Abstract

Power and Responsibility are predominant themes in Heinrich Mann's works since "Geist und Tat" and Der Untertan. With the Weimar Republic, Mann's writings begin to reflect a turn from a relatively abstract denunciation of power and a call for individual responsibility to a more in-depth analysis of the complex realities of power and the new dimensions of collective responsibility in the modern industrial society. ;Many of Mann's essays from 1918-1925, along with the novel Der Kopf and the novella "Kobes,"criticize the absence of an ethic of responsibility among society's leaders. Der Kopf portrays the failure of an over-zealous, idealistic concept of intellectual leadership, and exposes the increasingly powerful behind-the-scenes force of industrial leadership. "Kobes" continues this analysis in its satirical portrayal of the intellectual idealist and its projection of the self-destructive ends of the new "religion" of industry. ;Mann's essays after 1925 and his Weiman trilogy warn of fascism and the next war, and focus on the need for a change in the collective societal spirit, from a pursuit of success and power to an ethical understanding of responsibility to future generations. The underlying moral imperative of Mutter Marie is "Lernt verantworten." The next two novels, Eugenie oder Die Bugerzeit and Die grosse Sache, focus on the spirit of speculation in society and pursuit of the "big chance," both of which are ultimately a pursuit of destruction. Together, Mann's works of the Weimar republic reveal an urgent appeal for an ethic of responsibility to preserve the future of humanity. ;To illuminate the concept of future-directed responsibility that underlies Mann's works of the Weimar period, this study turns to the work of the the current philosopher Hans Jonas: Das Prinzip Verantwortung. Jonas's insights into the dynamic of power and the imperative of responsibility in the technological age can be compared in significant ways to Mann's literary insights of the Weimar era. The ethic of responsibility in Mann's works of the Weimar Republic remains an urgent moral and political imperative for leaders and citizens in the modern industrial-technological age