Leibniz wasn't a shortbread biscuit
Leibniz wasn't a shortbread biscuit. On the trail of big and small questions of philosophy. is a non-fiction book by the German philosopher Michael Schmidt-Salomon and his daughter Lea Salomonpublished by Piper Verlag in2011. In the work, the philosophical questions generally considered to be “great” are dealt with in dialogue form.
content
The 288-page work is based on the Platonic form of dialogic dialectics. Leibniz was not a butter biscuit is divided into three parts. The first part explores the question of a meaning in life. In addition, the epistemological questions What can we know? and are things as they appear to us? posed. Linked to the question of whether a God exists, which the work tends to deny, is the question of transience and life after death.
The second part is devoted to possible ways to achieve personal happiness, especially hedonism . Furthermore, the subjects of reason and pride are dealt with.
The third part poses the moral question of whether it is legitimate to kill people. At the same time, Schmidt-Salomon, as the answerer to his daughter's questions, gives a hopeful look to the future, to which his subsequent work Hope Man is linked.
criticism
The biggest criticism of the work was the many filler words and insights into the private life of the authors. Hugo Gephard wrote on February 16, 2011 for diesseits.de : “ This present [philosophical journey] has its weaknesses, especially the tone of the introduction, which takes some getting used to, which reminds of an intra-family talk show in the philosophical dialogue of father with its style blossoms and empty interjections and daughter appears again and again. “ Markus C. Schulte von Drach made a similar statement on April 8, 2011 for the Süddeutsche Zeitung :“ The fact that you learn more about the philosopher's private life than you would like to know may be just as annoying to some as the frequently interspersed filler words like 'Uh. .. 'or' Hey '. “But Schulte von Drach also came to the conclusion that readers who find this annoying should“ then just make their way to the library ”. Another point of Gephard's criticism was the lack of an appendix: “ No comments, no register, no references. Instead, a picture of the father and daughter with a reference to the website for the book, where it can be found. Dear publisher, if we allow ourselves the luxury of thinking about the meaning or nonsense of life with the help of your books, please allow yourself and us the luxury of printing everything that belongs to a book to be taken seriously! “In general, however, both authors rated the work positively. Schulte von Drach wrote: “His daughter, who says she lacks this background, asks many important and correct questions. But of course she cannot question her father's answers as extensively as philosophers and theologians would.
But it is the duty of Schmidt-Salomon's critics themselves to contrast their worldview with that of Schmidt-Salomon in an understandable and understandable way. [...] Whoever wants to understand how and why one comes to such convictions as his own, he makes it easy for him by letting the reader overhear him in conversations with his daughter, so to speak . " Gephard expressed his praise as follows From: “How people find the meaning of life, whether the existence of a god is probable or to what extent the killing of mammals is ethically justifiable, such questions are discussed in an entertaining and structured manner. The unconventional, provocative type of argumentation known from other publications by Schmidt-Salomon is also not lacking; just as he is not afraid to incorporate his humanistic attitude and his naturalistic worldview. "
For religious media, the humanistic tenor of the work was particularly a point of criticism. This is illustrated by the example of the Catholic Borromeo Association: " The desire to read this thoroughly entertaining conversation is spoiled for the Christian-oriented contemporary, however, by a consistently anti-religious element that does not shy away from beautiful-sounding phrases [...]. Therefore not suitable for Catholic library work. "
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c Hugo Gephard: Philosophical nibbles. (Review) In: diesseits.de. February 16, accessed October 18, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Markus C. Schulte von Drach : About beautiful sex in a meaningful life. (Review) Explanations with flowers and bees are no longer enough when your own offspring is asking the big questions in life. For the philosopher Michael Schmidt-Salomon there is only one way out in his book "Leibniz Was Not a Butter Biscuit": Do it like Plato. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. April 8, 2011, accessed October 18, 2015 .
- ↑ Stefan Raueiser: Leibniz was not a butter biscuit. (Review) In: Borromäusverein. 2011, accessed October 18, 2015 .