Calendar

Participating artists:
Katrin Köppert, Philipp Sarasin, Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky, Lutz Wingert

Moderation: Sascha Scheier und Jutta Spoden

Venue:
congress centrum weimarhalle
Unesco-Platz 1
99423 Weimar


Postmodern thinking is characterized by relativism and social constructivism. According to this, descriptions of reality are relative and realities are socially constructed. All knowledge about the world is produced by certain groups under certain social conditions. At least, this is how postmodern thinking is often described and has been widely criticized in recent years. The accusation is made that postmodern reasoning, by relativizing truth and viewing science as constructed and thus arbitrary, has also paved the way for conspiracy theorists, right-wing populists, and deniers of man-made climate change. Is it therefore necessary to abandon schools of thought that assume a pluralistic appropriation of the world and to set out in search of universally valid values and absolute truth? We would like to explore the following questions in this section:

• Are there universally valid ethical values? What does truth mean? What does justice mean?
• Can e.g. human rights be considered universal or are they a form of western imperialism?
• Do we need a new relationship to knowledge and how does a plural society negotiate its "value"?
• How is knowledge validated and what does this mean for our understanding of "values" and truth? How and which forms of knowledge are delegitimized and why?