Antioch - April 1960
Religion and Culture: Fundamental Concepts
1. The general subject of {all} the two lectures and the
discussion is
to the many who have fallen into the abyss of last words
which must be saved before we can use them for anyone's
salvation. - This is always necessary:
scholastics, the encyclopedist, the epistemologist of the
Kantian school, the semanticists of today. - But always
the danger to stick to words, forgetting that {words} in
genuine words the power of the subject matter is present.
(Hebrew: "dibar" = word and matter grasped in it. Greek: logos =
word and rational structure of reality). Therefore dealing with
words is never dealing with words alone, but with encounters
with reality: The justification of philo - logie, "love of words."
[2]
2. Since Rel. and Cult. are {exp} life-processes, a
short consideration of such processes is desirable. ...
self. That which is potential{,} or has the power to be, uses
this power and becomes actual; it gets a here and a now,
just as we do when we are born. ... There is one universal
process of all life: It oscillates between selfidentification
and selfalteration. We want to preserve our
not immovably; we want to go beyond it; and we may
lose it (the search for identity; the two reasons for disease).
This general process (which is a matter of experience within oneselves)
is effective in three main proscesses [sic.].
3. Selfintegration, selfproduction, selftranscendence
of
[3]
to the living bodies and the psychological selfs drive
towards centeredness in conflict with decentralizing
trends. It oscillates between integration and desintegra-
tion. - And it drives toward growth in itself {and} or
by propagation, against the destructive tendencies inside
and outside itself. - And it drives vertically beyond
itself towards sublimation in conflict with the tenden-
cies towards
appear everywhere, but in a special way in the human
realm. Here - in contrast to all others we have the
dimension of
of spirit, the basis of everything is
meanings, the unity of life power and meaning. (This
is more than mind with its intellectual connotations. Can it
be saved?)
[4]
4. The three functions in the dimension of
of spirit are
latter ones are real subject; but the former in itself funda-
mental and a problem (as I have been briefed) in your dis-
cussions. Therefore a thought, dedicated to it.
5.
able to look at a world, to ask questions to subject it-
self to norms. These norms are not strange commands,
but they are our own being put against us. This contents
are changing, their validity is unconditional. If one ac-
cepts [...] a moral command as a moral command, one can-
not make it dependend on anything. It is unconditional,
because in it the ultimate significance of our own being
appears to us. (Keep in mind this ultimacy. For this is the religious
[5]
element in
the moral act is its unconditional seriousness, not the
particular contents. The internal character of the law. - -
At the same time its root in the person-to-person encounter.
The unconditional limit of the thou for the ego. The se-
riousness of the moral imperative appears as the other one,
whom I cannot make into an object, use, penetrate etc.
This is the principle of
6. This is the backbone of
flesh and blood. That is
its qualities, its criterion: agape). --- Its source:
the "third" beyond the ego and thou, in which the "inspite
of" of reunion is rooted. "I want justice, but not love" .
the emotional misunderstanding of love. But of the right
[S. 6 fehlt]
[7]
8. Now the other concepts.
duction of life in receiving and transforming reality.
The personal and social realm + the cognitive and
aesthetic realm. The four principles under which cul-
ture works:
The two latter (theoria) tomorrow. The two former
already given in their foundation, but not in their
cultural actualisation) e.g. the {humanist} personality
and its humanity; the justice in family, sex, poli-
tics in our period. - Only the indication of between
Beyond this the relation of social bodies which belong to another
order.
[8]
9. The concept of
and the traditional concept.
a] the relation of the two. The larger concept
contained in the smaller. The smaller judged by the
larger.
b] The larger as
something ultimately seriously. This universal and
appliable to everything. But not everything is worth it
(examples); only that which concerns the ultimate meaning of
our existence.
c] The significance of the narrower concept. -
Fight against
d] Here the conflicts and the quest for
Aristoteles (384/383 v. Chr. in Stageira - 322 v. Chr. in Chalkis) war griechischer Philosoph und Universalgelehrter: 367–348 v. Chr. studierte und lehrte er an Platons Akademie, wirkte danach am Hof des Tyrannen Hermias von Atarneus und ab 343/342 als Erzieher Alexanders des Großen. 335 v. Chr. gründete er in Athen das Lykeion, ordnete dort Logik, Metaphysik, Naturforschung, Ethik, Politik und Rhetorik zu einem systematischen Wissenskorpus und prägte so das Fundament zahlreicher Disziplinen. Nach Alexanders Tod zwang ihn eine antimakedonische Bewegung 323 zum Rückzug nach Chalkis, wo er ein Jahr später starb.
Sokrates (470/469–399 v. Chr., Athen) gilt als Schlüsselfigur der antiken Philosophie. Er machte das Gespräch zur Methode des Denkens und stellte die Sorge um die Seele ins Zentrum. Tugend verstand er als Wissen und Können, vergleichbar der Kunst des Handwerks, und suchte darin das Gelingen des Lebens. Er lebte in einer politisch instabilen Zeit und stellte bestehende religiöse und gesellschaftliche Überzeugungen radikal in Frage. Wegen Gottlosigkeit und Verführung der Jugend angeklagt, nahm er das Todesurteil kompromisslos an und starb durch den Giftbecher – ein Sinnbild für die Verbindung von Denken und Leben.