Members of the project team pictured from left:Marie Hirsch, Marian Micke, Lena Scholz and Julia Berner.Also in the picture is Dr Fabian Wobser (2nd from left) from the Chair of Philosophy.
When an elderly gentleman approaches the table of the PASSAUtonomy philosophy team in the beer garden of the Oberhaus restaurant, he is at first surprised. "Am I in the right place for philosophising in the beer garden?" he asks. The young people at the table nod and invite him to sit down. "Well, I didn't expect to be the oldest person at the table," he says.
This summer semester, the student team led by doctoral student Johanna Sinn and Marie Hirsch from the Professorship of Applied Ethics proved that philosophy concerns everyone and is not just something for older people or the university's ivory tower. They have set themselves the goal of engaging in a dialogue on Kant's philosophy with various target groups outside of the university public during the Kant anniversary year. And finally, people come together in the beer garden, as they say in Bavaria.
Project manager Johanna Sinn is delighted that the beer garden events were so well received. In particular, many more people interested in philosophy came to the event at the end of June at the Altes Bräuhaus in Passau's old town than expected: "We first had to add more tables and then had discussions in three groups," she says. "They were all people from outside the university and they liked the format. It was a really nice experience."
Moral questions on a beer mat
At the event in the Oberhaus beer garden, three tables of philosophy enthusiasts also show up. Student teacher Marian Micke, who is leading the event, hands out a reader with Kant texts. A little university is a must. For each meeting, the PASSAUtonomy team has chosen a text by the philosopher that illuminates his concept of freedom from a particular perspective. The texts are intended to be a jump-off point for discussions at the tables.
At the Oberhaus, the meeting features extracts from the Critique of Practical Reason, one of the most important works of practical philosophy. In it, Kant develops his theory of moral reasoning. It contains the basic formula according to which one should behave in such a way that the maxim of the will can at all times be regarded as the principle of universal law.
To help participants familiarise themselves with the topic more quickly, the team has brought white beer mats. The participants are asked to write a moral sentence on it that they consider to be indisputable. The older gentleman at the table writes on his: "Always tell the truth!(?)" With the question mark, he wants to express that the truth is not always clear, but is based on subjective judgements. However, if you can distinguish between the truth and a lie for yourself, then you can at least decide for yourself not to lie, interjects student teacher Julia Berner from the PASSAUtonomy team.
Kant's view of human beings
At the next table, participants are discussing how people would behave if critical infrastructure were to fail. One attendee fears murder and manslaughter. Marian Micke counters with the philosophy of Kant. Kant had a very optimistic view of human beings. Reading Kant gives him hope.
Karoline Reinhardt, Professor of Applied Ethics, who co-initiated the project, is also at the table. She is a recognised Kant expert. "Kant's 300th birthday is a great time to reflect on how we want to deal with our philosophical history, what we want to keep from it, what perhaps belongs in the dustbin of history and what is still relevant." The professor is particularly pleased with the students' involvement in the project.
The PASSAUtonomy project is one of the winning teams in this year's university competition as part of the Year of Science on the topic of freedom, which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The competition is a project of Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD) and is supported by the German Rectors' Conference and the German Association of University Communication. In addition to the beer garden events, the student team from the PASSAUtonomy project organised a panel discussion and an exhibition at the university, as well as workshops at schools together with the university group GoverNet.
BMBF project PASSAUtonomy: Rediscovering freedom according to Immanuel Kant
The Passau project PASSAUtonomy is one of the winners of the Science Year 2024 university challenge which has "Freedom" as its theme. It revisits the old idea posited by the philosopher Immanuel Kant – we are free when we are able to give ourselves our own laws.
Upcoming events in Passau in the field of philosophy
Does Passau know Kant now? "I would say definitely better than before our project," says Marie Hirsch, who is managing the project together with Johanna Sinn. "And conversely, Kant would also know Passau better now, because we really talked about topics that affect Passau." For example, about traffic and the question of how much freedom and how much restriction is needed.
The event at Oberhaus was the last for the time being as part of the project. But the philosophising will continue in September: from 2 to 6 September, the Passau Summer School for Applied Ethics (PASSAE) will take place, which is aimed in particular at international students at the University of Passau. From 19 to 20 September, Passau will be the centre of one of the largest German-language philosophy conferences: Professor Reinhardt, together with Professor Birgit Beck from TU Berlin, has brought the conference for practical philosophy from Salzburg to Passau. Registration for participation is still possible.
This text was machine-translated from German.
Professor Karoline Reinhardt
What kind of ethical questions are raised by of social and political transformation?
What kind of ethical questions are raised by of social and political transformation?
Professor Karoline Reinhardt is Junior Professor for Applied Ethics at the University of Passau. Before taking on her position at the University of Passau, she was a PostDoctoral fellow at the Ethics & Philosophy Lab of the DFG Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science” and the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen. Previous to that, she held research and teaching positions at universities in Ankara, Graz, New Orleans, and Munich. She is a member of the Young Academy of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.
