Dem Alltagsverständnis zufolge bringt uns die Wahrnehmung in einen Kontakt mit der Wirklichkeit. Die Stabilisierung der Wahrnehmungsgewissheit ist tief im subjektiven Bildungsprozess verankert, hat sich alltagspraktisch bewährt und in der Sprache sedimentiert. Andererseits hat sich durch Erfahrungen kultureller Diversität und sozialer Differenz auch die Auffassung verbreitet, dass die Welt nur gleichsam durch die Brille spezifischer Herkünfte und Zugehörigkeiten wahrgenommen wird. Die Spannung zwischen realistischen und konstruktivistischen Interpretationen des menschlichen Weltbezugs bildet die Ausgangssituation, mit der sich die Beiträge zu dem geplanten (...) Sammelband In Kontakt mit der Wirklichkeit. Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zur Situiertheit der Wahrnehmung auseinandersetzen. Ziel ist es, die Wahrnehmungsgewissheit des direkten Realismus zu verteidigen, ohne die berechtigten Einwände außer Acht zu lassen. Nicht nur der Begriff der Wahrnehmung wird dabei einer grundlegenden Prüfung unterzogen, sondern auch der Begriff der Wirklichkeit und mit ihm ein angemessenes Verständnis davon, als leiblich verkörperte Individuen in einer gemeinsam geteilten Welt zu sein. (shrink)

Definition of the problem: Is it the brain that makes a human being a person? This anthropological question has been raised because of the findings of modern human brain research, and there are severe ethical consequences anew: If the appropriate anthropological answer is yes, then all invasive research would be problematic, because one would touch the basis of human essence. The problem is that the two major philosophical paradigms that offer an answer to the anthropological question, dualism and monism, have (...) opposing concepts. Arguments: This paper argues that the error of these two paradigms is that they understand the human body and the human mind as ’res’– as things. The explanation of the human being as an interactive unit of body and mind is impossible in both paradigms. A third anthropological view that tries to make that understandable is the anthropology of the Hebrew Bible. It does assume the category ’thing’ while speaking about humans, it presumes the category ’aspect’. There is no Hebrew word for ’mind’ in contrast to ’body’ or vice versa. The biblical language only knows terms for the unity of human beings seen under a certain aspect. Conclusion: Here, the body and thus the brain are important and necessary condition for human essence, but this is not a sufficient explanation for the human personality. Invasive research on the human brain is here neither generally forbidden nor tolerated – one has to demonstrate in every single case whether the planned operation touches regions that are crucial for the personality of the human subject. (shrink)

Next SectionPublic discourse in continental Europe gives a uniquely prominent place to human dignity. The European Christianities have always taken this notion to be an outgrowth of their theological commitments. This sense of a conceptual continuity between Christianity and secular morality contributes to the way in which these Christianities, especially (but not exclusively) in Germany, have perceived their public role. In an exemplary manner, this essay engages the secularized societal environment. In meeting the secular discourse on its own home ground, (...) it seeks to recapture the theological roots of that discourse's defining value commitments. The challenges that modern societies present for Christians are seen not as a threat that would destroy a presumed original societas Christiana. Instead, these challenges create an opportunity to transform the Gospel's message so as to have it conform to, but also allow it to criticize, contemporary scientific knowledge about the world and man. Bonhoeffer's rendering of the Lutheran doctrine of the two kingdoms here makes it possible to link the Christian understanding of man as “in the image of God” with the secular affirmation of human dignity. As an intermediate concept, “incarnate reason” allows the bioethical discourse to preserve crucial aspects of the Christian tradition, while at the same time giving space to a constructive as well as critical exchange with secular discourse partners. (shrink)