Malte Dreyer

Die Philosophie ist ein inhaltlich breitgefächertes und methodisch heterogenes Fach. Diese Pluralität führt auch zu unterschiedlichen Einstellungen und Praktiken im Umgang mit offener Wissenschaft – etwa im Hinblick auf Publikationsformate, Zielgruppen oder das Wissenschaftsverständnis. Gerade deshalb ist es wichtig, gemeinsame Schnittmengen zu identifizieren, auf deren Basis ein tragfähiger, breit getragener Wandel hin zu Open Access gelingen kann. Dieses Positionspapier formuliert solche Schnittmengen und leitet daraus Empfehlungen ab, die sich an der Praxis orientieren und Raum für unterschiedliche fachliche Traditionen lassen.

The following interview takes up and discusses central questions of Hans Joas’ theory of human rights. Joas explains how the genealogy of human rights relates to their validity and distinguishes his approach from others by stressing the emotive quality of values. He addresses the critique leveled at him of rooting human rights in religion and elaborates on what he terms the “sacredness of the person”. In doing so, he demonstrates that his version of universalism is rooted in the pragmatist understanding of human action which stresses the importance of experience, argument and narrative for the emergencies of values.

In the context of giving this year’s Christian Wolff Lecture, Agnes Heller - looking back on her eventful life and the current political situation in Hungary - reflects on the relationship between philosophy and politics. The changes in her concept of freedom are closely related to her experience of various kinds of political oppression. However, Heller expresses wariness concerning the role of philosophical thought in politics, arguing that philosophy and politics are based on two distinct, incommensurate concepts of truth. She defends a pluralistic approach to truth against the allegation of relativism and subsequently characterizes philosophy as a unique form of storytelling. Heller shares with us her observations on philosophy under modern conditions and closes the interview with a very personal tale.