-
-
Write us
Books
Author: Jurgen Habermas - Joseph Ratzinger
The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion
From the translator
In front of you is a translation performed by in the depressing conditions of Covid-19, which showed us once again that the "arrogant mind" (Joseph Ratzinger) is not so omnipotent in dealing with a natural disaster, as exemplified by the shocked, isolated humanity, which, on the one hand, worships the Lord, on the other hand, it is entrusted with scientific research in the hope of creating a new, saviour vaccine. I am not going to engage in discussions that are beyond my sight, I am only mentioning the impulses I received in Rome, in front of St. Peter's Cathedral, in the square, surrounded by a parishioner, from a desperate pontiff who suddenly spoke of revenge on nature ...
On January 19, 2004, two prominent figures of modern times - the philosopher Jürgen Habermas and the "la ciuentessenzia dell'ortodossia cattolica" - Joseph Ratzinger, the then-current and now former pontiff Benedict XVI - met face to face at the Bavarian Catholic Academy. This historical dialogue is both a warning to us and a lesson in cleverness, an indication of the dangers posed by its consequences of morally deprived (or rather, "severed") political freedom and the advice that confronting neo-totalitarian methods we must utilize arguments that are morally and scientifically justified.
The "religiously non-musical" Habermas, as he puts it, defends political liberalism in a special form of Kantian republicanism. At the same time, he notes (which is relevant to us) that the principles of the Constitution should be considered not in terms of their abstract content, but only in terms of their historical context, based on their own national history, and notes the integration of a politically composed world community. It is only possible to intertwine the principles of justice and cultural values into one node. According to Ratzinger, the fact that man has already penetrated into the beginnings of power, into the very beginning of his own existence, may even be fatal for mankind.
Yuri Mosidze,
April 7, 2020.
Share:
