Joachim Kahl

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joachim Kahl in 2009

Joachim Kahl (born May 12, 1941 in Cologne ) is a German philosopher and humanist with a focus on religious criticism , ethics and aesthetics , which he seeks to combine in the concept of secular humanism .

Life

1967 Joachim Kahl at was University of Marburg with the work philosophy and Christology in thinking Friedrich Gogarten to Dr. theol. PhD . Shortly afterwards he left the Protestant Church because his critical engagement with the Christian world of faith had led him to reject Christianity and, moreover, religion in general. He became an atheist and justified this in his book The Misery of Christianity or Plea for Humanity without God (1968).

In his second degree at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main in the subjects of philosophy , sociology and politics , he dealt particularly with the “ critical theory ” of the “ Frankfurt School ”. During this time he became a Marxist . As the " orthodox " Marxist philosopher Hans Heinz Holz to Marburg was appointed, returned Kahl go back and in 1975 with the work of presentation, analysis and critique of the ideological criticism Ernst Topitschs Dr. phil. PhD.

From 1974 to 1984 Kahl held regular seminars on the history of philosophy as a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences at the University of Marburg. At the same time he acted as spokesman for the “Marburg Committee against Professional Bans ” and the “Hessian Committee against Professional Bans” and was involved in the 1970s and 1980s against the radical decree . Kahl saw this as moral courage , necessary to strengthen democracy .

From 1982 to 1990 he was an educational advisor for the former Association for Freedom of the Spirit in Nuremberg (today HVD Bavaria ), a ideological community and cultural organization. From there there were connections to other organizations, namely the Thomas Dehler Foundation and the Society for Critical Philosophy . These influences, but above all the world-historical events of "1989", finally led Kahl to turn away from Marxism, which he said in his book Secular Humanism. A philosophy for our time reflected.

Joachim Kahl lives in Marburg and has been married to special education teacher Anna Margarete Kahl since 1968, with whom he has two children. He is a member of the Humanist Association of Germany .

Conception

As a representative of a classical atheism, which is deeply rooted in the theoretical history of the European Enlightenment, Kahl initially clearly delimited his views from those of the so-called new atheism , as represented by Richard Dawkins , among others :

“Richard Dawkins' book Der Gotteswahn , which I take here as the main example of the new atheism ,… is a characteristic document of the intellectual delusion of Caesars. Caesar madness - according to the historian Ludwig Quidde , who coined the term in 1894 - has two complementary features: triumphalistic self-overestimation and cryptic blindness to reality. "

The overestimation of himself consists in the fact that Dawkins believes that he can use his competence as an evolutionary biologist "to deal with completely unrelated topics in the history of religion, the philosophy of religion, and criticism of religion - with the gesture of the well-read and knowledgeable expert ... reveals Dawkins' wet research." every step of the way, a bottomless ignorance of religion and criticism of religion and reveals a fatal misunderstanding of their historical developments and their complexity. "

Kahl's own position becomes clear when he writes against the new atheism that with the "vulgar sayings of force" Dawkins' and others, atheism is secretly transformed into anti- theism, which disparages religion from above. “What would be necessary, however, is to penetrate them mentally, to explain their historical development and their social function and to enter into a critical and polemical dialogue with their followers. Forget, no: absolutely unknown is [...] the by no means squeamish, but filigree criticism of religion of the German Enlightenment [...] "

This demarcation from Dawkins was preceded by criticisms of Karlheinz Deschner and Michael Schmidt-Salomon .

In an interview for the podcast of the Humanist press service Joachim Kahl praised by leaders of the Giordano Bruno Foundation initiated bus campaign 2009, about two years later than "smart" campaign and "good form of publicity", which he supported.

Fonts

  • Philosophy and Christology in Friedrich Gogarten's Thought. Marburg 1967 (theological dissertation)
  • The misery of Christianity or the plea for humanity without God . Reinbek 1968. ISBN 3-499-11093-8 ; several editions; Translations into English, Japanese, Italian, Dutch. Revised and expanded new edition in 1993 and 2014
  • Presentation, analysis and criticism of Ernst Topitsch 's 'Weltanschauung criticism' . A philosophical study of the relationship between positivism and conservatism. Marburg 1975 (philosophical dissertation); Book edition under the title Positivism as Conservatism - A Philosophical Study on the Structure and Function of the Positivist Way of Thinking Using the Example of Ernst Topitsch. Cologne, Pahl-Rugenstein, 1976
  • Why I am an atheist , in: Karlheinz Deschner (Ed.): Why I am a Christian / Atheist / Agnostic. Cologne, Kiepenheuer and Witsch, 1977
  • Etty, Peter and Silvia Gingold. Portrait of a family. A picture book about German conditions , ed. by Joachim Kahl and others. Cologne, Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag, 1978
  • Free thinkers. Past and present , ed. by Joachim Kahl and Erich Wernig. Cologne, Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag, 1981
  • The rock of atheism. Epicurus and Georg Büchner's Critique of Theodicy . In: Georg-Büchner-Jahrbuch 2/1982, Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main, 1983
  • The other Christmas book , ed. by Joachim Kahl and Peter Schütt. Weltkreis Verlag, Dortmund, 1983
  • Secular humanism. A philosophy for our time . LIT-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8258-8511-9 .
  • Current atheism debates. A structuring overview , in: Information Philosophy, March 2010, Lörrach

literature

  • Jens Marten Lohse (Ed.): To be human - with or without God? , Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart Berlin Cologne Mainz, 1969. Here: earliest reaction from the theological side to Kahl's “Elend des Christianentums” with a long contribution by Wolfgang Huber , who later became chairman of the EKD
  • Helmut Groos: Christian Faith and Intellectual Conscience. Criticism of Christianity at the end of the second millennium , JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck) Verlag, Tübingen, 1987, ISBN 3-16-145245-3
  • Finngeir Hiorth: Atheism - looked at closely. An introduction , Angelika Lenz Verlag Neustadt, 1995, ISBN 3-9802799-7-9
  • Horst Groschopp (Ed.): Atheism and Humanism. Issue 17 of humanismus aktuell. Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-937265-05-8 . Here: various essays on the criticism of Kahl's book “Weltlicher Humanismus”, among others by Frieder Otto Wolf , Peter Schulz-Hageleit, with a replica by Kahl.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.hvd-bayern.de
  2. ↑ Interview with the Humanist Press Service. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  3. ^ RDF-Talk: Joachim Kahl: Classic atheism, new atheism . Bremen, June 8, 2018
  4. ↑ Joachim Kahl: Neither God delusion nor atheism delusion. A critique of the “new atheism” from the perspective of the “old atheism” . In: EZW -tex No. 204/2009, pp. 5–18, here 5 f.
  5. ^ Deschner's aphorisms. A criticism of their image of man as well as their understanding of society and history, in: "Enlightenment is nuisance ..." Karlheinz Deschner Life - Work - Effect, ed. by Hermann Gieselbusch and Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Alibri Verlag, Aschaffenburg, 2006. ISBN 3-86569-003-3 . In the same volume a critical response to Kahl by Gabriele Röwer under the title Where is the positive, Mr. Deschner? Open letter to Joachim Kahl.
  6. ↑ What does humanism mean today? A dispute between Joachim Kahl and Michael Schmidt-Salomon, ed. by Helmut Fink. Alibri Verlag Aschaffenburg, 2007. ISBN 978-3-86569-035-7 .
  7. ↑ Interview with the Humanist Press Service. Retrieved March 11, 2012.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kahl, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German critic of religion
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne