22.04.2015The radically evil – Thoughts on the original sin

Dr. Gunda Werner, Chair of Dogma and Dogmatic Theory,
Faculty of Catholic Theology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Dr. Dr. Theodor Payk, former director of the Bochum Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Part 1) That man should know what he should do, but nevertheless does not – this motivated none other than Immanuel Kant to perform extensive deliberations on the radically evil. At the center of the deliberations is the conviction that man must be assigned guilt, so that there can be guilt. Man is responsible for what he does. Why then does he perform acts of evil? Is there a way out? Is there deliverance from evil, as Christians pray in the Lord’s Prayer? Attempts at a theological and philosophical approach to the topic.

Part 2) “Evil” – a concept long since discussed in metaphysics, philosophy, human and cultural sciences – manifests itself in the condemnable acts and thoughts of man, who must otherwise adhere to socially mandatory and codified norms and rules. How and why does evil emerge? Where does it come from, and: is it part of the “human condition”? Is it even to be found in the brain, meaning: are there neuroscientific clues to neurobiological substrates for harmful, destructive and “malicious” behavior? Attempts at an anthropological and neuropsychological approach.