resignation

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the poem see Resignation (Friedrich Schiller) .

Resignation (from the Latin resignare lower the standard ( signum ), capitulate; withdraw one's signature, revoke it; cf.Pease, see below) has been used since around the middle of the 19th century to describe the human attitude or mood of submission to an inevitable situation, e.g. B. from (felt) hopelessness.

From an individual psychological perspective, resignation can be triggered by the insight that a desired goal cannot be achieved with the means available, or by the insight that one does not want to get involved in the effort that appears necessary or the potential consequences. The resulting renunciation can be accompanied by a dampening of feelings or a lack of drive and a reduction in activities, which, however , are to be distinguished from apathy and lethargy . In cultural history, resignation has sometimes been praised as a wise humiliation, since it helps to avoid anger and zeal , gives serene calm and a feeling of superiority.

Resignation in a spiritual context

• Terminus technicus of mysticism , which as the Latin counterpart to Middle High German gelatenheit ( serenity ) denotes the surrender of one's own will to the will of God (cf. in particular Thomas von Kempen , Imitatio Christi , Book III, Chapter 37: De pura et integra resignatione sui ad obtinendam cordis libertatem)
• In the Roman Catholic Church term for the voluntary resignation from office, especially of bishops and holders of other high offices (e.g. abbots ), but also of secular canons .

See also

• surrender
• task

literature

• Publius Vergilius Maro , Aeneidos liber quartus . Edited by Arthur S. Pease . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Ma. 1935 (Reprint WBG, Darmstadt 1967), pp. 250a-252a (on Virgil, Aeneis 4, 244; there detailed discussion of the ancient Pagan word use of 'resignare')
• Matthias Laarmann: Resignation . In: J. Ritter / K. Founder / G. Gabriel (Ed.): Historical Dictionary of Philosophy , Vol. 9 (1992), Sp. 909-916.
• Matthias Laarmann: Resignation. II. Mysticism. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Vol. 7 (1995), Col. 758 (new early evidence).