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[German Version] General: The German word Illusion originally meant criticism of art as a mental delusion (Plato); in the 17th and 18th centuries, it came to denote trompe l'oeil art. In English illusion in the sense of “deceptive appearance” came into use in the 14th century. Criticism of Metaphysics: British empiricism (I) employed illusions pejoratively in the sense of “erroneous notions.” T. Hobbes blamed the devil for the illusory allegorical misinterpretation of Scripture. J. Locke attacked illusion in the sense of imagination and poetry, an…

[German Version] I. Chance vs. Contingency – II. Accident vs. Essence – III. Chance vs. Order – IV. Paradigms of Chance I. Chance vs. Contingency Chance (Contingency/Chance) and contingency are among the theologically significant constructs of conceptual history. The word contingency derives from Lat. contingere (translating συμβαίνειν/ symbainein or ¶ ένδέχεσϑαι/ endechesthai, first used by Marius Victorinus); chance derives through Old French from Lat. cadere, “fall/befall” and accident from accidere/accidentia, with the German loan-translation Zufall first used…

1. Language as a Theme Language is a theme in various disciplines. In addition to philosophy, especially the philosophy of language, a number of empirical disciplines focus on language as a topic of research—traditional philology, linguistics, and related disciplines such as sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. We are familiar with language in everyday use, in conversation and agreements. Linguistics and the philosophy of language take ordinary speech as the starting point of their deliberations. Linguistics directs its interest to the structure of language as a …

[German Version] I. Linguistics and Literary Studies The problem of the meaning and significance of expressions, linguistic signs, and words has arisen explicitly every time the topic of language has been addressed, at least since the time of Socrates and the Sophistic school (Plato, Cratylus). In antiquity there was still ¶ debate over whether signs had their meaning “by nature” or “by convention”; today it is generally held that meaning is the product of sociocultural convention or common usage. Semantics, the theory of the meaning of words, i…

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion – II. Ethics – III. Practical Theology I. Philosophy of Religion To begin the interpretation of society and religion with the notion of interaction means to assume a basis of action. Fundamental forms of interaction are, for example, cooperation, exchange, conflict and competition, or, according to F.D.E. Schleiermacher, identical and individual symbolization and organization. Problems of interaction occur when the rules of interaction are questionable. A monadic the…

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion – II. Dogmatics – III. Ethics – IV. Practical Theology – V. Psychology I. Philosophy of Religion Creativity became an issue in the Judeo-Christian context with regard to the Creator. In contrast to the Platonic demiurge or to the Aristotelian unmoved mover, the triune God is creative. The (re-)assigning of creativity to the human being should be understood against this background. It applies to the human only in a limited way. From the perspective of the philosophy of religion, creativity exhibits different accentuat…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Sociology of Knowledge I. Philosophy 1. The meaning of the word ideology cannot be separated from its historical use (a) as an epistemological term denoting a general theory of perceptions, ideas, and notions (ideo-logy), and (b) as a politico-philosophical term denoting a general critique of knowledge, an analysis intended to clear up false or distorted forms and objects of cognition (Ideological criticism). Although the origin of these two sides of ideology is usually traced to F. Bacon, Francis's discussion of “idols,” its theor…