Research Area 1
Freedom, Law, and Obligation (Dierken, Klemme)
The relation between freedom, law, and obligation can be examined using Christian Wolff’s conception of a general theory of human action. In early 18th-century Halle, Wolff was the first philosopher to develop a basic, systematically conceived scientific approach to law, ethics, politics, and economy. His work and its reception in many countries in Europe can provide a better understanding of the often dramatic redefinitions of obligation in the Age of Enlightenment. These are represented by authors such as Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel, and by concepts such as autonomy, human rights, and morality. Another topic for investigation is why the idea of obligation has waned in importance since the 19th century as a fundamental principle of a general theory of action and a guiding concept for both social order and the determination of individual freedom. Obligation is not only increasingly connected with the idea of duty, thus restricting its meaning; it is also being replaced by alternative concepts (validity, morality, virtue). Existing research has not yet revealed what changes and caesurae are connected with these alternative frames of reference for understanding one’s own self and society and those of others. The question of the applicability of the concept of obligation for contemporary debates and problems is of particular relevance.