Courses Winter Semester 2025-26

For Students

Moral and Economic Values

Theories about the possible sources, meanings and different types of values are integral parts of philosophy and economics. Philosophy deals with the truthfulness of value statements (Ludwig Wittgenstein), with the universal or relative moral claims arising from values (Philippa Food) and with their typification. Traditionally, economics has dealt intensively with the possible sources of economic values, which are located either in labour (Karl Marx, David Ricardo), money (Georg Simmel) or consumer preferences (Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises). In modern economics, both traditions converge, allowing for the modelling of economic phenomena that were previously difficult to explain. For example, values such as friendship and family can be used to explain the economically irrational tradition of gift-giving. The value of justice can be used to explain the irrational willingness to reduce one's own utility value in order to punish unfair market practices. However, explaining and predicting economic behaviour using different types of values also raises burning questions: Under what conditions can which values be taken into account in the same models? What is the hierarchical relationship between moral and economic values? In which contexts can social values be easily represented in terms of utility or monetary values and thus more easily taken into account in corporate decision-making processes, as suggested by shared value theory (Porter & Kramer 2012)? When is it necessary to translate economic values into public values (Meynhardt et al 2019)? In which markets can individual, collective and institutional actors act in accordance with their moral values, and in which markets are they unable to translate their moral values into appropriate market actions (the so-called crowding out effect)?

The seminar deals with the philosophical and economic foundations of modern value theory and the theory of (economic) value. On this basis, theories and research methods are examined in which moral and economic values are taken into account equally in the explanation and prediction of economic behaviour. Another focus of the seminar is on the practical handling of values and value conflicts in economic policy decision-making processes and corporate value management systems. 

Lecturer: Dr. Sebastian Müller

Time: Tuesday, 10:15–11:45, 14.10.2025–03.02.2026

Location: Center for Life Ethics, Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7, 53113 Bonn (acess not barrier-free!)

Ethics of the Institution

Institutions organise how people live together, which has significant advantages. They relieve individuals of worries about securing their own existence, thereby enabling them to develop freely and independently. However, institutions are not purely functional in this regard, but become expressions of valuable ways of life in their own right. Against the backdrop of the specific socio-cultural practices they institutionalise, they provide meaning for people and thus offer normative orientation. However, the norms that institutions embody and can often enforce by coercion are not necessarily legitimate. Institutions can become ideologically corrupted and thus exercise power that is not justified. Ethical reflection is therefore necessary to decide under what conditions an institution can be considered ethically good.

Lecturer: Peter Bröckerhoff, M. A.

Time: Wednesdays, 10:15–11:45, 15.10.2025–04.02.2025

Location: Center for Life Ethics, Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7, 53113 Bonn (acess not barrier-free!)

Environmental Governance

Governance is a set of social processes and structures guiding individual, group and organizational behavior. The course provides a detailed overview of different governance theories and approaches to address environmental and sustainability challenges. The course examines why collective action problems arise between individual and group interests, and how different governance theories help explain different ways of organizing society and social institutions to shape our behavior, incentives and outcomes. A variety of different governance theories will be reviewed to compare their analytical potential and challenges, and furthermore examine how different governance theories from different disciplinary perspectives are useful for understanding the current complexity of environmental and sustainability problems. The role of interdisciplinary science will be explored in order to advance the understanding of complex human-environmental systems and their governance.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stefan Partelow

Time and Location: Wednesday, 12:15–13:45 ( Seminarraum 2, Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 5 - Hörsaalzentrum) and Thursday, 12:15-14:45 (ILT - Brinkmannsaal, Nußallee 5), 15.10.2025–05.02.2026

Philosophical Theories of Intersubjectivity

This seminar offers an introduction to key theories of intersubjectivity from the early modern period to the present day. Among others, it covers the positions of Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Mead, Lévinas and Butler. The focus is on the question of how subjectivity can be understood in relation to others and what significance aspects such as recognition, language, physicality and publicness have in this context.

The texts will be explored in joint discussions, allowing participants to practise working with different historical sources and philosophical modes of argumentation. In addition to classical texts, current approaches that situate intersubjectivity in the context of feminist theory, social justice and political philosophy will also be discussed. The aim is to develop a systematic understanding of different concepts of intersubjective relationships and to compare them critically.

Lecturer: Nicolas Knecht, M. A.

Time: Fridays, 10:15–11:45, 17.10.2025–06.02.2026

Location: Center for Life Ethics, Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7, 53113 Bonn (acess not barrier-free!)

For Students and the Interested Public

Societal Diversity and Social Justice

The class “Societal Diversity and Social Justice” deals with the challenges of an increasingly diverse society. This social diversity coincides with the polarization and sequencing of different social groups, combined with growing political pressure in the international arena. Solving these challenges requires conceptual analysis, theoretical foundations, and social debate. In this seminar, various philosophical and judicial approaches and concepts in a local and global context will be examined and discussed with participants. Selected topics and their role in promoting democratic discourse while ensuring social justice will be examined. The event is open to students from all faculties and to the interested public.

Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen/Dr. Björn Schmitz-Luhn

Time: Tuesdays, 14:15 p.m.–15:45 p.m., 21.10.2025–03.02.2026

Location: Center for Life Ethics, Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7, 53113 Bonn (acess not barrier-free!)

Registration: please click here
 

ThinkJourney: Towards What Future do We Want to Live?

Together with recognized experts from science and society, we go on a weekly ThinkJourney to explore desirable futures in different areas of life, spanning the semester. Our guests present their research and discuss with students, young researchers and interested members of the public. At the end of the semester, the journeys of thought are followed by a joint journey in real life to a thematically relevant place or institution.