As long as he strives, Faust remains caught in the force field of two circles: His pact with Mephistopheles has forced him into a ‘vicious circle’, while Mephistopheles' wager with the Lord has embroiled him in a ‘circle with God’. Having failed in his devilishly hasty attempts to make progress, the literary figure—as a tragic figure of modernity—becomes a philosophical challenge.In this book, the two authors take up this challenge and ask how a life conducted on one's own initiative (...) can succeed. Their discussion on the answer to this question results in three narratives of success that are missing in Goethe's Faust: the joy of life, happiness in love and self-orientation. (shrink)

This article analyzes the complex European social itinerary of the last two centuries through one of the most important literary works of this period: the Faust´s tragedy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The intellectual journey of its protagonist coincides with that which took place in Europe in the late 19th century at the mercy of the passage from the modern world to the contemporary one. In this sense, the crisis of values and the disproportionate sense of omnipotence that (...) emerges from the nineteenth-century postrevolutionary model, coincides dramatically with the fictional character of the protagonist of this work, that leads him, as well as the current consumer society, to succumb in a kind of descensus ad inferos or nihilistic psychological fall. However, just as Faust is reborn from his ashes and achieves, through social and community longing, the symbolic salvation of his soul, Europe still has the opportunity to reinterpret itself and embark on a new path that allows it to be someday itself, through the recognition of their differences and the reunion with their roots. (shrink)

Now that the collective death of mankind has become a possibility, no other thought can remain unimpaired. Harry Redner traces historically the onset of this acute state of Nihilism from what might be called the Faustian revolution, symbolized by Faust's pronouncement “In the beginning was the Deed.” Redner reflects on the passage of the three main Fausts, from Marlowe’s to Goethe’s to Thomas Mann’s, and this reflection serves as the dramatic metaphor for a review of the relationship of Progress (...) to Nihilism in modern civilization. Starting with an exposition of the key Faustian thinkers—Marx, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger—the book proceeds by examining the dominant modern ideas on Man, Time, and Nihilism with reference to Foucault, Derrida, and Althusser. It focuses on Language, which is a key preoccupation of all these thinkers but has not yet been taken far enough to afford a basis for the explanation of fundamental changes in civilization. Language in its creative and destructive functions, as constituting both the conscious and unconscious of a culture, is reconceived so as to account for the hidden link between Progress and Nihilism. The author then explores sociologically the dominant aspects of Progress in terms of the ideas of Weber, Adorno, and Marcuse on Technology, Subjectivity, and Activism. Finally, an extensive literary study of the three main Fausts concludes with a coda on the future of music. In the Beginning Was the Deed is lucid and direct, tinged with wry humor. Redner represent Man in the nuclear age and reflects on that representation, seeking to comprehend our era, draw ethical and political conclusions, and explore action as a response to the threat of annihilation. (shrink)

Goethe’s religiosity appears at the same time profoundly sincere yetescaping confessional labels. It has been claimed that Goethe was Christian,theist, mason, and even a pagan. Our work aims at studying Goethe’sreligiosity throughout his life, and in particular in his relationship with Islām.Of all religions Goethe studied and interacted with, Islām is remarkably absentfrom literary critic, yet he elaborated it throughout his life. We will proposea periodisation which divides his relationship with Islām into four stages, inwhich specific religious themes echo in (...) his letters and works, most of whichhave not been pointed out before, such as in the Faust. Finally, we will discussour findings in the context of religious studies scholarship, and approach theissue of what can Goethe suggest for the meaning of a European Islām today. (shrink)

This title from the De Gruyter Book Archive has been digitized in order to make it available for academic research. It was originally published under National Socialism and has to be viewed in this historical context. Learn more. >.

Thiis essay explores Johann Wolfgang von Goethe*s reaction to Newtonian science and its quantification of nature. In particular, Goethe insisted that Newton's mechanistic portrayal of light and color was but a partial account of their reality. Broadening the understandings upon which science is practiced, Goethe developed ideas that presuppose mind-world intimacy and the consequent need to acknowledge the limited utility of mathematical modeling and theory construction. Such an approach values human subjectivity and sees it as partly constitutive of nature. (...) While Goethe's treatment of color and light is not religious in a traditional sense, it resonates overtones consonant with religious belief. Rejecting the materialistic emphasis of Newtonian physics, Goethe felt that science may expand our spiritual horizons by helping us see the many ways we are patterned into the phenomenological splendor of the world This outlook aligns with Goethe's belief-illustrated in Faust-that the soul holds out for something more than a materialistic metaphysics. (shrink)

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The materialist approach of One-Dimensional Man emerges in a later work in which Marcuse connects the notion of “new sensibility” to a “complex intermediary function of the intellect.” Revolutionary praxis “is not simply negation but contradiction,” and thus Marcuse’s “new idea of reason” constructs a liberating rationality upon a technological one. This is accomplished by moving from an abstract “concept” of possibility to the perception of possibility as a “social alternative.” Here I examine the “dialectical logic” of human rights, which (...) critiques an unfree world and asserts itself as a political determinant dependent on the rupturing of established power. (shrink)

This Element addresses three questions about Kant's guarantee thesis by examining the 'first addendum' of his Philosophical Sketch: how the guarantor powers interrelate, how there can be a guarantee without undermining freedom and why there is a guarantee in the first place. Kant's conception of an interplay of human and divine rational agency encompassing nature is crucial: on moral grounds, we are warranted to believe the 'world author' knew that if he were to bring about the world, the 'supreme' good (...) would come about too. Perpetual peace is the condition that enables the supreme good to be realized in history. (shrink)

The protagonist of Thomas Mann’s short story "The Clown" cannot became an artist because he hasn’t got enough talent. He is also unable to live among people as an ordinary citizen because his social competencies haven’t been completely developed. That is why he can be regarded as a literary figure who tries to leave the real world and to penetrate the literary world. The devil who appears in Charles Gounod’s opera "Faust" based on Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s drama " (...) class='Hi'>Faust" and who is watching the protagonist from the stage during the opera performance seems to be the only person who can help him to find his existential space. (shrink)

This paper is the most complete presentation of my views on deterministic causation. It develops the deterministic theory in perfect parallel to my theory of probabilistic causation and thus unites the two aspects. It also argues that the theory presented is superior to all regularity and all counterfactual theories of causation.

Der vorliegende Band enthalt sechs teilweise stark iiberarbeitete Aufsatze, die in der Zeit zwischen der Niederschrift des Buches Theorienstrnkturen und Theoriendynamik, Springer-Verlag 1973, im folgenden mit [Theoriendynamik] bezeichnet, und der Monographie The Strncturalist View of Theories. A Pos­ sible Analogue of the Bourbaki Programme in Physical Science, Springer-Ver­ lag 1979, im folgenden kurz [Strnkturalismus] genannt, entstanden sind. In diesen Abhandlungen werden jeweils gewisse Aspekte des strukturalistischen Theorienkonzeptes behandelt. Am starksten iiberarbeitet wurden die Auf­ satze II, IV, V und VI, die (...) urspriinglich in englischer Sprache erschienen waren. Vier der sechs Arbeiten, namlich I, III, IV und VI, bilden auBerdem erweiterte Fassungen von Vortragen. Obwohl das zweite Buch [Strnkturalismus] durch P. Feyerabends ausftihr­ liche Diskussion der strukturalistischen Auffassung im British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Dezember 1977, angeregt worden ist, stellt es seinem Ansatz und Aufbau nach eher den Versuch einer systematischen Kurzdarstel­ lung des strukturalistischen Vorgehens nach seinem letzten Stande dar. Dem­ gegeniiber entstanden die hier verOffentlichten Artikel stets aus einem ganz be­ stimmten AnlaB. Diese Anlasse konnte man schematisch in drei Klassen unter­ teilen: Entweder ging es darum, eine anschauliche intuitive Ein/iihrnng zu lie­ fern (I und V); oder die Aufgabe bestand darin, die Beziehung zu anderen philosophischen Positionen. wie z. B. derjenigen L. Wittgensteins, H. Putnams, K. Poppers oder T. S. Kuhns. zu analysieren (II. III und IV); oder es sollte zu den wichtigsten und bis dahin verOffentlichten Kritiken Stellung bezogen wer­ den (wie in VI). (shrink)

Hermann Grassmann is known to be the founder of modern vector and tensor calculus. Having as a theologian no formal education in mathematics at a university he got his basic ideas for this mathematical innovation at least to some extent from listening to Schleiermacher’s lectures on Dialectics and, together with his brother Robert, reading its publication in 1839. The paper shows how the idea of unity and various levels of reality first formulated in Schleiermacher’s talks about religion in 1799 were (...) transformed by him into a philosophical system in his dialectics and then were picked up by Grassmann and operationalized in his philosophical-mathematical treatise on the extension theory in 1844. (shrink)

Through the work of philosophers like Sellars, Davidson and McDowell, the question of how the mind is related to the world has gained new importance in contemporary analytic philosophy. This book demonstrates that Husserl's phenomenological analyses of the structure of consciousness can provide fruitful insights for developing an original approach to these questions.

Michel de Montaigne trug über Jahrzehnte in den historischen Kalender "Ephemeris historica" (Paris 1551) des protestantischen Gelehrten Michael Beuther handschriftliche Notizen ein. Der Kalender ist Teil der im 16. Jahrhundert florierenden Praxis der reformatorischen Memorialkultur, zu deren bedeutenden Vertretern Philipp Melanchthon und Paul Eber gehören. Solche Jahresverzeichnisse waren immer nach dem gleichen Prinzip angelegt: Der Benutzer der "Ephemeris historica" fand in der Regel auf jeder Seite des Kalenders für diesen Tag erinnerungswürdige biblische oder historische Ereignisse im Druck aufgeführt, der frei (...) gebliebene Raum lud zum Einfügen eigener Beobachtungen ein. Die in dieser Weise als Merkbüchlein verwendete "Ephemeris" mutierte so unter medialen Gesichtspunkten zu einem Mischtext zwischen Druck und Handschrift. Indem Montaigne Lebenswendepunkte aus dem privaten Umfeld und politische Geschehnisse von grosser Bedeutung notiert, wird der Kalender zu einem faszinierenden Gedächtnis-Reservoir, mit den Worten Montaignes: zu einem "magasin de la memoire. (shrink)

English summary: The focus by individual ancient (or modern) authors in various fields (law, philosophy, science, theology, literature) on how to use the concept of natural law led to biases that this volume wants to help overcome through a preview of the 'historical depth' of the concept. Its particular charm lies in the fact that its two components (Nature and Law) stand in strong tension with each other, which to the present day does not appear to be fully resolved. While (...) in the classical Greek philosophy of Plato and Aristotle the world is not reduced to an intentional act of creation, the introduction of the concept of natural law by the Stoics and its absorption by Christian writers develops the idea of a divine order underlying natural order. Its challenge by modern science has led to an unresolved uncertainty about ethical and social standards. German text. German description: Die Fokussierung auf die Verwendungsweise des Begriffs des Naturgesetzes bei einzelnen antiken (oder modernen) Autoren auf den unterschiedlichsten Gebieten (Jurisprudenz, Philosophie, Naturwissenschaft, Theologie, Literatur) fuehrte zu Einseitigkeiten, die dieser Band durch einen Ausblick auf die ehistorische Tiefe' des Begriffs ueberwinden hilft. Sein besonderer Reiz liegt darin, dass seine beiden Bestandteile (Natur und Gesetz) in einer starken Spannung zueinander stehen, die bis auf den heutigen Tag nicht voll aufgelost erscheint. Wahrend in der klassischen griechischen Philosophie bei Platon und Aristoteles die Welt nicht auf einen intentionalen Schopfungsakt zurueckgefuehrt wird, entwickelt sich mit der Einfuehrung des Begriffs des Naturgesetzes durch die Stoiker und dessen Ubernahme durch christliche Autoren die Vorstellung einer gottlichem Befehl unterliegenden Naturordnung. Deren Infragestellung durch die moderne Naturwissenschaft hat zu einer nicht aufgelosten Unsicherheit ueber ethische und gesellschaftliche Massstabe gefuehrt. (shrink)

We are concerned with modal logics in the class EM0 of extensions of M0 . G denotes re exive frames. MG the modal logic on G in the sense of Kripke. M is nite if M = MG for some nite G. Finite G's will be drawn as framed diagrams, e.g. G = ! ; G = ! ; the latter shorter denoted by . EM0 is a complete lattice with zero M0 and one M . If M M0 M0 (...) is a succ of M. An ip of M is an immediate predecessor of M. E.g. M ! and M are the only ip's of M in ES4. M[P] denotes the extension of M adding P as a \new axiom", e.g. S4 = M0 [p ! p]. M is nitely axiomatizable if M = M0 [P] for some formula P. One easily shows if M is f.a. then each predecessor is separated from M by an ip of M. It is known that each nite M is f.a. and has only nitely many succ's all of which are nite. (shrink)

"Ratgeber für das tägliche Leben, Lebenshilfe-Breviere, Literatur zum Zeitmanagement erlebt im Moment eine große Konjunktur. Psychologen, Theologen und Philosophen, aber auch Manager und ehemalige Mönche kümmern sich um dieses Themenfeld. Solche alltagsethische Orientierungsliteratur versucht, die gegenwärtige starke Nachfrage zu bedienen und gleichzeitig alte Traditionen aus der Philosophie der Antike, aus der Theologie der Kirchenväter und des Klosterlebens sowie aus der Alltagspsychologie aufzunehmen. Dieses Phänomen bedarf der theologischen Analyse aus Perspektiven der Sozialethik, der praktischen wie der systematischen Theologie. Es ergeben sich (...) Fragen nach dem Verständnis von Alltag, nach einer zeitgemäßen modernen Spiritualität. Im vorliegenden Band werden aktuelle alltagsethische Entwürfe analysiert; in einem zweiten Schritt werden konstruktive theologische Perspektiven entwickelt.". (shrink)

Millionenjahrhaus: Zur Konzeption des Raumes der Ewigkeit im konstellativen Königtum in Sprache, Architektur und Theologie. By Stefanie Schröder. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010. Pp. 396, plates. €84.