Press Releases Archive
19.11.2015
University of Tübingen ethics award for Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor
Catholic Theology Faculty presents the first Alfons Auer Ethics Award on 27 November
Canadian philosopher and political scientist Charles Taylor receives the Faculty of Catholic Theology’s first Alfons Auer Ethics Award, sponsored by the entrepreneur Siegfried Weishaupt. The 25,000 euro prize is awarded this year on the 100th birthday of the moral theologian Alfons Auer. It goes to Professor Taylor for his lifetime contribution to religious, academic and social ethics.
Professor Charlesl Taylor (born 1931) is a social philosopher best known for his writings on the rise of modern society, and on secularity and religion. He has written extensively about questions surrounding the identity of individuals and societies, the options for social integration in a secular age, and the rationality of religious thought. He has been politically active in the cause for the rights of minorities in Canada and the coexistence of different cultures in a democratic society. This year, he was awarded the Library of Congress’s John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, a prize he shared with philosopher Jürgen Habermas.
The presentation will be on Friday, 27 November 2015 at 4pm, Kupferbau lecture theater 21 (Hölderlinstr. 5, 72074Tübingen). Representatives of the media are welcome.
Charles Taylor will speak on "The Many Forms of Reason." Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Joas of the Humboldt University in Berlin will hold the laudatiory address. Other speakers include the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Ruth Scoralick, former state premier Erwin Teufel, and Emeritus Professor Dietmar Mieth, a pupil of Alfons Auer and initiator of the award.
The Sponsor
Businessman Siegfried Weishaupt (born 1939) has headed Max Weishaupt GmbH since 1982. This international company with 3000 employees was founded by the sponsor’s father Max Weishaupt, an honorary senator of the University of Tübingen. Its headquarters are in the southwestern German town of Schwendi. Siegfreid Weishaupt has been an enthusiastic collector of art for more than 50 years. The Siegfreid and Jutta Weishaupt Collection has been on display in the purpose-built Kunsthalle Weishaupt in Ulm since 2007.
Alfons Auer
The award is named after Alfons Auer (1915-2005), born in Schwendi and founding director of the Catholic Academy of the See of Rottenburg-Stuttgart (1951-53), prior to taking up the Chair of Moral Theology at the University of Würzburg in 1955. From 1966 until his retirement in 1981, he was Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Tübingen.
Auer is considered one of Germany’s most important moral theologians of the 20th century. He promoted a dialogue between the church and wider society in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. His ethical approach focused on human reason in questions of Christian teachings, which he placed in a positive view of mankind and the creation.
Contact:
Dr. Karl G. Rijkhoek
University of Tübingen
Public Relations Department
Phone +49 7071 29-76788
<link>karl.rijkhoek[at]uni-tuebingen.de