(A2-11) The Influence of Platonism in the Justification of Norms in German Idealism and Natural Law
In the idealistic system design, the normative fundamentals of politics are discussed not only in connection with the Kantian theory of morality, justice and subjectivity, but also with recourse to ancient models of morality, of the good and of metaphysics. In this, just like Platonism, idealism by and large orients itself by a standard model of philosophy that does not provide for a rigid difference between theory and practice.
For the political philosophy of idealism, this means that the practical task of the justification of norms is also continuously related to theoretical basic perspectives, whether they be articulated in a more transcendental philosophical and principle theoretical (Fichte), in a natural philosophical (Schelling) or in a dialectical (Hegel) fashion. Theological figures of justification are also transformed in this context.
The project will examine the role that the recourse to Platonic examples plays in this. As far as the idealistic authors are concerned, the focus will be on Hegel. However, it is also intended that the Platonic history of idealistic conceptions be analysed, provided that it is relevant to the developments of idealism.
Important individual questions, for example, would be the Platonic presuppositions of natural law in natural justice, the Platonic limitation of acting subjects through objective structures in the extant world, and the theological dimensions of the justification of norms from a Platonic perspective. In the light of the norms and identity crisis sparked by the turning to natural scientific and scientistic interpretations of the world, the historical roots and systematic effectiveness of idealistic (transcendental or principle-based) figures of justification are to be accounted for, and this type of justification is to be fathomed as to its systematic effectiveness for solving contemporary normative crises.
A close cooperation with the three projects of Bayertz, Quante and Siep is intended. With these, the subject of Philosophy contributes the key subject of “Materialism and anthropology as a criticism of idealism and religion” to the pillar of normativity. Within the cooperation of the four projects, the different dimensions of the materialistic and anthropological turn in philosophy are to be identified as strategies of secularisation, which, in their anti-religious and anti-idealistic direction of impact, involve serious consequences for the modern interpretation of the world and for the scope and extent of normative justifications in ethics, law and the state.
The Project is part of interconnecting platform E Differentiation and De-Differentiation and coordinated project group The liquefaction and solidification of normativity.