Forms of Modernity - Views of Modernity

The three part series of discussions was initiated by the then acting President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Koehler. This was being organized in co-operation with the Veranstaltungsforum of the publishing group Georg von Holtzbrinck and the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt.

The purpose of each of the three full-day discussions, whose participants include twelve outstanding personalities from all major world cultures alongside the Federal President, is to expand the look beyond the western world. The third event in the series will be followed by a public panel discussion with some 150 invited guests.

The first discussion on 8 July 2008 has dealt with the relationship between the individual and the community: What kind of understanding have the different cultures with respect to the individual? How do the different cultures define the relation between state, religion and social interaction. Among the participants were i.a. Prof. Shmuel N. Eisenstadt - The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Prof.  Ramin Jahanbegloo - University of Toronto, Prof. Hans Küng - Global Ethic Foundation, Dr. Heba Raouf Ezzat - Kairo University, Prof. Wang Hui - Tsinghua University Beijing.

The central theme of the second discussion on 21 October 2008 broached the issue of “Wisdom and Science“ in today's societies. The participants i.a. Prof. Lorraine Daston - Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Prof. Helga Nowotny - Vice-President of the European Research Council, Prof. Jamil Ragep - Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Prof. Godfrey Tangwa - University Yaoundé and the Secretary General of the European Research Council Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker took up the discussion on how knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge are defined in different cultures, in what ways do these definitions differ from our Western understanding. The question was raised, if it is time for science and society to abandon the logic of "more and more" and switch to a paradigm of scarcity.

The final session on 20 October 2009 dealt with the topic of “Man and Modernity“. The principle of improvement and progress belong to the driving forces of the modern era. Scientific and technological progress have a great influence all over the world and the attitude towards this form of progress is not always and only positive. Questions like: Do we have a universal vision of progress? How do people around the world answer the question of what the meaning and goal of human life is? How do they view relationships between people and man's relationship to the world? How religious is modernity and how modern are religions? were main topics of the session. Participants were amongst other Asli Erdogan - authoress and Member of PEN in Turkey, Prof. Rainer Forst - philosophical institute, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt, Prof. Hassan Hanafi - philosophical faculty, University in Kairo, Ashis Nandy - Fellow of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, Prof. Saskia Sassen - Department of Sociology, Columbia University in New York and Aminata Sow Fall - authoress and Director of the Centre Africain d'Animation et d'Echanges Culturels in Dakar, Senegal.

In order to make the results of the series directly accessible to a wider public and discuss the ambivalence of modernization processes, 150 guests were invited to the public panel discussion titled "The Future of Modernity". Speakers of the discussion were Hassan Hanafi, Ashis Nandy, Saskia Sassen and Aminata Sow Fall.

Opening speech of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Koehler 8 July 2008 (in German)

Opening speech of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Koehler 20 October 2009 (in German)