Paper on the renaissance of panpsychism in the contemporary philosophy of mind.

Encyclopedia entry about "Panpsychism".

Wie lassen sich Naturwissenschaft und Glauben vereinbaren? Wie kann ein guter Gott all das Leid zulassen? Warum ist Gott für uns Menschen verborgen? Wie ist unsere Freiheit mit der Existenz Gottes vereinbar? Auf diese religionsphilosophischen Grundfragen gibt die Prozesstheologie eigenständige und teils überraschende Antworten. Man kann daher mit Recht von einem wissenschaftlichen „Paradigma“ sprechen.

Paper on structural realism and how its problems lend support to some kind of panpsychism.

In the world there are concrete particulars that exhibit the kind of substantial unity that allows them to be called substances or “natural individuals”, as opposed to artifacts or mere conglomerates. Persons, animals, and possibly the most fundamental physical simples are all natural individuals. What gives these entities the ontological status of a substantial unity? Arguments from the philosophy of mind and arguments from general metaphysics show that physical properties alone cannot account for substantial unity. The ultimate intrinsic properties of (...) natural individuals resemble phenomenal mental properties rather than any other kind of known properties. Pan(proto-)psychism is thus supported by systematically related arguments from different areas of philosophical inquiry. A certain amount of skepticism regarding the full nature of absolutely intrinsic properties is nevertheless well-advised. (shrink)

Paper on divine foreknowledge and human freedom.

Article on the personal experience concerning the topic of death and dying.

A theoretically rigorous approach to the key problems of Molinism leads to a clear distinction between semantic and metaphysical problems. Answers to semantic problems do not provide answers to metaphysical problems that arise from the theory of middle knowledge. The so-called ‘grounding objection’ to Molinism raises a metaphysical problem. The most promising solution to it is a revised form of the traditional ‘essence solution’. Inspired by Leibniz’s idea of a ‘notio completa’ (complete concept), we propose a mathematical model of ‘possibilistic’ (...) (Molinist) complete concepts. They ground middle knowledge within the very being of the agents themselves. Molinist Complete Concepts can thus serve to reject consequence-style arguments against Molinism. They also allow the Molinist to safeguard a robustly libertarian notion of the ability to do otherwise. (shrink)

Précis of the overall research conveyed by the Chair for Philosophy and Motivation at Munich School of Philosophy.

Essay criticizing Sigmund Freud's critique of religion and its philosophical implications.

Article on the relation between real and ideal self.

In continental philosophy of religion, the hermeneutics of narratives takes a central role. Analytic philosophy of religion, on the other hand, considers religious statements mostly as assertions of fact. It examines the logical form and semantics of religious statements, addresses their logical commitments, and examines their epistemological status. Using the example of a passage in the Book of Job, it is investigated whether the methods of analytic philosophy are also suitable for analyzing religious narratives. The question is explored whether there (...) is a genuine form of knowledge, besides propositional factual knowledge, which is bound to the form of narration. Particular attention will be paid to the inter-personal pragmatic embeddedness of narratives. The connection between second-personal knowledge and narratives is examined. Using the historical example of Ignatius of Loyola's theory of religious knowledge, it is argued that propositional argumentative knowledge is only one form of religious knowledge among others. The others are second-personal and narrative in character. Having thus established this distinct form of knowledge, it is asked whether our best empirical knowledge of the neurophysiological basis of intuitive and non-argumentative cognition provides a foundation for better understanding inter-personal religious cognition within narratives. (shrink)

An article on Free Will and Processphilosophy (in German).

An essay on the connection between the mind-body-problem and quantum mechanics.

A slightly abbreviated English version of the German paper on personal identity and resurrection.

Ist Religion schon anmaßend und totalitär, wenn sie behauptet, dass es eine göttliche Wahrheit gebe? Impliziert eine solche Behauptung notwendig bereits einen „metaphysischen Realismus“, der im post-metaphysischen Zeitalter unhaltbar ist? Der klassische Theismus lässt sich gar nicht denken ohne die Annahme, dass es eine göttliche Wahrheit gibt. Das Christentum lässt sich nicht denken ohne die Annahme, dass göttliche Wahrheiten nach menschlichem Maß geoffenbart wurden .

Dieser Text will versuchen, Philosophie und psychologische Motivationsforschung wieder miteinander ins Gespräch zu bringen. Innerhalb der Philosophie herrscht bis heute oft eine sehr vereinfachte Auffassung der Motivation vor. Vor allem die Humesche Konzeption dominiert (vgl. Smith 2010), nach der Motivation als Zusammenhang von intrinsischen Wünschen und Zweck-Mittel-Überzeugungen verstanden wird. Ein motivierter Mensch hat also das Bedürfnis, das die Welt auf eine bestimmte Art verändert werde und sein Handeln genau in dieser Veränderung resultieren kann. Das ist eine sehr verkürzte Auffassung, wenn (...) man sich den Stand der psychologischen Motivationstheorien vor Augen führt. Die psychologischen Theorien ihrerseits tun sich naturgemäß schwer, wenn der Bereich des empirisch Messbaren verlassen wird und begriffliche Fragen wie die des Freiheitsproblems oder normative Fragen der Ethik herangezogen werden. Das interdisziplinäre Gespräch kann hier weiterhelfen. (shrink)

Paper on personal identity and the possibility of survival within a framework of a process-oriented metaphysics that combines elements of four-dimensionalism and three-dimensionalism.

Theoretically rigorous approach to the key problems of Molinism.

Article on libertarian freedom and the possibility of divine action.

Encyclopedia article about "reformed epistemology".

Paper on the metaphysics of virtual worlds, the problem of other minds, and the origins of ethical behavior.

Article on physicalism and evolutionary explanations.

Article on the question whether the mind-body problem is partially non-empirical, and irreducibly conceptual or philosophical.

Article on liberal naturalism (a version of property dualism) and the reality and causal efficacy of phenomenal experience.

Article on the defense of libertarian freedom.

Article on mental causation and metaphysical realism.

Article on the problem of free will and determinism. A defense of the so-called "consequence argument" arguing that free will and determinism are incompatible.

Article on the problem of phenomenal consciousness and the limits of reductive physicalism.

A critical evaluation of Plantinga's Free Will Defense.

Article on recent metaphysical accounts of bodily resurrection.

A dialogue on human finitude and its philosophical implications.

An article on the conference of the bishops in Lingen, Germany 2019.