Seminar Ethical Life the past and present of ethical cultures

This seminar deals with the two simplest yet most difficult questions facing individuals today: -Why be ethical?- and -How can this be accomplished under present conditions?- In the process of seeking an answer to these questions, we will examine the institution of Ethics as a cultural form of life. This calls for an historical study of ethical traditions prior to our modern ethics. The ethical cultures of Israel, Greece, China, India, and Persia will be examined. However, it is on Christianity that our study will focus, for it is the precursor to our modern ethics. The course will then consider what changes ethics has undergone in the process of modernization. Under the present conditions of society, economy, politics and culture there are numerous difficulties facing the individual in leading an ethical life. The power of the State over the individual is overwhelming, as the history of the twentieth century reveals. Bureaucratic regulation and legalism in general tend to make ethical norms redundant. These and numerous other constraints and necessities threaten ethical life. This seminar will not provide answers to these problems, but it may help students come to their own decisions. Text: Harry Redner: Wie kann man moralisch leben? Geschichte und Gegenwart ethischer Kulturen. (Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart) Seminarsprachen: Englisch und Deutsch FB 01 Institut für Philosophie Uni Kassel SS 2009 Philosophie HF Professor Redner Harry Professor