Zukunftsvergessenheit. Ein Klärungsversuch (Forgetting the future. An attempt at clarification)
Plenary lecture
Abstract
What attitude(s) should one have towards the future of humanity? I would like to approach this question using the dazzling term forgetfulness of the future. On the one hand, this term is used as an accusation to criticize mistakes and grievances in political decisions that affect the future. On the other hand, however, it sometimes seems rational or even a requirement of good living to forget the future, because worrying about the future can also be a tormenting burden. I will first define forgetfulness of the future in terms of terms and understand it as a deformation of collective deliberation that manifests itself in discourses. Then, in normative terms, it will be possible to explore what is bad about the forgetfulness of the future that is expressed in this way – and why it can be rationally necessary to forget the future. This helps us to better understand the ambivalence of forgetting the future. But it also leads to a deeper tension in the ideal of the good life in moral harmony.
