Mission statement or empty phrase? Freedom, truth, and responsibility at Witten/Herdecke University
Freedom, truth, and social responsibility are considered fundamental values of our university. But how much importance is still attached to these values? What remains of these grand words in the face of ecological destruction, ongoing crises, disinformation, and AI-supported knowledge production? Are freedom, truth, and responsibility still indispensable fundamental values—or have they long since become empty signatures in a system that administers itself instead of changing?
In this seminar, we do not place our values under monument protection, but rather examine their relationship to one another and their real consequences: What would it mean to consistently and seriously make freedom, truth, and responsibility the benchmark for university action? What unreasonable demands would this place on the university as an organization—and on us as students, teachers, thinkers, and actors?
We approach the “hot core” of our university with philosophical, artistic, and personal approaches. Different perspectives are not only welcome, but necessary. The goal is not consensus, but a sharpened awareness of what is at stake when we take these values seriously—or abandon them.
Dr. David Hornemann von Laer
Ich habe Kunstgeschichte und Erziehungswissenschaft studiert und mich neben meinem Studium vor allem mit erkenntniswissenschaftlichen Fragen auseinandergesetzt.
Mich interessiert Kunst vor allem als Schule der Wahrnehmung. Mein Forschungsinteresse gilt dem Ziel, Kunstwerke so zu betrachten, dass sie aus sich selbst heraus sprechen.
In einer Zeit, die vom Dagegen-Sein geprägt ist, brauchen wir meiner Überzeugung nach weniger Abwehr und mehr Phantasie. Nicht Protest allein verändert die Welt, sondern gute Ideen, Sensibilität und Gestaltungsmut. Kunst hilft uns, genau das einzuüben: anders zu sehen, neu zu denken und Verantwortung für das eigene Gestalten zu übernehmen – im Umgang mit Umwelt, Gesellschaft und miteinander. Kunst bedeutet für mich Freiheit: die Freiheit, wahrzunehmen, bevor man urteilt, und zu gestalten, bevor man verurteilt.
Objectives & Competences
The central theme is the concept of freedom, which we will approach from different perspectives, using different methods and means.
In terms of knowledge, the learning outcomes will be familiarity with different authors and views on the subject of freedom. In addition, there will be repeated opportunities to approach the concept of freedom through one's own thinking in order to examine how one is able to think about this concept independently in all its dimensions.
Maximum number of participants
20 participants