Evidence-based policy-making (EBP) is widely seen as a key instrument for good policy-making. Yet in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the debate on the relation of science and policy-making gained new momentum. The premises of EBP, its narrow understanding of what kind of knowledge counts and how to make decisions, appeared inapt to provide a sound foundation for policy-making under conditions of high complexity and uncertainty. This paper addresses the major shortcomings of EBP and argues for revising its evidentialist (...) framework. First, the idea of evidence itself has to be extended and pluralized by including alternative forms of knowledge. Second, uncertainty has to be taken seriously as a fundamental epistemic condition. To arrive at a more apt model of policy-making, this paper suggests to adopt a pragmatist perspective on the relation of politics, science and the public. This leads to an experimentalist account in the meliorist spirit. Such an account highlights the role of experience, participatory processes and collective learning. Furthermore, and in contrast to scientistic models, it underlines political responsibility and demands to cultivate sensitivity for possible failures and tragic constellations. Finally, a non-evidentialist model of policy advice is outlined. (shrink)

As the ecological crisis becomes increasingly pressing, the relation of environmentalism and democracy is spotlighted with new instancy. On one hand, the capability of present democratic governments to take adequate political action is seriously questioned. On the other hand, environmentalism is charged of being anti-democratic. This paper, in a first step, examines the “green” criticism of and sometimes actual departures from democracy. Drawing on that analysis as well as a pragmatist concept of democracy, the elements of an “ecological democracy” will (...) be outlined in a second step. Democracy, then, is not only a way of collective-problem solving, but also a form of life that has an intrinsic value, even in the face of unresolvable problems and failure. Striving for transformation and the best possible scenario nevertheless, finally, demands an attitude of ecological meliorism, which will be briefly outlined. (shrink)

Die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Religion und Öffentlichkeit stellt sich erst unter den Bedingungen einer sich fortlaufend säkularisierenden Moderne. Einerseits ist Religion stark privatisiert und individualisiert, andererseits sind religiöse Phänomene weiterhin in der Öffentlichkeit präsent. Ausgehandelt werden muss nicht zuletzt, welche Rolle religiöse Überzeugungen im politischen Diskurs spielen sollen bzw. dürfen. Darüber hinaus kommen religiöse Gemeinschaften und Institutionen als ambivalenter Teil der Zivilgesellschaft in den Blick: Sie können ein Faktor gesellschaftlichen Engagements sein und Gegenöffentlichkeiten ausbilden, die aber nicht zwingend (...) demokratisch oder emanzipativ sind. Für eine kritische Reflexion sind die Theologien sowie die (Religions-)Philosophie wesentlich, wobei bereits die Artikulation individueller religiöser Erfahrung ein erster Ausgriff auf die intersubjektive Ebene und damit die öffentliche Dimension ist. Die Öffentlichkeit wird damit zum intersubjektiven Labor religiöser Überzeugungen. (shrink)

Humanism is charged with fostering a harmful anthropocentrism that has led to the exploitation of non-human beings and the environment. Posthumanist and transhumanist ideas prominently aim at rethinking our self-understanding and human-nature relations. Yet these approaches turn out to be flawed when it comes to addressing the challenges of the “age of the humanity”, the Anthropocene. Whereas posthumanism fails in acknowledging the exceptional role of human beings with regard to political agency and responsibility, transhumanism overemphasizes human capabilities of controlling nature (...) and only deepens the human-nature dualism. Therefore, a critical and humble version of humanism is suggested as a viable alternative. Drawing on pragmatist thinkers William James and F.C.S. Schiller, a resource for de-centering the human being is provided that critically reflects our role in the larger ecosystem and underlines human potentials as well as human responsibilities. (shrink)

How can we feel at home in this world without clinging to false certainties? This book offers a humanist re-reading of philosophical pragmatism and explores its potentials for a worldview that relies only on human resources. Thinking along with authors like William James and F.C.S. Schiller, it highlights a fundamentally humanist strand of pragmatism aimed at fostering human creativity and transformative action. It is grounded in everyday experience and underlines our responsibility to strive for the better. Ana Honnacker traces perspectives (...) on science, religion, and ethics in the light of a pragmatic understanding of humanism. Furthermore, she suggests how to address the existential challenges we face today. Thus, pragmatic humanism is explored not only as a philosophy for critical minds, but also as a way of life. (shrink)

Nowadays, Western societies find themselves in a situation that has been coined as a “crisis of representation” or even as “postdemocracy.” The self-understanding of western societies that is informed by the idea of its citizen’s democratic participation in the shaping of the common good has been severely tested by a growing disenchantment with politics. This expresses itself not only in a growing disinterest in common decision-making but also in an ominous interplay between a decreasing will...

Making this world a home is an existential and cooperative task. A humanist re-reading of philosophical pragmatism suggests critical and transformative perspectives on science, religion, and the way we live together. Its pluralist outlook allows for an encompassing humanism that bridges the gap between believers and non-believers. Moreover, it is a way of life.

Grounding their philosophy on human experience only, William James and F. C. S. Schiller established a version of pragmatism deeply committed to the insight that human interests and needs play a crucial role in the making of reality. Therefore, their pragmatic humanism underlines our responsibility for the way we shape the world we live in. It demands to take a plurality of perspectives into account, and to take a critical stance toward absolute truth claims in order to challenge the established (...) status quo and to strive for the better. (shrink)

Science has become a major source of knowledge. Yet, if we take it to be the only authority on understanding the world, the legitimate trust in the results of scientific research can easily turn into a quasi-religious belief. Pragmatic humanism defies such a scientism and the implied reductionist worldview. It rather pleads for a naturalism that acknowledges the primacy of human experience and therefore understands science as one way of inquiry among others. Since science is a human activity, it is (...) not a disinterested quest for truth. Hence, the way science is practiced and organized comes into focus. Pragmatic humanism advocates a pluralization of science and underlines its relevance for democracy. (shrink)

Pragmatic humanism regards mortality as an essential characteristic of human beings. It is sensitive to the existential challenges and to our need for comfort that arises in the face of life’s contingencies. However, the humanist position rejects any attempts to overcome or deny death. Instead, it suggests defying and resisting the threat of nihilism by way of acknowledging human finitude. While keeping a sense for the tragic, the human ability to create meaningful lives is underlined and encouraged.

What are the prospects of pragmatic humanism as a way of life? Endorsing a thoroughgoing fallibilistic attitude, it encourages us to conceive doubts as provocative and essential for critical thinking. It fosters practicing philosophy in order to examine and transform the self, including a reflection on our relations to other beings and the environment.

Es ist aus mindestens zwei Gründen schwer, von pragmatistischer Religionsphilosophie im Allgemeinen zu sprechen. Zum einen haben die meisten Pragmatisten kaum systematische Reflexionen über Religion vorgelegt, sondern diese eher in ihr philosophisches Werk integriert. Die religionsphilosophischen Überlegungen, zumindest der frühen Pragmatisten, haben deswegen lange weniger Aufmerksamkeit bekommen als etwa die pragmatistischen Theorien zu Semiotik, Wahrheit, Erziehung oder Demokratie. Eine Ausnahme bildet hier William James, dessen durchaus explizite Religionstheorie wiederum umgekehrt häufig isoliert vom Rest seines Denkens rezipiert wurde. Die Impulse aus (...) der pragmatistischen Tradition für das Gebiet der Religionsphilosophie zu extrahieren, auf ihre Relevanz zu prüfen und gegebenenfalls aufzunehmen, ist daher bleibende Aufgabe der Forschung. (shrink)

How can we know what is right and wrong without referring to objective moral values? Pragmatic humanism suggests grounding moral obligations in the demands of sentient beings and the basic principle of preventing harm. Thus, it advocates a minimal and negative ethics with an experimental character: the moral order is the result of an ongoing process that aims at including and integrating a maximum of demands. Yet, exclusions and failures are unavoidably part of this process and have to be dealt (...) with. Pragmatic humanism offers no ready-made solutions to moral problems but fosters moral autonomy. (shrink)

Philosophische Reflexion allein kann das Böse nicht (be-)greifen. Es sind oft Geschichten, die helfen, sich dem Phänomen anzunähern. Der Band hat sich das Ziel gesetzt, ein tieferes Verständnis des Bösen zu erreichen, indem neben philosophischen auch literarische und filmische Zugänge daraufhin befragt werden, was sie uns über das Böse zu erzählen haben, und sie mit philosophischen Theorien in ein produktives Gespräch gebracht werden. Dabei wird sich herausstellen, dass die Philosophie selbst durchaus narrativ und die Narration durchaus reflexiv sein kann. (Quelle: (...) Homepage des Verlags). (shrink)

Pragmatic humanism holds a critical attitude toward historic religions, yet it is not anti-religious per se. It aims at a humanist and naturalist reform of religious traditions. Furthermore, the question as to how a humanist stance relates to religious traditions and other systems of belief is crucial for its self-understanding. Is it just a method of criticizing religions, or rather a religion on its own?

Mit der Dritten Aufklärung, die zugleich titelgebend für den Gegenstand dieses Symposiums ist, nimmt der Zürcher Philosoph Michael Hampe eine Idee Hilary Putnams wieder auf. In seiner in Amsterdam gehaltene Spinoza-Vorlesung “The Three Enlightenments” hatte Putnam von drei Aufklärungsperioden in der Geschichte der Philosophie und der Kultur gesprochen. Die erste sei die in Athen mit Sokrates und Plato stattgefundene philosophische Revolution, die aus der Entdeckung des kritischen Denkens als...

Philosophical pragmatism takes human experience as the touchstone of any theorizing. Authors like William James and F.C.S. Schiller suggested to transform philosophy into a critical and emancipatory project, turning the quest for truth into a project of creative and responsible world-making. Their basic insight that man is the measure of all things demands for being actively engaged in building a better world. As pragmatism denies objective criteria for critique, listening to a plurality of voices and their experiences becomes crucial. This (...) chapter offers a humanist re-reading of philosophical pragmatism and explores its challenges and prospects. With pointing out problematic assumptions in the work of James and Schiller, the unfinished agenda of their pragmatic humanism becomes visible. (shrink)

Es ist erheblich dem Wirken von William James (1842–1910) zu verdanken, dass der Pragmatismus als eigenständige philosophische Strömung in Erscheinung getreten ist. Während Peirce, der in seinem Essay »How To Make Our Ideas Clear« (1878) die »pragmatistische Maxime« eingeführt hatte, seinen Zeitgenossen nahezu unbekannt war, kann James als einer der bekanntesten Intellektuellen im Amerika seiner Zeit gelten: Seine Werke wurden erfolgreich veröffentlicht und rege rezipiert, durch bald erscheinende Übersetzungen auch im Ausland. Als James nun in einem Vortrag an der University (...) of Berkeley 1898 den Pragmatismus zum ersten Mal erwähnte und damit einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekannt machte, verknüpfte sich dieser »neue Name für alte Denkmethoden« zunächst vor allem mit seiner Person. James prägte also das Bild des Pragmatismus wesentlich, und damit auch dessen Rezeption. (shrink)

Unter Krisenbedingungen wird das Wechselverhältnis von Wissenschaft, Öffentlichkeit und Politik auf besondere Weise herausgefordert. Die Dringlichkeit und Tragweite politischen Handelns, etwa mit Blick auf Infektionsschutz und Sicherung des Gesundheitssystems in der Covid-19-Pandemie, hat die Frage, welches Wissen politisch handlungsleitend sein soll, noch einmal verschärft. Insbesondere das Paradigma evidenzbasierter Politik (EPB) stellt dabei einen Kristallisationspunkt dar, anhand dessen die Grenzen eines verengten Begriffs tragfähigen Wissens ebenso deutlich werden wie die Gefahr eines verkürzten Verständnisses von Politik. Ziel des Bandes ist, das aufgezeigte (...) Spannungsfeld in seinen verschiedenen Dimensionen zu beleuchten und (1) aufzuzeigen, unter welchen Bedingungen wissenschaftliches Wissen einen Beitrag zu guter demokratischer Politik leisten kann, (2) welche Verantwortung der Wissenschaft für die Bildung einer kompetenten Öffentlichkeit zukommt und (3) zu fragen, wie demokratische Gesellschaften aufgestellt sein bzw. sich transformieren müssen, um diese Art selbstreflexiver kooperativer Problemlösung betreiben zu können. (shrink)

Why do bad things happen, why is there suffering in the world? The problem of evil poses a serious threat to the idea of God as an omnipotent, omniscient and absolutely good being since it had been first articulated. The existence of horrible natural disasters and moral abominations continues to be one of the strongest arguments for atheism. Consequently, attempts of absolving God of the charge are legion: theodicies belong to the essential repertoire of traditional Christian theology and phi...