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[German Version] (Nov 2, 1861, Dijon – Jun 4, 1949, Aix-en-Provence), French philosopher. He was professor in Aix from 1896 to 1949. In a broad sense, his philosophy can be classed under the heading of phenomenology and has a clear philosophy-of-religion accent. A central element is the supposition that thinking proceeds from a comprehensive existential …

[German Version] (Jul 13, 1920, Lübeck – Mar 28, 1996, Altenberge), a German philosopher, was professor at Münster from 1970 to 1985, following professorates at Gießen and Bochum. Blumenberg is the author of many books that attest to his deep and broad learning. They deal primarily with two systematic questions. On the one hand, Blumenberg was concerned with a…

[German Version] (Oct 14, 1906, Linden/Hannover – Dec 4, 1975, New York) was a German-American philosopher and political thinker who at times exercised considerable public influence. From an assimilated Jewish family from Königsberg, she studied under, among others, M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, and R. Bultmann. After emigrating, she lived initially in France, then from 1941 in the …

[German Version] (Sep 11, 1893, Frankfurt am Main – Aug 6, 1969, Visp, Canton Wallis) is along with M. Horkheimer the most significant representative of the first generation of critical theory. The focus of his thought is a radical critique of the rationalism that was then manifesting itself academically, technically and socially. Adorno studied in Frankfurt am Main and, after receiving his PhD in philosophy in 1924, he studied composition under Alban Berg in Vienna. In 1930 he gained his Habilitation with a thesis on S. Kierkegaard in Frankfurt …

[German Version] (from Lat. modernus, “new”; cf. Ger. Moderne) is a periodization concept which, though usage varies, properly designates the latter part of the modern age, in distinction from modern times (cf. Fr. temps modernes; Ital. eta moderna; Ger. Neuzeit), which refers to the modern age as a whole. There are various opinions as to exactly when modernity began. Koselleck proposes the earliest date for the beginning of modernity by stressing the importance of the “threshold of c. 1770” for “the transformation process (that led)…

[German Version] 1. Ernst (Mar 29, 1895, Heidelberg – Feb 17, 1998, Riedlingen), author of literary diaries and essays, but also of novels and stories, one of the most important German writers in the 20th century. Jünger participated in World War I immediately after completing his schooling. In 1918, he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite. From 1923 until 1926, he studied philosophy and zoology in Leipzig and Naples. Afterwards, he worked as a national revolutionary journalist; in the late 1920s, however, he withdrew from politics and began life as …

[German Version] (actually Alexander Koshevnikov; May 11, 1902, Moscow – Jun 4, 1968, Brussels), studied philosophy, linguistics, and literature in Heidelberg and earned his doctorate there as a student of K. Jaspers in 1926. He subsequently moved to Paris, deepened his previously acquired knowledge of religious studies, and entered the École Pratique des Hautes Études as a lecturer in comparative religion in 1933. However, he attained philosophical renown as a result of his lectures on G. Hegel's Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807; ET: Phenomenology of Mind, 1910), which influen…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch S. ist die Kenntnis eigener Zustände, Wünsche und Absichten sowie die Schätzung der eigenen Person (: II.) im Zusammenhang mit anderen. Zum S. gehört wesentlich Reflexion, d.h. die Fähigkeit, sich auf eigene Zustände, Wünsche und Absichten, auf die Eingebundenheit des eigenen Lebens in Situationen sowie auf den Verlauf des eigenen Lebens zu beziehen. So ist das S. weder ein unmittelbares Wissen noch ein Sonderfall des Bewußtseins (: III.) von in der Welt begegnend…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch Der Begriff des V. wird erst in der Moderne philos. bedeutsam. Er gewinnt Prägnanz, indem er das für die Geisteswissenschaften eigentümliche Erkennen (Erkenntnistheorie) bez. Verstanden wird das »hist. Material« (J.G. Droysen, Grundriß der Historik, 1868, § 9) und überhaupt jede Äußerung des menschlichen Lebens. Dabei tritt der Begriff in Kontrast zum Erklären (Erklärung), das auf die naturwiss. erkennbare Natur bezogen ist. W. Dilthey hat diesen Unterschied progr…

[German Version] I. Philosophy It was not until the modern period that the concept of understanding became philosophically important. It gained currency by denoting the special kind of of knowledge in the humanities (Epistemology). What is understood is “historical material” (J.G. Droysen, ¶ Grundriss der Historik, 1868, §9; ET: Outline of the Principles of History, 1967) and any expression of human life. Thus the term “understanding” is used in contrast to explanation, which is used in connection with scientific, explicable nature. W. Dilthey made…

[German Version] I. Philosophy Self-consciousness (or self-awareness) is knowledge of one’s own states, wishes, and intentions, together with assessment of one’s own person (II) in relationship to others. An essential element of self-consciousness is reflection, i.e. the ability to relate to one’s own states, wishes, and intentions, to the embeddedness of one’s own life in situations, and to the course of one’s own life. Thus self-consciousness is neither immediate knowledge nor a special case of co…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Church History – III. Systematic Theology I. Philosophy The concept of historicism came into currency in the 19th century and soon assumed critical and even polemical significance. Indeed, also G.W.F. Hegel's concept of reason freely actualized in history could be called historicism (J. Braniss, Die wissenschaftliche Aufgabe der ¶ Gegenwart als leitende Idee im akademischen Studium [The scientific task of the present as a leading idea in academic studies], 1848); but the understanding of historicism as a mode of tho…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Dogmatics I. Philosophy In philosophy, finitude refers basically to that which has bounds or is limited and already R. Descartes considered it a defining essence of human being and knowing. This idea was adopted by I. Kant and extensively dealt with in the discussion of the human ability of cognition. In German idealism, especially in F.W.J. Schelling and G.F.W. Hegel, the interdependence or dialectics of finitude and infinity was the focus of philosophical concern. Schelling initially understood finitude ( Fernere…

[English Version] I. Philosophisch W. ist das von der Philosophie angestrebte Wissen. Dem verdankt die Philos. im Griech. ihren Namen, der aus dem Verb ϕιλε´ω/philéō, »lieben«, »erstreben«, und σοϕι´α/sophía gebildet ist. Dabei hat σοϕι´α zunächst gar keine spezifisch philos. Bedeutung. Das Wort bez. die ausgebildete Fähigkeit, ein Handwerk oder eine Kunst auszuüben. Noch Aristoteles, der für die Ausarbeitung der spezifisch philos. Bedeutung maßgeblich ist, führt die σοϕι´α ein, indem er sie »die Vollkommenheit der Kunst« nennt (α᾿ρετη` τε´χn̆ης/aretē´ téchnēs; e.N. 114…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Bible – III. Philosophy I. Religious Studies Memory, in the present context, is the ability to store motor skills, experiences, and learned materialover longer periods; remembrance on the other hand has to do with the use of memory. Individual memory is already ¶ socially conditioned (through language, socialization, cultural setting) and thus has a communicative character. Institutionalization (e.g. feasts, school) and objectivization (e.g. rites [Rite and ritual], texts) serve to stabilize the co…

[German Version] I. Philosophy Wisdom is the knowledge that philosophy aspires to. It is an element of the Greek word for philosophy, which combines the verb φιλέω/ philéō, “love, aspire to,” with the noun σοφία/ sophía. Initially σοφία had no particular philosophical significance. The word denoted expert skill in the practice of an art or craft. Aristotle, who was responsible for developing the word’s specifically philosophical sense, introduced σοφία by calling it “the perfection of an art” (ἀρετὴ τέχνης/ aretḗtéchnēs; Eth. Nic. 1141a 12). The designation of philosophical ins…

[German Version] I. Philosophy – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Practical Theology I. Philosophy Critical theory is the designation for the philosophical program of the Frankfurt School, a group of philosophers and social scientists belonging to the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) founded in 1923 in Frankfurt am Main. The term traces to an essay by M. Horkheimer, Traditionelle und kritische Theorie (1937; ET: “Traditional and Critical Theory,” in: idem, Critical Theory: Selected Essays, 1972) and was then adopted as the general c…

[German Version] I. Philosophy The term validity was already used by I. Kant ( Akademie-Ausgabe IV, 460f.), but it did not play a prominent role in philosophy until the late 19th century. Validity is an actuality, not further explicable, that is understood primarily in contrast to existence. In this sense, R.H. Lotze distinguished between things, which exist, events, which take place, and propositions, which are valid ( Grundzüge der Logik und Encyklopädie der Philosophie, 1902; ET: Outlines of Logic and of Encyclopædia of Philosophy, 1892). To say that a proposition is valid …

[German Version] I. The Term – II. Eros and Amor – III. Eros and Agape ( Caritas) – IV. Eros in Philosophy I. The Term The Greek term ἔρως/ éros, noun, verb ἐρᾶν/ erā́n (“to be in love with”), denotes an intense affection or desire. It can express a passion for an inanimate object, such as wine or one's city, or even for wisdom, as in Plato. However, eros is commonly associated with er…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Fundamental Theology – III. Philosophy I. History of Religion The Greek noun logos (λόγος/ lógos), which is derived from the verb λέγειν/ légein, “to say, to speak,” designates the human faculty of speech and ability to reason, usually in combination, as well as numerous individual aspects such as: sentence, topic, oration, prose, teaching, judgment, cause, conclusion, and reason. In its earliest attestations logos refers to an “oration,” whose deceptive effects are frequently emphasized (Hom. Od. I 56) – thus in the personific…