Robert Spaemann
Robert Spaemann (5 May 1927 – 10 December 2018) was a German
Ritter School
.
Spaemann's focus was on
Benedict XVI[2][citation needed] He was also a personal advisor of Pope John Paul II and a friend of Joseph Ratzinger.[3]
Life
Robert Spaemann was born in
atheists, but both entered the Catholic Church in 1930, and after his mother's early death, his father was ordained a Catholic priest in 1942.[4]
Spaemann studied at the
Catholic University of Lublin
in 2012.
Work
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Spaemann's two most important works were Glück und Wohlwollen (Happiness and Benevolence, 1989) and Personen (Persons, 1996). In Happiness and Benevolence, Spaemann sets forth a thesis that happiness is derived from benevolent acting and that we are created by God as social beings to help one another find truth and meaning in an often confused and disordered world:
The paradigm of acting from benevolence is any action by which we come to the help of human life which requires this help...only when we are helped do we learn to help ourselves, that is, to enter into that indirect relationship with ourselves which is constitutive of for all rationality which is not strictly instrumental, [and instead] constitutive for all ethical practice."[5]
He participated in the Ratzinger Circle of Alumni (Schülerkreis, a private conference with Joseph Ratzinger that was convened from the late 1970s.[6]
Books in English
- Basic Moral Concepts, trans. T.J. Armstrong. London: Routledge, 1990 (1982).
- Essays in Anthropology: Variations on a Theme, trans. Guido De Graaff and James Mumford. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010 (1987).
- Happiness and Benevolence, trans. J. Alberg. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000 (1989).
- Persons: The Difference between "Someone" and "Something", trans. Oliver O’Donovan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006 (1996).
- Love and the Dignity of Human Life: On Nature and Natural Law, Foreword by D. L. Schindler. Eerdmans Publishing Co.: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2012.
- A Robert Spaemann Reader: Philosophical Essays on Nature, God, and the Human Person, ed. & trans. D.C. Schindler & Jeanne Heffernan Schindler. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Articles in English
- "Remarks on the Problem of Equality," Ethics 87 (1976–77), 363-69.
- "Side-effects as a Moral Problem," trans. Frederick S. Gardiner, Contemporary German Philosophy, vol. 2, ed. Darrel E. Christensen, Manfred Riedel, Robert Spaemann, Reiner Wiehl, Wolfgang Wieland (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 138-51.
- "Remarks on the Ontology of 'Right' and 'Left,'" Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 10.1 (1984), 89-97.
- "Is Every Human Being a Person?," trans. Richard Schenk, O.P., The Thomist 60 (1996), 463-74.
- "Rationality and Faith in God," trans. D.C. Schindler, Communio: International Catholic Review 32.4 (Winter 2005), 618-636.
- "When Death Becomes Inhuman," trans. Adrian J. Walker, Communio: International Catholic Review 33.2 (Summer 2006), 298-300.
- "Begotten, Not Made," trans. Michelle K. Borras, Communio: International Catholic Review 33.2 (Summer 2006), 290-297.
- with Holger Zabrowski, "An Animal That Can Promise and Forgive," trans. Lesley Rice, Communio: International Catholic Review 34.4 (Winter 2007), 511-521.
- "How Could You Do What You Did?," trans. Lesley M. Rice, Communio: International Catholic Review 36.4 (Winter 2009), 643-651.
- "Is Brain Death the Death of a Human Person?," Communio: International Catholic Review 38.2 (Summer 2011), 326-340.
- "The Courage to Educate," Communio: International Catholic Review 40.1 (Spring 2013), 48–63.
Books in German
- Rousseau – Mensch oder Bürger. Das Dilemma der Moderne. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-608-94245-3
- Der letzte Gottesbeweis. Pattloch Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-629-02178-6
- Das unsterbliche Gerücht. Die Frage nach Gott und der Aberglaube der Moderne. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-608-94121-5
- Natürliche Ziele. Geschichte und Wiederentdeckung des teleologischen Denkens. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2005, ISBN 3-608-94121-5
- Grenzen. Zur ethischen Dimension des Handelns. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-608-91027-1
- Der Ursprung der Soziologie aus dem Geist der Restauration. Studien über Louise-Gabriel de Bonald. Kösel, München 1959; 2. A. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-608-91921-X
- Töten oder sterben lassen? Worum es in der Euthanasiedebatte geht. (Mit Thomas Fuchs). Herder Verlag 1997
- Personen. Versuche über den Unterschied zwischen „etwas“ und „jemand“. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-608-91813-2
- Zur kirchlichen Erbsündenlehre. Stellungnahmen zu einer brennenden Frage. (Mit Albert Görres, Christoph Schönborn). (Sammlung Kriterien 87), Johannes Verlag Einsiedeln Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-89411-303-0
- Reflexion und Spontanität. Studien über Fénelon. ISBN 3-608-91334-3
- Glück und Wohlwollen. Versuch über Ethik. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-608-91556-7
- Das Natürliche und Vernünftige. Aufsätze zur Anthropologie. Piper Verlag (Serie Piper 702), München 1987, 3-492-10702-8
- Philosophische Essays. Reclam (UB 7961), Stuttgart 1983; 2., erw. A. ebd. 1994, ISBN 3-15-007961-6
- Moralische Grundbegriffe. Beck Verlag (Beck’sche Reihe 256), München 1982, ISBN 3-406-45442-9
- Rousseau – Bürger ohne Vaterland. Von der Polis zur Natur. Piper Verlag, München 1980, ISBN 3-492-10579-3
- Einsprüche. Christliche Reden. Johannes Verlag Einsiedeln Freiburg 1977, ISBN 3-265-10195-9
- Die Frage Wozu? Geschichte und Wiederentdeckung des teleologischen Denkens. (Mit Reinhard Löw). Piper (Serie Piper 748), München 1981
- Zur Kritik der politischen Utopie. Zehn Kapitel politischer Philosophie. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-12-910110-1
Articles in German
- ISBN 3-11-007513-X.
- Robert Spaemann: Die christliche Religion und das Ende des modernen Bewusstseins. In: Internationale Katholische Zeitschrift Communio. Nr. 3. 1979, S. 256f.
- Robert Spaemann: Bestialische Quälereien Tag für Tag. In: Deutsche Zeitung. 33, 1979. Auch veröffentlicht unter: Welt des Grauens. In: Kritik der Tierversuche. Kübler Verlag, Lambertheim 1980, ISBN 3-921265-24-X, S. 27-31.
- ISBN 3-920007-78-6.
- Robert Spaemann: Tierschutz und Menschenwürde. In: Ursula M. Händel (Hrsg.): Tierschutz - Testfall unserer Menschlichkeit. Fischer Taschenbuchverlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 1984, ISBN 3-596-24265-7, S. 71–81.
- Robert Spaemann, ISBN 3-928648-12-8.
- Oswald Georg Bauer (Red.): Was heißt „wirklich“? Unsere Erkenntnis zwischen Wahrnehmung und Wissenschaft. Oreos, Waakirchen-Schaftlach 2000, ISBN 3-923657-54-4.
- Walter Schweidler (Hrsg.): Menschenleben – Menschenwürde. Interdisziplinäres Symposium zur ISBN 3-8258-6808-7.
- Georg Muschalek (Hrsg.): Der Widerstand gegen die Alte Messe. Van Seth, Denkendorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-927057-16-6.
- Robert Spaemann: Die schlechte Lehre vom guten Zweck. Der korrumpierende Kalkül hinter der Schein-Debatte. In: FAZ vom 23. Oktober 1999, Bilder und Zeiten I.
References
- ^ Josef Seifert's Introduction of Spaemann at the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project Conference, "Christian Personalism and Hildebrand's Philosophy of Love," May 28, 2010 (Video link).
- ^ http://web.tuomi-media.de/dno2/Dateien/NO510.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Interview with Robert Spaemann on Amoris Laetitia". Munich, DE: Catholic News Agency. April 29, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
- ^ Catholic Information Portal (in German)
- ^ Spaemann, Robert Happiness and Benevolence, Notre Dame: Univ of Notre Dame Press, 2000, pp 104-105.
- ^ Story in The Guardian
Further reading
- Holger Zaborowski: Robert Spaemann's Philosophy of the Human Person: Nature, Freedom, and the Critique of Modernity. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-19-957677-7
