character

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Under character refers to traditional - starting from the Aristotelian ethics - and again in modern psychology those personal skills that the conditions for a moral form behavior.

In a second line of tradition, rooted in ancient natural philosophy , the character of a person is also understood to include his temperament or his conspicuous behavioral habits.

Concept history

Greek antiquity

The word goes back to ancient Greek χαρακτήρ charaktér and originally means “ stamp ”, “embossing”, and in a figurative sense also “ individuality ”. Galen's temperament theory , which was based on the Hippocratic humoral pathology , distinguished between melancholic , choleric , sanguine, and phlegmatic character types (often also referred to as temperaments) in the hope of being able to draw conclusions about the treatment of diseases. This teaching inspired many later doctrines of temperament, but has been questioned again and again and has been considered completely out of date since Rudolf Virchow helped cellular pathology to break through in the 19th century .

Aristotle developed a far more modern character concept in the 4th century BC. In his Nicomachean Ethics . Aristotle states that in order to live well and happily man must have virtues ( aretai ). He distinguishes between intellectual virtues, which are acquired through instruction, and character or ethical virtues ( aretai ēthikai ), which the human being acquires through practice and habit . Among the latter he counts - in addition to the three platonic cardinal virtues bravery , prudence and justice - among other things generosity , high disposition and truthfulness. Humans are not born with such moral abilities (ethical competence ), but they bring with them the ability to develop them. For Aristotle, the cultivation of character (ἕξις, hexis ) is a lengthy process of moral practice and familiarization. The ideal framework for this is provided by the polis , which, with its systems of rules, guarantee that the individual is not only taught, but also accustomed to uniform virtuous behavior.

Judaism, Islam and Christianity

The concept of character as a moral variable has always been of central importance in Judaism . In the Talmud, character is understood as the sum of godly behavior patterns. Maimonides , who reinterpreted rabbinical teachings in the light of Aristotelian ethics in the 12th century, taught that man acquires good character traits by habitually acting well, with an act being good when it avoids the extremes and is "just right" . Before Maimonides, Solomon ibn Gabirol and Bachja ibn Pakuda had already contributed to the Jewish character concept. The Aggada after also studying and collecting wisdom only serves to improve the character.

A character conception influenced by Aristotelian ethics can also be found in Islam , for example in Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri († 992) and Ebn Meskavayh (932-1030), whose writings Tahḏib al-aḵlāq wa-taṭhir al-aʿrāq and Tartib al-Sa'adat are essentially summaries of the Aristotelian tradition.

In the 10th century, Yahya ibn Adi († 974), a Baghdad- based philosopher who crossed the border between Christianity and Islam, absorbed the Aristotelian considerations for his Tahdhib Al-Akhlaq .

In Christianity , generally summarized, a middle way between good and evil is not seen as sufficient in the case of respective human decisions in order to be regarded as “righteous” before God in order to ultimately move into eternal life as such in “glorified form” (cf. also ). Peter describes the way to good people and to the grace of God by saying in ( 1 Pet 4.19  EU ) that people should do good and thereby “commit” their lives to the faithful Creator. Therefore, a "good man" is such acts, the "primary" from the love of God forth motivated are especially good deeds, which he, according to an internal conflict with a sinful need from the instincts of nature (see, for.. B. ( 1 Petr 3,12  EU ), ( 2 Tim 2,22  EU ), ( Lk 14,12-14  EU )). A concept of character as a representation of virtues within man also appears very early in Christian ethics . Augustine (354-430) already understood the moral character of man as an expression of life in the Holy Spirit and as a prerequisite for eternal life (after death), in union and resemblance to God (cf. also). In this regard, he criticized the Aristotelian virtue canon - virtutes as self-control, he described why, if they are not out targeted solely to bring people closer to God, as a vice - and let alone Christian humility ( humilitas ) and love ( caritas as are salutary) ( see also ). Thomas Aquinas (around 1225–1274), who also based his doctrine of virtue on that of Aristotle, speaks of the " habitus " of people who habitually choose either good or bad actions, whereby as a theologian he is particularly interested in human free will . For Luther , the idea that un virtuous people can acquire a virtuous habitus for themselves through repeated good deeds contradicts the gospel , which proclaims that such a person must first experience God's forgiveness in repentance or conversion through the grace of God and - before he enters the kingdom of heaven can see - be redeemed from his sins (cf. also). (1 Petr 4,19 EU)

France

The word "character" only came to the German-speaking world in the 17th century, namely via France , where Montaigne , for example, had already used the expression in the 16th century. The caractère then played a central role in Rousseau's moral and educational philosophy , who warns against devoting more attention to the child's mind than to his mind and character, and recommends hardening this character against the accidents of life as well as the body.

German Enlightenment and German Idealism

Kant defined character as the "practical, consistent way of thinking according to unchangeable maxims" . Rousseau had a strong influence on Johann Heinrich Campe , who also placed the character formation of the child at the center of his educational philosophy. In the moral literature of the Enlightenment , the term experienced a psychologization and secularization overall ; it was redefined as the sum of personality traits , among which one stands out and determines character. Concise examples of this concept can be found in the satires of Gottlieb Wilhelm Rabener and in Christian Fürchtegott Gellert's moral lectures . In the music, the form of the character piece appeared in parallel . In 1795, Friedrich Schiller suggested refining the character through aesthetic education . The character formation, which in addition to Schiller u. a. also demanded by Goethe and Wilhelm von Humboldt and whose ideal in Germany is the artist type , becomes at the end of the 18th century an alternative to bourgeois utilitarianism.

19th century characterology

In the 19th century - led in Germany by the philosopher Julius Bahnsen - a character study arose which again attempted a psychological typology of character forms.

20th century

In the 1930s, the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm made a distinction between an individual character and a social character or social character, the latter denoting the socially significant core structure of the personalities who belong to a certain society. As examples he cites an oral-receptive, a narcissistic, a conformist, a marketing and a necrophilically destructive character. His concept of an authoritarian character , with which Fromm described a certain pattern of social attitudes and personality traits that make fascist ideologies particularly susceptible , gained even greater influence . Theodor W. Adorno and others later developed their theory of the authoritarian personality on this basis . Robert Havighurst and Robert F. Peck put the development of character on an empirical basis in developmental psychology .

present

In the 1990s, the term “character” returned to the scientific discourse. The social theorist Amitai Etzioni defined in 1993 as follows:

"By 'character' we mean the psychological muscles that allow a person to control impulses and postpone rewards, which are fundamental to success, performance and moral action."

- Amitai Etzioni

Political scientist James Q. Wilson defined in 1991 that a good character is comprised of at least two things: empathy and self-control . In this sense, the term was soon taken up by positive psychology , which considers character to be the variable that has the strongest influence on whether people - psychologically speaking - lead a good life. Inspired by the insights of researchers such as Martin Seligman and Mihály Csíkszentmihályi as well as by the research of Albert Bandura , Howard Gardner and the concept of emotional intelligence , approaches to character education emerged again in the USA at the end of the 20th century . A second line of tradition, whose representatives particularly focus on character education in schools, is based on Lawrence Kohlberg 's theory of moral development, founded in 1958, and leads a.o. a. about Thomas Lickona's teacher training programs .

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Character  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikiquote: Character  Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anja Ansorg: ABC des Glaubens , Münster: Edition Octopus, 2nd edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-86582-388-5 , p. 13
  2. ↑ Nicomachean Ethics ; Otto Willmann: History of Idealism , Braunschweig: Vieweg and Son, 1907, p. 522
  3. ^ Otfried Höffe: Aristoteles' Politische Anthropologie , pp. 21–35, in: Otfried Höffe (ed.): Aristoteles , Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-05-003575-7 , p. 29; Hava Tirosh-Samuelson: Happiness in Premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being , Hebrew Union College Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87820-453-9 , p. 24
  4. ^ Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser: The Wisdom of the Talmud , New York: Philosophical Library, 1951
  5. ↑ Hilchot De'ot 1: 7; Hava Tirosh-Samuelson: Happiness in Premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being , Hebrew Union College Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87820-453-9 , p. 234
  6. ↑ Hava Tirosh-Samuelson: Happiness in premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being , Hebrew Union College Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87820-453-9 , S. 234, S. 144f
  7. ^ Hayim Zalman Dimitrovsky: Exploring the Talmud , Volume 1, New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1976, ISBN 0-87068-254-7
  8. ↑ Hava Tirosh-Samuelson: Happiness in premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being , Hebrew Union College Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87820-453-9 , p 234, p 151
  9. ↑ Hava Tirosh-Samuelson: Happiness in premodern Judaism: Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being , Hebrew Union College Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87820-453-9 , p 234, p 151; Tahdhib Al-Akhlaq
  10. ↑ Josef Mausbach: The Ethics of Saint Augustine , Volume 1: The moral order and its foundations , Hamburg: Severus, 2010, ISBN 978-3-942382-71-7 , p. 380f
  11. ^ Christian Tornau: Between rhetoric and philosophy , Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2006, ISBN 3-11-019130-X , p. 144f
  12. ↑ Martin Rhonheimer: The perspective of morality. Philosophical foundations of virtue ethics , Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-05-003629-X , p. 177; Ludwig Hödl: Philosophical Ethics and Moral Theology in the Summa Fr. Thomae , p. 36f, in: Albert Zimmermann (Ed.): Thomas von Aquin: Work and Effect in the Light of Recent Research , Walter de Berlin: Gruyter, 1987, ISBN 3-11-011179-9 , pp. 23‒42
  13. ↑ Luca Baschera: Virtue and Justification. Peter Martyr Vermigli's commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics in the field of tension between philosophy and theology , Theologischer Verlag Zurich, 2008, ISBN 978-3-290-17506-1 , p. 123
  14. ↑ See Anja Ansorg: ABC des Glaubens , Münster: Edition Octopus, 2nd edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-86582-388-5 , p. 13; Michel de Montaigne: The human being generally has an indefinite character
  15. ^ Joseph R. Reisert: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: A Friend of Virtue , Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2003; Otto Hänssel: The influence of Rousseau on the philosophical-pedagogical views of Herder (doctoral thesis), Dresden: Bleyl and Kaemmerer, 1902, pp. 17, 29
  16. ↑ Critique of Practical Reason , Part 2, II 192; Rudolf Eisler: Kant Lexicon , 1930
  17. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Hartmann: Jean-Jacques Rousseau's influence on Joachim Heinrich Campe (doctoral thesis), Neuchâtel / West Prussia, 1904, p. 103
  18. ^ Friedrich Maurer, Heinz Rupp: Deutsche Wortgeschichte , Volume 2, Berlin: De Gruyter, 1974, ISBN 3-11-003619-3 , p. 48
  19. ↑ Friedrich Schiller: About the aesthetic education of man
  20. ↑ Hans-Georg Pott: Pragmatic Anthropology with Kant, Schiller and Wilhelm von Humboldt , p. 212, in: Hans Feger, Hans Richard Brittnacher (Ed .: The Reality of Idealists: Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Alexander von Humboldt ), Cologne: Böhlau, 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20148-7 , pp. 203-213
  21. ^ Robert F. Peck, Robert James Havighurst, Ruth Cooper: The Psychology of Character Development . Wiley, 1960 ( google.de [accessed August 13, 2020]).
  22. ↑ Amitai Etzioni: The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society , Touchstone, 1993, ISBN 0-671-88524-3 , p. 91; see. Amitai Etzioni et al. a .: Character Building of a Democratic, Civil Society , Washington, DC: The Communitarian Network, 1994
  23. ↑ James Q. Wilson: On Character, p. 5
  24. ↑ Martin Seligman, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi: Positive Psychology: An Introduction , American Psychologist , Volume 55, Issue 1, January 2000, pp. 5-14; Christopher Peterson, Willibald Ruch, Ursula Beermann, Nansook Park, Martin Seligman: Strengths of character, orientations to happiness, and life satisfaction , The Journal of Positive Psychology, Volume 2, Issue 3, 2007, pp. 149–156