Jörg Disse

Theologische Fakultät Fulda · Philosophy & Theology

For Michel Henry religion is not supposed to be symbolized by art, but art is thought as an expression of religion. He develops his philosophy of art with reference to Kandinsky and to Kandinsky’s theoretical writings in his book “Voir l’invisible. Sur Kandinsky” (1988), relating Kandinsky’s theory of art to his own phenomenology of life. Henry’s p...

La philosophie de l'Autre de Lévinas se veut l'explication d'un plan de la réalité humaine qui précède celui du sujet spontané, c'est-à-dire qui précède le plan de l'intentionnalité, du vouloir et de l'agir. Lévinas appelle ce plan-entre autres-subjectivité. Or il évite l'idée d'une fin dernière de l'individu 1) en réduisant le plan de la subjectiv...

In intersubjectivity research, the idea of a second-person perspective (2PP) as an independent epistemic access to the mental phenomena of others is circulating. In discussing two approaches that defend this idea, I would like to show that in my opinion it does not make sense to talk about a 2PP alongside the established first- and third-person per...

Zusammenfassung Der Artikel befasst sich mit der Beziehung zwischen Kunst und Religion in der Philosophie des französischen Phänomenologen Michel Henry. Henry entwickelt eine Philosophie der Kunst, indem er Kandinskys Kunsttheorie auf der Grundlage seiner Phänomenologie des Lebens interpretiert. Kunst ist ein Ausdruck von Leben bzw. Subjektivität....

The article compares Kierkegaard’s and Marcel’s comprehension of existence and communication of existence. With reference to the notion of existence, both authors (independently from each other) develop the idea of a second reflection that includes a theory of communication. But whereas Kierkegaard conceives communication strictly within a first pe...

Im Verhältnis von Philosophie und Psychologie ist die Frage nach dem, was unter dem Begriff der Erfahrung verstanden wird, zentral. Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft Philosophie & Psychologie veranstaltet zu diesem Thema unter dem Titel „Erfahrung und Empirie“ vom 19. bis zum 22. September 2022 eine interdisziplinäre Konferenz an der Universität Heidelberg....

The present article seeks to show, with reference to Thomas Aquinas and Richard Swinburne, that classical theism cannot reconcile the idea of divine perfection with the modern idea of a person. It then proposes a solution which consists in applying to the doctrine of God the model of complementarity which Niels Bohr first used in quantum physics in...

I consider the relationship between the notion of certainty and the notion of a form of life. There are circumstances under which a feeling of certainty may become the ground for adopting a certain form of life. The forms of life I have in mind are those with a formal orientation towards the realization of the (morally) good for its own sake. The a...

La connaissance négative ne se cantonne pas à la connaissance de Dieu. Partant de l’idée d’une conscience préréflexive qu’à la suite de l’école de Heidelberg je considère comme indispensable à une compréhension adéquate de la conscience humaine et dont Jean-Paul Sartre marque la particularité en l’appelant conscience (de) soi, j’affirme, en me réfé...

The article is a response to Michael Roth´s criticism of my contention that to do the good for its own sake absolutely speaking makes only sense within the limits of a commitment to theism.

What should we think about miracles today? Is Rudolf Bultmann's assertion true that one cannot "use electric light and radio, avail oneself of modern medical means in cases of illness" and at the same time assume the existence of miracles as real events? This question is addressed in a comparison of David Hume's critique of miracles and Richard Swi...

Psychic phenomena can be viewed either from a first-person perspective or from a third-person perspective. Which of these perspectives can be considered an admissible source for a philosophical interpretation of mental phenomena and under which conditions? My proposed solution is a combined first-third person perspective guided by a methodological...

What do human beings desire? Desire is diverse, multi-layered, often contradictory, directed to the most various goals: from the satisfaction of the simplest, biologically-related needs, such as hunger, thirst, or sexuality, to elaborate forms of desire for self-realization, social recognition or religious experience. But what is the ultimate goal...

Whereas with regard to the beginning of the universe, there is much to be said for a convergence between theology and the natural sciences, for the Christian understanding of creation can be linked quite effortlessly with the astrophysical standard model, things look far less favourable as far as the question of the end of the universe is concerned...

My aim is to relate Søren A. Kierkegaard's early theory of stages as described basically in "Either-Or" to the theory of interest underlying the two process model of cognition of the Canadian psychologist Keith E. Stanovich with regard to the question of the highest formal goal we can pursue in our life. On the basis of Stanovich's distinction betw...

Following the empirical cognitive psychology of K.E. Stanovich, but going at the same time beyond it, human desire turns out to be essentially shaped by three overriding interests: an interest of genes in replicating themselves, an interest of individuals in their own happiness, and, an interest of reason directed towards the universal realisation...

The article deals with the question of whether human beings are religious by nature. The answer is based on the idea of relating religion to the structure of human desire understood as essentially a desire for absolute perfection. Religion is defined as a relation to a non-sensual reality superior to the human realm which enables human beings to fi...

Analysis of the significance of Plato's "tên de tou anankaiou kai agathou phusin, hoson diapherei tôi onti" (Pol. 493.c) for the thought of Simone Weil.

At the time of existential philosophy, the similarities between Kierkegaard's and Heigegger's existential analysis and in particular their understanding of anxiety were usually emphasised. I would like to point out the irreconcilable contrast in the understanding of anxiety of both authors, the difference being that Kierkegaard is the representant...

In his late philosophy, Wittgenstein radically dissociates religion and metaphysics. In the first part of this paper, the implicit consequences of his critique of metaphysics for his philosophy of religion are analysed. On the one hand, it appears that Wittgenstein, in contrast to Aristotelian metaphysics, has no place for any metaphysical understa...

Adorno und Levinas haben in ihren im Abstand von wenigen Jahren erschienenen Hauptwerken "Negative Dialektik" (1966) und "Totalität und Unendlichkeit" (1961) vom Anspruch epistemischer Beherrschung der neuzeitlichen Erstphilosophie Abstand genommen. Anders als für die Denker der Postmoderne wird ihre Kritik jedoch nicht als ein Abbau der Vernunft i...

Against the general view of analytical Plato-research I intend to show that Plato's Theory of Ideas can today still be interpreted as metaphysics in a positive sense. With the late Wittgenstein I concede that by hypostasizing concepts it is not possible to posit any kind of transcendance. However for Plato this was not the true reason for his metap...

Modem exegesis generally concertes the eschatology of Jesus from a purely secular view of temporality because of its concern to avoid any «dogmatic prejudice». This article on the contrary, on the basis of the Theodrama, shows how Hans Urs von Balthasar develops a concept of Jesus' understanding of time which accounts for the unique qualitative cha...