Sarah Al-Taher presents a working paper on 'Eckharts conceptual thinking in the first chapter of the 'Interpretation of the book Genesis''

In this paper I analyse  the first chapter of Meister Eckharts ›Auslegung des Buches Genesis‹. I show how the systematic thinking of Meister Eckhart, which is introduced in the first part of his latin work, is fundamental for the understanding of his entire work. The dynamic relation is more important than the any absolute principal. And only through the consideration of the relation can love and deficiency be understood. The focus in this paper is the first chapter of the ›Auslegung des Buches Genesis‹. Eckhart explains the structure of thinking parallel to the formation of the universe.

Hannah Peaceman presents a working paper on 'Habermas' reference the Enlightenment and his assumption of a "Jewish-Christian tradition" - Section of the second chapter of my dissertation project'

The topic of Hannah Peaceman's PhD-project is Jewish critiques of Enlightenment and their potential for contemporary political philosophy. In this paper, Hannah Peaceman presents one section of the second chapter which serves to embed her approch in debates of political philosophy. She firstly reconstructs Habermas' interpretation of the (Dialectics of) Enlightenment. In a second step she critically reflects on his supposition of a "Jewish-Christian line of tradition" as a predecessor for deliberative democracy.

Anton Röhr gives a paper on 'Ready? Play! An Essay on the Relation between Ritual and Resonance in Tennis'

This paper tries to connect the abstract philosophical thesis of my dissertation about the relation between „ritual“ and „resonance“ with a specific topic, which is tennis. For that it analyses (in the first chapter) World-Self-Relationships in the domain of tennis and tries to point out moments of resonance, that can be experienced by players and spectators. After that, this Paper focuses (in its second chapter) on the fact, that resonance can never be completely controlled and predicted, which is an issue especially for the Players on court. Finally (in the last chapter) this Paper tries to develop an understanding on how rituals help tennisplayers to get in resonance with the game.

Tullio Viola presents a working paper on 'Symbols and the Dynamics of Culture'

The paper presents the main lines of research I will be carrying on at the Max-Weber-Kolleg during the next two years. In particular, it describes the central argument of a book I intend to write, entitled "Pragmatist Theories of the Symbol". The book centres on a reconstruction of the concept of "symbol" in the four classical figures of North-American pragmatism (Charles S. Peirce, William James, George H. Mead, John Dewey). Its main aim is to show that the pragmatists had a coherent and theoretically robust understanding of this concept and of the dynamics underpinning it. Focussing on this somewhat undertheorized aspect of the pragmatist tradition may help us expand the purview of contemporary linguistic philosophy by re-orienting the debate toward a more encompassing reflection on culture. Moreover, it can provide us with new tools for understanding some of the classical philosophical problems involved in the study of cultural phenomena, such as the problem of the tension between universalism and particularism.

Sarah Al-Taher presents a working paper on 'Prologi in Opus tripartitum – the systematic thinking of Meister eckhart'

In this paper I approach the systematic thinking of Meister Eckhart in his latin work, especially in his general introduction to the three parts of his latin work ( ›Prologi in Opus tripartitum‹.). I concentrate mostly on the first part which deals with 14 theses. These 14 theses are divided into opposite terms. The most important one being “being” and “nothing”. I try to analyse Eckhart’s dualistic thinking by maintaining a unified prin-ciple. The Question of the understanding of “being”, “nothing” and “not-being” stand in the centre of this paper, as they can give an under-standing to Eckhart’s systematic thinking. Thus, allowing to analyse the concept of deficiency and love within Eckhart’s work in a next step.

Arthur Bueno presents a working paper on 'Simmel and the Forms of In-dividuality'

The work of Georg Simmel is widely known for the case it makes for a strong connection between modernity and individualization. In his sociological theory as in the Philosophy of Money, in his writings on intellectual history as in his aesthetic and metaphysical essays, a perspective on modern culture is advanced according to which the latter is distinguished from other historical epochs by a peculiar accentuation of individuality. Common to all these different endeavours is, moreover, the view that such foregrounding of the individual is an inherently conflictual process. The emergence of modern individuality is thereby regarded not only as the outcome of struggles against previous forms of social organization, but also as bringing forward new tensions of its own. It is for no other reason that Simmel so often presented the forms taken by the modern individual in dualistic terms. Less visible, however, is the fact that those analyses present not only different figures of in-dividuality, with its accentuated sense of independence and self-sufficiency, but also distinct modes of in-dividuality marked by an openness to being permeated by something other than oneself. In fact, when one follows the thread of these dualisms in Simmel’s work it becomes clear that, despite an initial focus on the boundedness of the in-dividual, the in-dividual aspects of personal and social experience come to acquire over time an increasingly significant role, with decisive consequences for his view on modernity.

Christoph Hennig presents a working paper on "Materiality and Experience in Creative Labour: A Pragmatistic Interpretation of Interviews with Artists and Designers"

In an interdisciplinary research project at the University of St. Gallen („Creativity as a Vocation", 2013/14) we conducted 20 interviews with local artists and designers. Our aim was to analyse these interviews both from the perspective of sociology and philosophy. This, however, proved more difficult then expected, not least because a philosophical analysis of qualitative sociologicla data is a methodological innovation, not always well received by established traditions, and not to be achieved so easily. In this paper, which I did not have the time to translate unfortunately, I use some ideas from the field of „New Materialism" and Latours „Actor-Network-Theory" in order to interpret sections of these interviews in a new way. This also leads me to discuss Harmut Rosa`s ideas about art in his book on resonance (2016).

George Pattison gives a working paper on"God speaks within: from devout silence to calling"

The paper offers an introduction to the project on which I am working at the Max Weber Centre, namely, the second part of a three-part work on a philosophy of Christian Life. This focusses on the question of language and, in particular, the phenomenon of calling. Whereas the first part of the philosophy of Christian Life (phenomenology of the devout life) looked at the attraction to devotion without specific regard to its linguistic character, the second part begins by reflecting specifically on 'the call' as occurring in language. Heidegger is used to clarify the dynamics of calling, although his own methodological atheism makes any idea of a divine calling impossible. Although both his analysis of the call of conscience (in Being and Time) or the poetic calling (in his writings on Hölderlin) hint at a religious pathos, this is clearly in a different sense from that of monotheistic revelation. Contemporary with Heidegger, a sequence of Russian philosophers, some also influenced by Husserl and all by German Idealism, developed a philosophy of language based on the primacy of the name. These thinkers also reflect a religious practice of invoking the divine name (hesychasm) strongly represented in Russian religious life at that time. Their work thus lends itself to an analysis of calling. Thus, the paper has three mani foci: (1) The transition from 'attraction' to calling, (2) the Heideggerian account of calling; and (3) the analysis of the name in the work of Pavel Florensky, the most explicitly theological of the Russian thinkers in question. As this is a report on work in progress, the further development of this theme through A. Losev, G. Shpet, and M. M. Bakhtin is postponed for later consideration.

Roman Madzia gives a working paper on 'Care of the S: The Dynamics of Mind between Social Conflicts and the Dialogicality of the Self'

The paper deals predominantly with the theory of moral reconstruction in George H. Mead’s thinking. At the same time, it points to certain underdeveloped aspects of Mead’s social-psychological theory of the self and his moral philosophy, and tries to develop them. Since Mead’s ideas concerning ethics and moral philosophy are anchored in his social psychology, at the outset, the paper presents this theory underlining some problematic moments there and tries to solve them. The most important one, as the author argues, is the hypothesis that social conflicts (which are, at the same time, conflicts within individual selves) are to be seen as a root of reflective, discursive thinking altogether. Unlike certain other psychologists of his era (like Vygotskiy), Mead failed to appreciate this moment in the genesis of the dynamics of the self. As the paper argues, in the light of this critical interpretation of Mead’s philosophy, the classic philosophical term ‘the care of the soul’ can be reformulated in contemporary terms as ‘the care of the self’. Since, in Mead’s philosophy, the self is a product of social interaction, it turns out that the care of the self and the care of the soul might, to a great extent, be regarded as identical to the care of society (or community).

Qian Zhao offers a working paper on 'Trial Comparative Research of Chinese and Britain Cultural Entrepreneurs in pre-modern Time'

My research is on Chinese young cultural entrepreneurs under socio-technological innovations in China. In a close observation of Chinese entrepreneurs, we can observe an interesting phenomenon that a group of Chinese entrepreneurs, especially some famous successful ones have many cultural actions in their economic activities.
In this paper, I would like to turn to historical comparative analysis of cultural entrepreneurs in Britain and China in pre-modern time and try to answer the questions as following: how should we view this cultural entrepreneurship phenomenon, unique or ubiquitous? How they acted as cultural entrepreneurs? Where did their cultural propensity come from? As a part of my dissertation in the topic of cultural entrepreneurs, I am also very interested in the research of the evolvement of cultural entrepreneurs in history, to find the source and course.
I suppose, given that business and personal values were so closely intertwined, we should find answers in the culture and its relation with entrepreneurs’ certain values. What is less discussed is a set of cultural values that pertain to entrepreneurs’ cultural activities.