempt to recover the original unity which in his view is the truth. Augustine philosophizes starting from the experienced reality of his seeking existence. None the less it would be wrong to call Augustine a forerunner of the modern way of viewing the problem of time. With him the problem of time is not limited to the horizontal perspective of human temporality as is the case with Husserl and Heidegger. But Augustine and the phenomenologists are united in the fundamental insight that human consciousness and time are connected one with the other. Highly appreciating Augustine's way of philosophizing from within actual experience, Heidegger thinks that Augustine sticked in a metaphysical idea of time which does no justice to the factuality of human existence. Heidegger thinks that for that reason existence lacks a sufficient ontological clarification. Nevertheless he discovered in Augustine several motives which are highly relevant for a contemporary view of man. (shrink)

Eine phänomenologische Analyse des Selbstbewusstseins erbringt den Nachweis, dass die Selbsterfahrung stets eine Erfahrung des Selbstverlusts impliziert. Dieser Befund beruht auf der richtig verstandenen Intentionalität bzw. Transzendenz des Subjekts. Diese These wird im vorliegenden Artikel vor allem mit dem Hinweis auf die Phänomene des moralischen Gewissens, der synthetischen Funktion des Ich, der differenziellen Struktur von Selbstbezug und Selbstrepräsentation, sowie der leiblich bestimmten, affektiven Selbsterfahrung illustriert. Bereits bei Kant ist die Selbstgesetzgebung des moralischen Subjekts die Folge eines Aufrufs durch das Gesetz. (...) Autonomie schliesst somit eine besondere Form der vernunftmässigen Heteronomie nicht aus. Die ursprüngliche Form der moralischen Selbsterfahrung liegt nicht in der ausdrücklichen Ausrichtung des Subjekts auf das Gesetz, sondern im Hören auf das Gesetz, nicht in der allgemeinen Rechtfertigung des eigenen Handelns, sondern im individuellen Gewissen. Unter Hinweis auf Heidegger, Freud und Lacan wird anschliessend aufgezeigt, dass das Subjekt für sich selbst ein Fremdes bleibt. Selbsterfahrung bedeutet Erfahrung der eigenen Verlorenheit im alltäglichen Besorgen, in unbewussten Wünschen und in der Anonymität der Sprache. Selbsterfahrung impliziert somit die Aufgabe einer Selbstfindung und einer Vereinigung mit sich selbst. Es handelt sich dabei jedoch um eine unendliche Aufgabe, da jede Selbsterfahrung des endlichen Subjekts einen neuen Selbstverlust impliziert. Das Selbst des Subjekts ist somit eine Einheit bzw. Identität, welche die Differenz mit sich selbst nicht aufhebt, sondern stets von neuem ins Spiel bringt. Diese differenzielle Struktur der Selbstrepräsentation und die darin implizierte Form der Selbstverantwortung spielt vor allem im Werk von Derrida eine wichtige Rolle. Jede subjektive Selbsterfahrung ist in der menschlichen Affektivität verwurzelt. Ich erfahre mich selbst, wenn ich getroffen und berührt werde und zwar nicht durch mich selbst, sondern durch ein anderes das mich be-trifft. Im Gefühl und in der Rührung entsteht ein leibliches Selbst, das von je her durch das andere angesprochen und in Anspruch genommen wird. Dies gilt nicht nur für die Sexualität, sondern für alle anderen, bereits erwähnten Formen der Selbsterfahrung einschliesslich das moralische Gewissen. Der Leib als „Organ des Willens "ist zugleich und zuerst ein sinnlicher Leib. (shrink)

It is a safe prediction that, especially now with cultural contacts freely flowing between East and West in both directions, the Hungarian thinker Istvan Bibo will soon be given full accolade as one of the most outstanding political theorists of this century, in stature equal to the �greats� in the entire European tradition of political thought. Bibo's significance far exceeds local, parochial interests. While profoundly original and organically stemming from Hungarian culture, Bibo belongs also to the �West�. If his political (...) thought is to be epitomized in one succinct phrase, it is �the realism of moralism�, or the almost flawless synthesis of a deeply radical, morally infused vision and value-system with the hard-nosed, unsentimental realist-s insight into enduring problems of politics and society. This synthesis is �almost� flawless: in the closing section of this article I will advance a few constructively critical remarks concerning some questionable points in the trajectory of Bibo's thought. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons Aristotle gives for being able to use rhetorical argumentation, which is obviously not a scientific mode of expression. This faculty which was condemned by Plato as lacking morality, is paradoxically regarded by Aristotle as necessary on moral grounds. For, according to him, it would be blameworthy to keep silent when being verbally assailed. The necessity of rhetoric is, however, more deeply founded. First, because justice has to be saved from (...) its enemies in the City's courts of law. Secondly, because everyone has to be convicted to follow in practice the rules of the City's laws and such a conviction, in the case of the multitude, cannot be obtained by the means of scientific arguments. Thirdly and above all, because, in forensic disputes, characteristics of free political societies, the demagogic power, which regularly leads to tyrannical regimes, can only be avoided by the weapons of rhetoric. From these explanations, one does see that rhetoric, for Aristotle, seems to be the necessary substitute for ancient and traditional instruments securing obedience to legal justice, i.e. myths and pure constraint or coercion. In civilized and free political communities, rhetoric is required for civilization and freedom. (shrink)