Das Leben

In its first section, the second of four volumes of interdisciplinary studies of 'life' deals with the proof and the enhancement of the concept of life in works ranging from Kierkegaard and Darwin to Freud. The second section explores turning points and disruptions. The authors begin by outlining the term 'life' in medicine, technology and art. This is followed by a detailed observation of various forms of reflecting on the purpose of life, primarily in philosophy. The volume concludes with a theological stock-taking in the form of a theology of life, which points out the different ways in which the subject of life is dealt with in European cultural history and why the discourse on life has its own history of conflicts. Those discussions which are relevant for the Christian traditions, either directly or latently, are of particular interest.