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[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Science – III. Dogmatics – IV. Ethics I. Philosophy Causality (from Lat. causa, “cause”), also causal nexus, causal relationship, is a term for the characteristic relationship between cause and effect. The things related are generally assumed to be pairs of events (event causality), though in some cases they may be an active thing and an event (agent causality); whether agent causality can be reduced to event causality is disputed. In either ca…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy of Religion and Historical Theology – III. Philosophy – IV. Dogmatics – V. Practical Theology – VI. Ethics I. Religious Studies Perceptions of animate and inanimate nature, dreams, ecstasy, trance, and death, as well as sickness and physical sensation, and finally self-reflection and self-transcendence have led to highly diverse models for interpreting …

[German Version] a philosophical trend of late 17th and early 18th-century Europe going back to R. Descartes. Initially, the appellation “Cartesians” was applied to those who had known Descartes personally and either adopted some of his teachings or simply disseminated them. These included, in the Netherlands: Cornelius van Hooghelande (c.1590–1676), Heinri Reniersz (latinized as Reneri, c.1593–1639), Henri le Roy (latinized as Regius, 1598–1679), and Adrian Heereboord …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy – III. Dogmatics – IV. Ethics – V. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies Identity is not in the classical repertoire of religious studies and the sociology of religion. But the central problem of social identity, formulated as a question, makes its religious significance obvious: “Where do we come from?” is answered by creation (I) myths that refer to an original identity; “Who are we?” and “Where are we going?” are answered by religious promises and conc…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Philosophy – III. Philosophy of Religion – IV. Dogmatics I. Religious Studies In the study of religion, the term “monism” denotes concepts that relate the whole of reality to a single principle, and understand diversity and plurality as an all- unity. Monism, from the Gk μόνος/ monos (“alone, single”) is thus also in religious studies to be understood first in opposition to all dualistic concepts (Dualism); this was also the case when this concept was originally defined in the German Enlightenment (C…

[German Version] (Jun 25, 1908, Akron, OH – Dec 25, 2000, Boston, MA), the most influential and, in theoretical philosophy, also the most significant ¶ postwar American philosopher. Impressed by B. Russell and his works, Quine devoted himself even as an undergraduate at Oberlin College (1926–1931) to what was then the new field of mathematical logic, which he continued to pursue in his Harvard dissertation, under the direction of A.N. Whitehead. After receiving his doctorate in 1932, Quine traveled to Europe, where he m…

[German Version] (Latinized form of Junge; Oct 22, 1587, Lübeck – Sep 23, 1657, Hamburg), German naturalist and philosopher. Jungius studied philosophy and mathematics in Rostock and Gießen (1606–1608), and medicine in Rostock und Padua (1616–1619). He was active in Rostock and other places in northern Germany as a physician, private scholar, and, finally, also as a professor until he became rector of the Johanneum or the Academic Gymnasium in Hamburg in 1629, where he was soon entangled in vigoro…

[German Version] I. Natural Sciences – II. Religious Studies – III. Philosophy – IV. Systematic Theology I. Natural Sciences The concept of contingency/chance occurs in various contexts and meanings in the natural sciences. In the simplest case, contingency denotes an event, a process or a property, the finality of which exists without an immediately discernible or determinable cause. Although we inaccurately assert that something happened by chance, the latter really implies the lack …

[German Version] from Greek ἐντελέχεια/ entelécheia, composed of ἐντελής ( entelḗs, “complete, -standing”) and ἐχειν ( échein, “to have”); in Aristotle usually synonymous with ἐνέργεια ( enérgeia, “reality, realization”; Lat. actus) and antonymous to δύναμις ( dýnamis, “possibility, capacity”; Lat. potentia); also a component in the explication of what characterizes a substance as form in contrast to matter. The Greek expression entered the terminology of Latin philosophy untranslated as entelechia, inasmuch as it was not simply rendered (e.g. in Thomas Aquinas) with actus or p…

[German Version] (Nov 4, 1873, London – Oct 24, 1958, Cambridge), English philosopher; together with his friend B. Russell one of the pioneers of analytic philosophy. Himself educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Moore taught there from 1898 as fellow, from 1911 to 1925 as lecturer, and from 1925 to 1939 as professor. From 1921 to 1947 he edited the journal Mind. In addition to his attacks on idealism, his diagnosis of a “naturalistic fallacy” in various classical definitions of moral good (Good, The), especially that of Utilitarianism, has had lasting influence. Hans-Peter Schütt Bib…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Philosophy of Religion and Fundamental Theology I. Philosophy A statement that is simply incredible is described in philosophy and logic as a paradox, if, in spite of its “unbelievability,” it seems nevertheless to be correctly deduced from acceptable premises. An example of this kind is the Socratic paradox stating that action against better knowledge is impossible (cf. Plato Prot. 351b–358e). From the prima facie plausible pragmatic theory assumption: (1) “People always freely do what seems best (for them),” the statement se…

[German Version] I. Concept 1. The origin of the Latin word persona (“mask, role, status”) is unknown; it may be Etruscan. The philologist Gavius Bassus (1st cent. bce) traced the “origin” of the word to the function of the ancient theater mask, namely that of a megaphone which concentrated the voice and caused it to “sound through” ( per-sonare; cf. Gellius, Noctes Atticae V 7) in a more sonorous way. The corresponding Greek word is πρόσωπον/ prósōpon, “face, mask, front.” The word “persona” is employed in grammar, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and philosophy. What the mode…

[German Version] (McTaggart; Sep 3, 1866, London – Jan 18, 1925, London), English philosopher, representative of British idealism, in contrast to which B. Russell and G. Moore made their mark. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he spent his entire academic life: from 1891, fellow; from 1897 to 1923, lecturer. Particularly influential was his proof of the unreality of time, controversially discussed well into the second half of the 20th century. Hans-Peter Schütt Bibliography Works include: “The Unreality of Time,” Mind 17, 1908, 457–474 The Nature of Existence, 2 vols.,…

[German Version] (Des Cartes, Latin. as Renatus Cartesius; Mar 31, 1596, La Haye/Touraine – Feb 11, 1650, Stockholm), French mathematician, naturalist, and philosopher. He was one of the most influential figures in the history of science and of ideas in early modern times. Descartes came from a middle-class family in the French provinces. From 1607 to1615, he …

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff 1. Die Herkunft des lat. Wortes persona – »Maske, Rolle, Status« – ist unbekannt, evtl. etruskisch. Der Philologe Gavius Bassus (1.Jh. v.Chr.) führte den »Ursprung« des Wortes auf die Funktion der antiken Theatermaske als Schalltrichter zurück, der die Stimme konzentriert und sie klangvoller »hindurchtönen« läßt (per-sonare; bei Gellius, Noctes Atticae 5,7). Griech. entspricht ihm das Wort προ´σωποn̆/pro´sōpon, »Angesicht, Maske, Vorderseite«. Das Wort persona wird in Grammatik, Rhetorik, Recht und Philos. gebraucht; wa…

[English Version] Quine, Willard van Orman (25.6.1908 Akron, OH – 25.12.2000, Boston, MA), der einflußreichste und in der theoretischen Philos. auch der bedeutendste amer. Philosoph seit dem 2. Weltkrieg. Beeindruckt durch B. Russell und dessen Arbeiten, widmete Q. sich schon als Undergraduate am Oberlin College (1926–1931) vornehmlich Fragen der seinerzeit noch neuen mathematischen Logik, die er anschließend für seine von A.N. Whitehead betreute Dissertation in Harvard weiter verfolgte. Nach der Pro…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch Eine Aussage, die einfach »nicht zu glauben« ist, wird in Philos. und Logik als P. (auch: Paradoxie) bez., wenn sie ihrer »Unglaublichkeit« zum Trotz aus akzeptablen Prämissen korrekt geschlossen zu sein scheint. Von dieser Art ist z.B. das Sokratische P., das Handeln wider besseres Wissen für unmöglich erklärt (vgl. Plato Prot. 351b – 358e): Aus der prima facie plausiblen handlungstheoretischen Annahme: (1) »Menschen tun freiwillig stets genau das, was ihnen das …