Die vorliegende Untersuchung stellt die Frage nach der Gerechtigkeit des Rechts, wobei sich das Wort "Recht" sowohl auf das Ganze der Rechtsordnung als auch auf einzelne Rechtsnormen beziehen kann. Dabei wird ausgelotet, was eine rechtsethische Rechtfertigung des Rechts überhaupt zu leisten vermag und welches ihre Grenzen sind. Die Untersuchung geht systematisch vor. Es erfolgt in erster Linie eine Auseinandersetzung mit problembezogenen Lösungsvorschlägen. Historische Positionen sowie philosophiegeschichtliche Betrachtungen dienen der Abrundung. Der Aufbau des Werkes erfolgt in Form einer Stufenpyramide, wobei auf (...) jeder Stufe die Problembehandlung immer weiter konkretisiert wird. So wird die Bandbreite möglicher Antworten auf die Frage nach der Gerechtigkeit des Rechts Schritt für Schritt eingegrenzt. Der Lösungsvorschlag des Autors geht am Ende dieser Stufenpyramide hin zu einer materialen Gerechtigkeitstheorie. Diese sogenannte "Dreizonentheorie politischer Gerechtigkeit" wird im zentralen Teil der Untersuchung ausführlich behandelt und dargestellt. Inhalt: Recht und Moral - Formale Positionen zum Verhältnis Rechtsethik - Recht - Materiale Rechtsethik/Politische Gerechtigkeit - Kritik des normativen Individualismus - Die Dreizonentheorie politischer Gerechtigkeit. (shrink)

The process of optimizing psychical distance to achieve the best possible aesthetic effect has been well-known among philosophers of art ever since Edward Bullough formulated the concept in 1912. Although it is typically analyzed as a one-way process, it nevertheless becomes a reciprocal or intersubjective process when the object of our aesthetic perception is our “other.” This is equally true for animal “others” as for our fellow human “others.” Anything animate can fix us in its gaze and thereby prompt or (...) even force us toward self-confrontation as an object of someone or something else’s perception. This reciprocity may be manifest as a sort of psychological pas de deux between the two confronting subjects, each confronting the other as object, each recognizing the other as subject, and each confronting its own self as recognizer of this relationship and recipient of this attention. The level of our awareness of our being an object for some “other” subject has a proportionately significant impact on our aesthetic perception of this “other, ” i.e., the fact that an “other” perceives us adds a dimension of “unnatural” intersubjectivity which changes our aesthetic appreciation of that “other.”. (shrink)

Presents the basic elements of the philosophy of religion tradition in a new and provocative way as original philosophical narrative interspersed with rich selections from Plato, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, Pascal, Descartes, Paley, Leibniz, Hume, Hegel, Kant, Mill, Stephen, Royce, James, and Clifford. The history and concepts of philosophy of religion emerge more clearly through this integration and interrelation of classical texts with modern summary and interpretation.

With reference to the virtue-ethics tradition, especially the system of St. Thomas Aquinas, this essay interprets the pentangle emblazoned on Gawain’s shield as symbolizing the perfection of interconnected virtues, and the Green Knight as figuring Christ in his martyrdom. Linking these two strands of meaning is the Thomist idea of fortitude, the virtue under particular scrutiny in the poem. Gawain fulfills the secondary part of fortitude, attack, while the Green Knight fulfills the primary part, endurance, and is identified with Christ. (...) His axe, holly bob, and green coloration, and even his menacing aspect, all foster this significance. (shrink)

The idea of the genetic unity of all mankind is an integral part of Christian teaching. The purpose of this brief survey is to illustrate its role within the Greek patristic tradition, and then to point to a few examples from modern science which lend support to this ancient idea.