Norbert Bolz

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Norbert W. Bolz (born April 17, 1953 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein ) is a German media and communication theorist and design scientist . Until his retirement in 2018, he taught as a professor for media studies at the TU Berlin .

Life

Bolz, son of the chemical engineer Werner Bolz and his wife Gertrud, b. Obergfell, passed the Abitur at the Max-Planck-Gymnasium in Ludwigshafen and studied philosophy , German , English and religious studies in Mannheim , Heidelberg and Berlin . He received his doctorate from Wolfgang Hübener and Anke Bennholdt-Thomsen as a second reviewer on Adorno's aesthetics . Norbert Bolz was assistant to the religious philosopher Jacob Taubes . After his death in 1987, Bolz received his habilitation with his thesis "Philosophical Extremism Between the World Wars" . Until 1992 he was a lecturer at the Free University of Berlin .

From 1992 to 2002, Bolz was Professor of Communication Theory at the Institute for Art and Design Studies at the University of Essen with a focus on media theory , communication theory and design science .

From 2002 until his retirement in July 2018, Norbert Bolz was Professor at the Technical University of Berlin , Institute for Language and Communication, Department of Media Studies / Media Consulting.

Research priorities and positions

The main aspect of his publications are the changes in modern society through phenomena of mass society , through the media and an expanding welfare state . He notes an increasing uncertainty in postmodernism .

“What we call modernity - that is, the period between the European Enlightenment and the First World War - overloaded us with idealistic impositions and lured us with humanistic ideals. That is why we have an ambivalent attitude towards modernity today: it is both a utopia and a nightmare. That is why it is so difficult for us to enter a new era with confidence. We have a weaning trauma of the ended modern age. "

Bolz is generally positive about the openness of the market economy , criticizes the " tabooing " of conservative views through the phenomenon of political correctness and calls for greater responsibility for the individual.

“The welfare state doesn't expect you to do something for your life - and the media document that you can't do anything for your life. At the same time everyone knows that they can rely on the humanity of our society, which enables them - at least materially - to lead a reasonably decent life. In this respect, the welfare state turns those affected, who should be its profiteers, into its actual victims. "

"In the public formatted by the mass media , criticism has been replaced by moralization: between the poles of praise and criticism, reflection is saved, in feature sections and talk shows there has long been no discussion, but only emotionalized."

Bolz is called a neoliberal scientist by some social scientists. Robin Meyer-Lucht rated some essays as "bundles full of buzzwords ... that helplessly struggle for meaning", while Rüdiger Safranski in a laudatory speech considers his works to be "elegantly formulated, precise and decisive". He is an important " philosophical diagnostician of the present day."

Media theory

The “theory of the new media” (1990) developed by Bolz ties in with the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche , Walter Benjamin and Marshall McLuhan . Bolz's position builds on Friedrich Kittler's ideas. In this book, Bolz deals with the fact that the book is being replaced by the computer as the leading medium in society. The “ Gutenberg galaxy ” (McLuhan) has become “ cyberspace ”. The information is no longer bound to a physical carrier and is thus dehumanized. The code in which the information is transmitted is no longer directly accessible to humans, as was the case with books. Humans need a device as an interface for information. The information previously available locally would become networks with global reach. This began with the telegraph and radio and expanded with television. Until then, the mass media had been distribution media in which the consumer had received the information passively. If the Internet also allows activity by the user, especially in user-generated content such as the Wikipedia Internet dictionary, opportunities for cooperation and self-expression would arise.

Media like the image, according to Bolz, are not only ways of knowledge, but also instruments of knowledge when used accordingly, for example enlargement or repetition. They partly change the perception of time and even replace experience and memory. "Seeing far away" becomes a human organ.

In a dispute with Julian Nida-Rümelin in 1998, Bolz put forward the thesis that, in the face of the new media, the notion of truth that has been common since Plato is faltering because it is increasingly difficult to differentiate between illusion and reality. Reality is increasingly becoming a universal, impenetrable and impenetrable complex of projections. The new media lead to a reality that can no longer be met with critical distance. Every critical reflection on this fact is already part of this reality. Bolz's opinion, associated with this, that philosophy loses its function with this new reality is countered by the fact that philosophy with the concept of immanence philosophy had long since given an answer to this in Nietzsche , Foucault or Deleuze . Kurt Röttgers counters Bolz: “And that human knowledge always has problems with the distinction between existence and appearance has been known since Plato. Since Kant's renunciation of the knowledge of the thing-in-itself , the mediality of all knowledge has become the opinionio communis. [...] Knowledge of reality with a claim to truth does not primarily characterize philosophy, but the enterprise of science as a whole [reference to: N. Luhmann: The science of society. Frankfurt a. M. 1990], including Bolz's media studies. "

The flood of information can only be mastered through selection. In this context, brevity and conciseness, the sensation, play a decisive role, through which information is shortened and accelerated. Media hypes of particular intensity arise , which quickly evaporate. According to Bolz, living with the catastrophe conveyed by the media leads to a pessimistic worldview that contradicts realities and, as a liberation, to an urgent desire for sustainability . Bolz sees a solution in personal responsibility and entrepreneurship.

Regarding the book ABC der Medien (2007), Jürgen Kaube said in the FAZ “So nowhere do you find facts that have been thought through, but only academic melodies that are played. Bolz is renowned for having cool insights, which he chose not because of the insight but because of the coolness. "

Media as a substitute for religion

In the book The Knowledge of Religion. Considerations of a religiously unmusical (2008), Bolz advocates the thesis: “Atheists can negate the answers of faith, but not the questions.” Bolz says: “Perhaps religion is no longer the answer to the question of meaning, but only that Assumption that the question makes sense. One could say: religion keeps the wound of meaning open. ”(P. 11) He regards communication as a substitute for religion :

“Media offer substitutes for omniscience and omnipresence. Communication as religion takes the place of religious communication today. Total cabling, the entanglement in the electronic network, the uninhibited view becomes a profane variant of the religio - and that means: recognizing the connection. In networking to form an integral media network, we have succeeded in achieving a stable reshuffle in Transcendence . Today the divine is the network. And religion works as an endless loop. "

The cause is increasing secularization and growing atheism in modern society. Since society, according to Bolz, needed a religious foundation for its functioning, people looked for topics that served as a substitute religion from which they could draw consolation and meaning. In this sense, the environmental protection movement is the most powerful movement that has taken on this function. The cause is the threats that formerly came from the atomic bomb, then from nuclear energy and, more recently, from global warming. The fears triggered by this would be spread through the media and the alternative movements aroused the hope that the threats, some of which were only perceived irrationally, could be avoided.

Even clergymen these days only talk about values ​​rather than dogmas of faith. According to Bolz, there are no values ​​in the Bible. “You love humanity in order to be able to suppress God. And here the Christian doctrine of the Antichrist gains a scandalous topicality. ”According to Bolz, the Antichrist can be recognized by his rhetoric of security and peace. The “do- gooders ” spread by the Antichrist is only a masking of bad qualities. In his book The Knowledge of Religion , he gives three examples:

  • “Social justice” is the mask of envy.
  • “Teamwork” is the mask of hatred for the successful.
  • “Dialogue of Cultures” is the mask of intellectual surrender to foreign cultures.

By using a metaphor by Max Weber to describe himself as “religiously unmusical”, Bolz emphasizes that he does not represent atheism, since he considers it to be just as implausible as a pure position of unbelief .

Consumerism

In the book Die Wirtschaft des Invisbaren (1999), Bolz states that in future the focus will no longer be on the physical product, but on service and commitment, trends and events, brands and myths. The decisive productive forces are knowledge, communication, spirituality and design. The post-capitalist society is becoming a knowledge society and a multimedia society. Design as an instrument for reducing complexity takes the place of religion in order to convey security and world trust.

His consumerist manifesto (2002) is an examination of consumerism . Bolz states: “I consider consumerism to be an incredibly primitive way of life. Compared to religious fundamentalism, I consider it to be the lesser evil. ”Based on Walter Benjamin, he regards capitalism as a substitute for religion. It becomes a neo-pagan cult religion in which every day becomes a festival of commodity fetishism . However, a fundamental rejection seems all too easy to him. The emotional attachment to wealth makes consumerism an immune system of world society against fanatical ideologies . Consumption provides recognition and the satisfaction of needs that are not possible from an abstract legal system or from war. Goods provided "spiritual added value". Beyond aesthetics, they offer freedom, security, health, individuality, love and meaning. Bolz believes it is possible that value differences between cultures can be overcome through consumption.

In a critical consideration of the time , Jörg Lau points out that Bolz is considered by some colleagues as a “cynical zeitgeist philosopher”, “who likes to mouth a little too full. He is not entirely innocent of this reputation. In his many books and articles, the end (of the Enlightenment, philosophy, art, man and other great things) is often proclaimed, and time and again a new age (of the computer, digitization, robot, simulation) begins . "

Criticism of the dissolution of the family

In an article in the FAZ on February 22, 2003, Bolz speaks out against the work of women and, in his opinion, divorce that is too easy with reference to the economist Gary S. Becker . A vicious circle arises that is triggered by the decision of women to take up gainful employment: When women work, children become more expensive because they cost valuable working time. As a result, fewer children are born and the married couple's common “capital” shrinks. Therefore, divorces are becoming easier and more marriages are divorcing. But then women have to work because they can no longer rely on the resources of their men. The state supports this vicious circle through divorce law and the promotion of childcare. The relationship between the single mother and the “ father state ” has taken the place of family relationships .

In his work Die Helden der Familie (2006), Bolz criticizes the welfare state , the new hedonism of self-fulfillment and child hostility disguised as political correctness . There is a growing gap between parents and childless people, at the end of which he sees the abolition of the intergenerational contract and the stability of pensions. For Bolz, there is also a danger of this in the alleged social trend of homosexualization , which cannot be countered because of the taboos on “political correctness”: “It is not homosexuals who are sick, but those who condemn homosexuality. Of course, no sensible person believes in that, but you can't say it ”.

Barbara Vinken called this conception a “Protestant pedagogy, original German mother policy”. Albrecht von Lucke presented Bolz with cultural cynicism in his Frankfurter Hefte, which one should be careful of.

Anti-egalitarianism

In his more recent writings ( Discourse on Inequality: An Anti-Rousseau and Profit for All - Rethinking Social Justice , both 2009) Bolz deals with the question of social justice . For him, this topic is characterized by the tension between freedom and equality. He criticizes the fact that the debates of the present are brought to a head on the contrast between rich and poor and that this is linked to the demand for greater redistribution. However, this leads to the restriction of freedom, as Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out. However, an egalitarian society cannot resolve social conflicts; this has to be done through individual participation in society. People are not the same and therefore they cannot realize themselves in the same way. Therefore, one can only meaningfully demand equality of opportunities, not equality of results.

In a review, Wolfgang Kersting criticizes the discourse on inequality as a largely argument-free slip box that aims too much at the zeitgeist.

In the field of education, Bolz relies on more traditional content. No special training is required with regard to new media. The necessary skills in this area would be easily acquired by students without lessons. The overwhelming demands of the teachers lie more in the demands of the parents than in the school. He considers the parents' right of participation in schools to be rather harmful. With regard to performance, Bolz believes that a stronger selection makes sense. Better performance would be encouraged when parents took more care of their children. For Bolz, the focus on team spirit is the greatest enemy of excellence and ingenuity.

Public performances

watch TV

Bolz appeared in programs such as Das Philosophische Quartett , Nachtstudio and Kulturzeit . In Menschen bei Maischberger (May 23, 2006) he argued for a clear division of labor between men and women. In the TV show Anne Will on November 1, 2009, Bolz pleaded for a strengthening of the rule of law, through which he sees the freedom of the individual protected. Bolz objected to the welfare state equality demand, which he perceived as excessive, and a statist redistribution policy:

“There are two poles in our society that support us, this wonderful system of success in the Federal Republic: First, there is the social mandate, the welfare state mandate. And that is the rule of law that protects individual freedom - especially against the state. When the two are in balance, everything is wonderful - and our founding fathers actually managed to achieve this balance for a long time, and that's where we have to go back. But that also means that we must under no circumstances sacrifice freedom in favor of equality, i.e. egalitarian measures (...) The problem we have is that there are more and more people who want to substitute equality of results for equality. And that is, however, radically unjust ... ".

In particular, he criticized the common “social democratic” metaphor of “strong shoulders”, which should be exposed to greater stress within the framework of the welfare state ideology; it is a mistake to believe that one can strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. In the program Anne Will on September 5, 2010 about the theses Thilo Sarrazin in Germany abolishes and the public debate about it, Bolz said that politicians live in a parallel society and do not take people seriously. He interpreted Sarrazin's work as a sign of a new openness, since "the citizens" no longer allow themselves to be forbidden, neither by politicians nor by "particularly arrogant new Jacobins , also in the feature pages". In 2011, Norbert Bolz was interviewed by Jason Barkers in his cultural documentary, Marx Reloaded .

Bolz has repeatedly accused the state of unjustified and harmful paternalism . His thesis is that society is drifting into a “paternalistic state”. He applied this thesis to the discussion of the question of political correctness in the published media. In the Peter Hahne program broadcast on May 1, 2017 , Bolz expressed himself in a controversial discussion with Uwe-Karsten Heye on media criticism in Germany. When asked by the moderator Peter Hahne whether people would be right if they said they no longer believe the media, he replied: “There are good reasons to say that, and it's not because the media would lie - lying press is actually a really inapplicable shortening - I would almost like to say that it is much worse. They keep silent, they do not do what is actually expected of them - namely to educate people about reality and they do that ... out of a misunderstood consideration and obviously the feeling that one cannot expect the truth from the Germans, they react wrongly to that True, and therefore we have to package it and formulate it carefully. ”The fact that“ the citizens are sold as stupid or simply regarded as stupid, incapable of dealing with the truth, is an incredible arrogance emanating from certain elites. ”

Journalism

Bolz is a guest author on the Axis of the Good . He is a regular author of the liberal debate magazine Swiss Month and the SWR2 . In 2017 he presented his book Back to Luther in the Library of Conservatism .

Social media

Bolz has been active on Twitter since 2012 . Under the motto “The truth in one sentence” he publishes conservative aphorisms on current affairs. Due to his criticism of Angela Merkel's migration policy, among other things , the rector of the TU Berlin, his employer at the time, asked him for an interview. In 2018, the art scholars Wolfgang Ullrich and Jörg Scheller discussed the development of Bolz's Twitter account in a detailed discussion in the online edition of Pop magazine . Culture and criticism . You speak of a radicalization since autumn 2015. The conversation was received by several media.

Memberships

Bolz is a member of the scientific advisory board of the CDU Economic Council.

Awards

Private

Norbert Bolz is married and has four children.

Fonts (selection)

items

literature

  • Enno Stahl: Bolz, Hörisch , Kittler and Winkels dance in the Ratinger Hof. What began physically and athletically continues on another level: discourse pogo. In: Culture & Ghosts . H. 6, Winter 2008, pp. 107-117.
  • Jochen Rack: Interview with Norbert Bolz. In: Sense and Form . H. 5, 2006, pp. 613-629.

Web links

Wikiquote: Norbert Bolz  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Video Nachtstudio (August 28, 2011)  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on February 22, 2012. (offline); According to the dissertation: "Doctoral supervisor and first reviewer, as well as examiner in the oral main subject examination of philosophy: Prof.Dr. W. Hubener; Second reviewer and examiner (German studies): Professor Dr. A. Bennholdt-Thomsen. In the second minor, Religious Studies, Professor Dr. K. Heinrich. "
  2. ↑ Norbert Bolz (1997): Theory of Fatigue - Theory Fatigue
  3. ↑ You can always become something . Interview with Wirtschaftswoche on May 24, 2009 (accessed on September 6, 2010)
  4. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Why thinking is unfashionable , Kulturspiegel 6/2004
  5. ↑ Michael Klundt: Children's rights, child poverty, child politics (science). From crocodile tears to instrumentalization to socio-political contexts, in: Gudrun Hentges, Bettina Lösch (ed.): Measuring the social world: Neoliberalismus- Extreme rights- Migration , VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, 119–132, here 126; Frank Nullmeier : Critique of neoliberal images of people and society and their consequences for a new understanding of “social justice” (PDF; 286 kB). Expertise on behalf of the Economic and Social Policy Department of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, p. 12 ff; Urs Eigenmann : Church in the world of this time: practical theology, Theologischer Verlag Zurich, 2010, 136; Carsten Strathausen: Thinking Outside In. In: Carsten Strathausen, William E. Connolly (eds.): A leftist ontology: beyond relativism and identity politics, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2009, XIX
  6. ↑ Robin Meyer-Lucht: Bolz: Meet the “Superconnectors” , carta.info August 29, 2010 (accessed on February 21, 2012) with reference to the article by Bolz on Süddeutsche.de : Freedom on the Internet. Die Welt der Klick-Arbeiter (accessed on February 22, 2012, for reference see the last section); the criticism of this by Marcel Weiss in more detail: Unfounded: Norbert Bolz's fear of social fragmentation (accessed on February 22, 2012)
  7. ↑ Laudation on the occasion of the TRACTATUS award
  8. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Theory of the New Media, 86
  9. ↑ Norbert Bolz / Julian Nida-Rümelin: New Media - The End of Philosophy? A dispute. Information Philosophy 4/1998, 20–29
  10. ↑ Kurt Röttgers: Identity as an event: To find a new concept. transript, Bielefeld 2016, 129
  11. ↑ Kurt Röttgers: The Epistemic and the Normative - or: Does the social as such have an ethical aspect? , Fernuniversität Hagen, accessed on November 16, 2017
  12. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Hope ( Memento from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 6, 2010; PDF; 109 kB)
  13. ↑ Jürgen Kaube: The ring tones of the media theory , Frankfurter Allgemeine, June 25, 2007
  14. ↑ Mario Wenning: The work of the good European on religion. Nobert Bolz is dedicated to the knowledge of religion , review on Literaturkritik.de
  15. ↑ Review by Stefan Groß on TABVLA RASA , accessed on October 27, 2017
  16. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Tele! Polis! . In: Stefan Iglhaut, Armin Medosch, Florian Rötzer (eds.): Stadt am Netz. Views from Telepolis . Mannheim 1996, pp. 143-150.
  17. ↑ All sound and smoke: Interview with Professor Norbert Bolz about the climate religion . “Alles Schall und Rauch” website, February 4, 2010, accessed December 9, 2015.
  18. ↑ Bernhard Dressler: Atheism and Religion: There are no values ​​in the Bible . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 9, 2008.
  19. ↑ Dirk Kaesler : "Religiously unmusical": Comments on the relationship between Jürgen Habermas and Max Weber . literaturkritik.de , June 9, 2009, accessed December 9, 2015.
  20. ↑ Michael Klonovsky: Modern Life "Spiritual Suicide" . Interview in Focus 17/2008, August 21, 2008, accessed on December 9, 2010.
  21. ↑ What Holds the World Together, Medical Tribune, Volume 40, No. 42 of October 15, 2008, ISSN  0543-2936
  22. ^ Jörg Lau: Dandy der Medientheorie , Zeit-online, July 15, 2004
  23. ^ Norbert Bolz: Production and Reproduction in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 22, 2003
  24. ↑ Discourse on Inequality: Ein Anti-Rousseau, Fink 2009, ISBN 978-3-7705-4797-5 , p. 33
  25. ↑ quoted from Martin Zähringer (Goethe-Institut, Online-Redaktion, 2006): Norbert Bolz - The Philosopher as a Media Partisan ( Memento from August 1st, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  26. ↑ Albrecht von Lucke cultural cynicism as a political danger , Medienspiegel der Frankfurter Hefte 4/2009, 56–58
  27. ↑ Wolfgang Kersting: Being against mediocrity and average is not enough , faz.net (accessed on December 22, 2011)
  28. ↑ Interview in Cicero , March 2017
  29. ↑ See the broadcast recording on DasErste.de ; especially minute 30 ff. In the subsequent chat ( Memento from November 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Bolz explains his position.
  30. ↑ For women's emancipation - but only with the Muslims, here you go! - misik.at. Retrieved January 19, 2020 (German).
  31. ^ The state as a super nanny . An analysis by Norbert Bolz, Focus No. 2 (2016)
  32. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Caution! We're drifting into the paternalistic state , The European. The debate magazine, first published in Swiss Month ; also: Norbert Bolz: The happy slaves , Frankfurter Allgemeine, October 10, 2011
  33. ↑ Norbert Bolz: From the rise of the neopaternalists , Novo. Arguments for Progress, May 2, 2017, first in: Novo +, 1/2016; see also Ulrike Köppchen: "Do-gooders". Just save the world! , Deutschlandfunk from August 11, 2014; also Norbert Bolz in conversation with Korbinian Frenzel: Journalisten. Lots of politically correct people's educators , in: Deutschlandfunk Kultur, May 3, 2016
  34. ^ Peter Hahne : Media between feeling and facts. How much truth can we take? Media library politics.
  35. ↑ Brief profile and articles by Norbert Bolz on the axis of the good .
  36. ↑ Norbert Bolz: The real life. SWR2 Essay, November 13, 2013, accessed May 28, 2017 .
  37. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Merciless Modern Age Luther and the Differentiation of Modern Society. SWR2 essay, November 30, 2015, accessed May 28, 2017 .
  38. ↑ Norbert Bolz: The future belongs to the player. SWR2 Essay, May 18, 2015, accessed May 28, 2017 .
  39. ↑ Norbert Bolz: Praise of Boredom, Why the greatest problem in the modern world is also the key to self-knowledge. SWR2 Essay, March 27, 2017, accessed May 28, 2017 .
  40. ↑ Book presentation Norbert Bolz: "Back to Luther" now online! In: BdK Berlin. February 12, 2017, accessed on March 19, 2020 (German).
  41. ↑ Andreas Rosenfelder: Interview with Norbert Bolz: "The rector of the TU Berlin asked me to come to him . " In: THE WORLD . October 31, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed March 19, 2020]).
  42. ^ Social Media March by Jörg Scheller and Wolfgang Ullrich March 14, 2018 | POP MAGAZINE. Retrieved on March 19, 2020 (German).
  43. ↑ VICE Staff: The case of this university professor shows how people radicalize themselves on Twitter. In: Vice. March 20, 2018, accessed March 19, 2020 .
  44. ↑ “Political Radicalization”? Two authors analyze the Twitter account of media scientist Norbert Bolz. Retrieved March 19, 2020 .
  45. ↑ Scientific Advisory Board - Future Commission of the Economic Council ( Memento from August 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on August 15, 2012)
  46. ↑ Tractatus Prize Winner 2011 - Norbert Bolz. In: "philosophicum.com". Philosophicum Lech, accessed on May 31, 2016 : “Norbert Bolz, astute time analyst and contentious cultural philosopher, receives the Tractatus - trend-setting prize for philosophical essay writing.
    Exemplary for “The unloved freedom. A situation report ”, that is the title of the passionate polemic, Norbert Bolz is awarded by TRACTATUS. The awarding of the trend-setting award for philosophical essay writing takes place within the framework of the renowned Philosophicum Lech, which will be dedicated to the subject of 'The Hunt for Happiness' from September 21-25, 2011. "
  47. ↑ see http://d-nb.info/820094927
personal data
SURNAME Bolz, Norbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bolz, Norbert Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German media and communication theorist
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigshafen am Rhein