Heiner Roetz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heiner Roetz (born January 7, 1950 in Winterberg ) is a German sinologist . He is professor for the history and philosophy of China at the Ruhr University Bochum . Roetz was temporarily dean of the Faculty for East Asian Studies and from 2000 to 2003 chairman of the German Association for Chinese Studies e. V. (DVCS) . From 2002 to 2006 he was spokesman for the DFG research group on cross- cultural bioethics .

Life

After studying Sinology and Philosophy at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, he received his doctorate in 1983 and qualified as a professor in 1990 in Sinology. His research interests are: Chinese ethics , Chinese religious history, history of Confucianism , Chinese culture and human rights , tradition and modernity in China. Roetz refers to the discourse ethics of Karl-Otto Apels and represents - as a minority position among the German sinologists - an understanding of his science, according to which sinological topics are to be negotiated not only internally but also publicly, including those that are politically relevant.

On the occasion of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo in December 2010, Roetz was the only German sinologist to organize a panel discussion on the circumstances of the award and human rights violations in the People's Republic of China. He deals with Liu Xiaobo's ideas on democracy and human rights, which are based on the European intellectual history of the 18th and 19th centuries - Liu rejects the appeal to Chinese traditions - and proposes that Confucius and his students already have some of these Have anticipated ideas and therefore the human rights discourse is partially compatible with genuine Chinese historical ideas. Also in other Chinese philosophical traditions, such as Mo Di in the 5th century BC. Chr., Who emphasized the "primacy of the better argument", such tendencies can be found according to Roetz. He opposes the newer culturalist conceptions in the humanities and social sciences - also and especially in sinology - which explicitly deny the universal meaning of democracy and human rights due to irreconcilable historical and cultural differences and criticizes the growing influence of the People's Republic of China on the Western world Sinology.

At the beginning of April 2011, Roetz again took a critical look at the official policy of the PR China and the reaction of German institutions to it. The artist and dissident Ai Weiwei was arrested on April 3, 2011 and taken to a previously unknown location. At the same time, three German museums organized the exhibition The Art of Enlightenment in Beijing. In his article China, Ai Weiwei and the Enlightenment. Roetz writes the critique of pure anti-reason , referring to the German enlightenmentists Immanuel Kant and Christian Wolff :

“Demanding freedom of judgment was not only a dangerous undertaking in 18th century Prussia; it is also in China today. The anciens regimes here and there fear the "emancipation of the spirit from the institutions", as Madame de Staël put it succinctly in the Enlightenment. It creates an uncomfortable connection for the rulers of China that the Tiananmen movement also saw itself as a «new enlightenment». "

Roetz talks about the universal scholar Wolff, who, based on Confucius, postulated that humans have a natural reason so that their actions are moral and do not conform to the needs of the authorities. The Bochum sinologist relates this statement to the Chinese situation and sums up:

“Expressions of walking upright can be found in many parts of the Confucian canon. You were already suspected of self-loving eccentricity by the power apologists of ancient China. "

According to Roetz, Ai Weiwei is also accused of being a solitary outsider. The current reference to Confucius is only a “facade”. He considers “Confucianism and Enlightenment” to be “a good alternative”.

At the end of May 2011, Heiner Roetz organized a panel discussion at the University of Bochum on human rights in China using the example of Ai Weiwei.

Publications (selection)

  • Man and nature in ancient China. On the subject-object contrast in classical Chinese philosophy. At the same time a criticism of the cliché of Chinese universism. Peter Lang, Frankfurt 1984
  • The Chinese Ethics of the Axial Age . A reconstruction of the breakthrough to post-conventional thinking. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1992
    • In English: Confucian Ethics of the Axial Age. State University of New York Press, Albany 1994
  • Confucius. Row: "Thinkers". Beck, Munich 1995. 3rd edition 2006
  • Hermeneutics of East Asian Studies. Introduction to the thematic focus. In: Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung , Volume 26, 2002
  • Philology and the public. Considerations on sinological hermeneutics. In: Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung , Volume 26, 2002, pp. 89–111
  • Classical Chinese philosophy . An introduction. Together with Hubert Schleichert . Klostermann, Frankfurt / M. 2009

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Association for Chinese Studies
  2. ↑ Cross-cultural bioethics , DFG project
  3. ↑ see for example: Confucius and the dignity of man . In: Die Zeit , No. 47/1996, Debate on Human Rights in China
  4. ^ Heiner Roetz: Philology and the public. Considerations on sinological hermeneutics. In: Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung , Volume 26, 2002, p. 89
  5. ↑ Kai Strittmatter. The China opposition . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 10, 2010, p. 15
  6. ↑ Heiner Roetz: With Confucius for Democracy ; as a PDF file. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , December 11, 2010
  7. ↑ Heiner Roetz: All people are equal. Except the Chinese. Are Human Rights Universal? On the debate about the Nobel Peace Prize and culturalism. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 17, 2010
  8. ↑ a b c Heiner Roetz: China, Ai Weiwei and the Enlightenment . The criticism of pure anti-reason .] In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 8, 2011
  9. ↑ Tom Thelen: Sinology. Where's Ai Weiwei? Human rights and China. In: DerWesten.de . May 17, 2011, accessed on April 9, 2015 (The chairwoman of the independent Chinese PEN center Tienchi Martin Liao (Washington) spoke on the subject of moral courage versus state violence . The art historian Tania Becker gave an introduction to Ai's artistic work and the importance of Political scientist Max Zellmer examined the Internet in China).
personal data
SURNAME Roetz, Heiner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sinologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Winterberg