Projects / Programmes
Ethical and religious foundation and perspectives of society and religiology in context of modern education
January 1, 2009
- December 31, 2014
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.11.00 |
Humanities |
Theology |
|
| 6.03.00 |
Humanities |
Anthropology |
|
| 6.10.00 |
Humanities |
Philosophy |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H170 |
Humanities |
Bible |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.03 |
Humanities |
Philosophy, Ethics and Religion |
Theology, religiology, ethics, religion, cultural tradition, symbolic language and activity, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, man's identity, person, man's nature, human rights, man, woman, virtues, values, juridical status, pragmatism, utilitarianism, liberalism, relativism, neopragmatism, ecological movement, justice, globalisation, postmodernity, world's ethos, civil society, multiculturality, interreligious dialog, pedagogy, didactics, psychology of education, liberty, responsibility, solidarity, subsidiarity, democracy, religious juridical systems, intercomfessional dialog, media, global village, addiction, impatience, violence, cult, fundamentalism.
Researchers (21)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The challenges of globalisation demand an ethical reflection. To prevent a general disintegration and demoralisation and above all to mitigate potential conflicts in the society it is necessary to provide ethical foundation and to ascertain a role of the religious foundation. Our starting point is the experience of the ethical tradition, which grew out of Jewish and Christian religion, Greek philosophical reflection and Roman legal system, what is nowadays described by the term human rights. Differences in comprehension of human rights however demand searching for common ethical and ideological foundations to achieve a consensus among them. Christian ethics has shaped a modern concept of a man as a person. Despite the legal foundations of society that should provide a basis for human rights ethical dilemmas are becoming bigger and the need for universal ethics increases. As several social theorists (Foucault, Virillio, Bau-drillard) stress, the key ethical question is: How should people link themselves together, to unite, in order to create social capital (Fukuyama), which forms a basis for coexistence of people with different ideological and ethical origins. Whether the globalisation will be solely an economical process or also a human process, that means a process acceptable for different groups of people, depends on ethical consensus. In that sense H. Kueng suggested the world ethos. In order to protect human being as a person, to protect his survival from the conception till the death, to strengthen the coexistence of persons, groups and nations we must search for common basis of the religious and secular foundations of ethics which stretches from pragmatism and utilitarianism, liberalism to the ideological basis of communitariaism (Taylor) or theory of justice (Rawls)) and for the moral consensus in societies (Rorty, Dahl, MacIntyre, Murdoch). We must settle complex problems of social justice, environment, natural sources and consecutively of men's future and his survival in general, especially the survival of people who are socially stricken, who live at the margin, who are poor. In order to achieve that aims a relevant modern education is needed.
In this context the epistemology of the religious phenomena and religious discourse built a ground origin of the research program. Since many misuses of religious dimension of life are known as from the past as nowadays we will pay a special attention to the critical reflection of the religious phenomena and their relation to ethics and eo ipso to values or virtues respectively in a society. We will investigate religious phenomena in their various dimensions: discursive and practical symbolism; relations society-culture-religion; religious ethos, representations, ethics moralities and economy; a role of the religious legal systems in a plural society; the significance and the role of religion in the case of human rights; the role of virtues and values in the life of a person and of a society; psychology of learning and didactics of the tradition of the values and psychology of the ethical formation in a society; a contribution of religions to the shaping of tolerant relations and to the coexistence in the society.
The role of virtues and of values in a society depends on their bearers. The research will try to find out, what are the ethical attitudes in the society, what virtues are practised by believers and by nonbelievers and in what way it is possible to find consensus despite the differences. Our goal is to scrutiny (from the religiological and from the ethical aspect) attitudes and judgements (also unjustified) that create conflict situations and tensions and to contribute to the creation of more human relations, connected with religious dimensions of private and common life. In connection with the problems described above we will deal with a preparation of learning materials, which would make possible a better enforcement of ethical and religious foundations.
Significance for science
The program group (PG) has dedicated its work to an essential factor of human life - dialogue between people in interpersonal, cultural and socio-political context. In contemporary science and also in humanities we do not pay enough attention to this comprehensive and holistic cultural factor. Demands and needs of global society (clash of civilizations, Huntington 1993; world ethos, Küng 1990/2001) require even more subtle researching of this question. PG has tried to find – on the grounds of different cultural traditions – basic parameters which have been established by those traditions for overcoming obstacles of dialogue and for justifying the anthropological grounds of it. For humanities there arises the problem of shaping of person`s identity which arises from the relationship with the other. PG has therefore from perspectives of different scientific disciplines - psychology, pedagogy, philosophy, theology, morals, law - established guidelines for a dialogical development of a person. This is also the problem of the integration of a person in cultural, social and socio-political streams. On these grounds we have further researched possibilities of dialogue in global development especially from the aspect how a dialogical person should overcome selfishness and entrapment in the postmodern individualistic paradigm. We have established that genuine dialogue between people opens humanity and allows that people share material and spiritual goods which are humanly enriched in a permanent dialogical practice. In this sense it is the golden mean, as the mean of humanity is known by Greeks and Indians. We reach it by mutual communication and by meeting as people and so reaffirming each other in our humanity. Modern psychoanalysis and psychology (Kohout, Vygotsky) grounding on these findings stress that especially dialogue in the early phases of person`s life is of crucial importance as mutual affirming in humanity. PG has according to these paradigmatic findings analyzed urgent questions of modern development of the world and society. Our conclusion is that reciprocity of humanity (permanent mutual dialogical exchange) is of crucial importance and a condition also for solving social and economic questions and a means for lowering political and social tensions. Therefore also humanities have an immeasurable worth regarding elimination of socio-economic problems of contemporary society. That has been verified in some aspects of contemporary life. Some contemporary thinkers (Beck, Schmid, Bauman) therefore with the term »art of life« designate universal dialogic openness of man, since an open person is capable of overcoming the entrapment in immediate frames which often close the way to an open, democratic (Popper 1945) society. Today this openness is the basic humanistic problem since as religions as cultures locally encounter in a globalized world and therefore it is necessary to search for the art of life in deeper ethical grounds which transcendent the frames of own religious or worldview culture. Theological aspects are important for needed processes, repair of past wrongs, reconciliation and forgiveness. Not only serious violations of human rights caused by wars and revolutions, but also permanent, especially contemporary, demanding complications among people and nations constantly provoke deepening and reinforcing of such spiritual culture which builds on reconciliation and forgiveness. It is possible to accept and practice these anthropological paradigms only by inclusion of the most intimate human depths which are shown in the openness to the absolute which is the demand of most religions. On this basis it is possible to build an appropriate culture of fear and society of trust which will be overcoming a permanent human temptation to turn against himself/herself (suicide) or against the other (genocide) which is a sad heritage of the 20th century.
Significance for the country
The Program Group (PG) studied complex problems facing the world and in particular within Slovenian society; therefore its findings are very relevant regarding Slovenian development. Slovenian society is noticeably burdened with aporias of modern times and extremes, says Hobsbawm (2000). Consequently the themes: dialogue, art of living, reconciliation and forgiveness, overcoming a culture of fear, genocide and suicide are very current problems in Slovenian society. Moreover, the fact that Slovenia is embedded in the broader problems of the world society of modernity only exacerbates the problem. The resulting strain causes a reduction in Slovenes ability to solve complex global problems. Historically Slovenes have demonstrated very strong dependence on authority: the monarchy and the Catholic Church. This was intensified by the totalitarian regimes such as Fascism, Nazism and Communism by forcing Slovenia into war and revolution. This burden has so weakened that Slovenians are becoming less able to solve the complex issues of contemporary social development. Slovenes experience more difficulty as we move toward strengthening national and human interaction, involvement and cooperation. The study of these identified dimensions is the main theme of the PG. On the one hand, PG focused on the problems of the modern person and global society as well as Slovenia’s recent past. On the other hand, PG has proposed ways regarding resolving this complex dilemma. Initially, we studied person as a "selfish Prometheus" and the possibility that this selfishness, competition and exclusion might be overcome through cooperation, partnership and especially by searching dialogical ways to mutually reinforce humanity. We presented ways to change from a "culture of fear to one of trust." For Slovenian society both are extremely urgent and it is necessary to establish the mechanisms by which we will overcome the consequences of confrontation "with suicide and genocide". We investigated how the Slovenes individually and collectively work to strengthen the "art of living". We found that dialogue is the key condition and the surest way of moving toward in the mutual reinforcement of human connectedness. An important factor toward attaining this goal is the analysing and clarifying the taboos that burden our Slovenian society. As persons gifted with speech the way toward the truth of our common existence is the difficult path of dialogue and human awareness that both individually and collectively we persevere in the search for truth. Because this endeavour brings us closer to each other this way needs to include the truth of personal and social history. This pursuit opens the theme of "reconciliation as a way of healing and growth." A successful future cannot be built without mutual reconciliation among individuals and groups, as well as on the level of a national community. Therefore, in a broader international context we study this extremely complex and sensitive issue with an emphasis on the problem within Slovenian society. We considered the best traditions of humanity from religious, literary and scientific resources in order to best demonstrate the ways of healing Slovenian society. Research convinced us that for Slovenes as well as for all citizens of this country is extremely important to deepen roots, looking for their origins in past traditions of the Slovenian nation. We also need to open ourselves to the best traditions of humanity in order to be able to reach reconciliation and mutual cooperation. The work of PG was tested in social processes at round tables, media appearances and civil society initiatives. We attempted not only theoretically but also practically to contribute to a better development of Slovenian society. Thus, we believe that the contribution of PG is extremely important for Slovenian national development and statesmanship.
Audiovisual sources (2)
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Most important scientific results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
