02-08-2025: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
“Forever a construction site”
Infrastructure defines the consciousness of a society. Modernity was characterised by progress and expansion: new houses, new roads, railways, power lines, schools and swimming pools were built everywhere. Prosperity was visible.
Today, we are at the beginning of a new era: it is no longer about expansion, but about maintaining what already exists. Over the past 70 years, we have created a stock that will keep us busy maintaining and repairing forever.
Click here for the article on the FAZ website.
01-02-2025: New article in the WirtschaftsWoche
“Greying with dignity? Please don’t!”
The pension issue has been strangely sidelined in this election, but far beyond pensions, the much more fundamental question arises: can we expect our children to turn society into a large retirement home? – I thought about this for WirtschaftsWoche.
Click here for the article on the pages of WirtschaftsWoche.
29.12.2024: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
“There is not a reward for everything”
In this article, I describe the philosophical foundations of an economy that relies on utility maximisation and incentive mechanisms. Without Descartes and Hegel, Adam Smith and Gary Becker would be inconceivable.
This ‘economic’ approach is so deeply rooted in our thinking that we sometimes think we can use it to explain the entire social world. However, Kant had already recognised that there are two answers to the question ‘What should I do?’: (1) The economic-pragmatic one: that which benefits me and makes me happy. (2) The moral one: that which makes me worthy of happiness.
I argue that a human society must not understand the second answer as a sub-function of the first: Not everything I should do is worthwhile. And not everything that is worthwhile contributes to increasing our human dignity. Click here for the article on the FAZ website.
26-09-2024: Lecture at the BRL Forum, Hamburg
“Why the economy won’t help us”
At this year’s BRL Forum in Hamburg, I had the honour of giving a lecture on the relationship between democracy and the economy. Even though we have all become accustomed to thinking of a free economy and a free society together, this is unfortunately neither historically nor theoretically a given. We should not rely on the economy to defend our democracy. – But each of us can do something. Even the people in the economy. Click here for the programme of the event (in German).
16-08-2024: New article in the WirtschaftsWoche
“Weakness is human”
Since the machine started talking to us, so-called ‘artificial intelligence’ has become part of the social debate. In my article in WirtschaftsWoche, I discuss the fact that speech and intelligence alone are not enough to be human.
Click here for the article on the pages of WirtschaftsWoche.
2024-07-14: Lecture at the Saxon Raw Materials Day
Property and bureaucracy – philosophical thoughts on the foundations and limits of our society
At this year’s Saxon Raw Materials Day, I will be giving a keynote speech on the issues of property and bureaucracy. Property rights form the basis of civil society, and bureaucracy is (at least in moderation) the its stabilizing structure.
Click here for the program (in German).
2024-06-21: Panel discussion at AIOsphere 2024:
Artifical “intelligence”
At AIOsphere, I will be discussing the question “How Generative AI is Revolutionizing Supply Chain” with Andrea Wildies (CEO, Carton Group), Volker Strasser (Industry Advisor Logistics, Microsoft) and Knut Alicke (Partner, McKinsey). I am particularly interested in how the new technology is changing people’s relationship to their work, but above all to each other.
Click here for the program.
New article in the WirtschaftsWoche, 15-03-2024
“Hurray for bureaucracy”
In my article, I explore the question of why we have been struggling with bureaucracy for centuries, yet cannot do without it in a free and pluralistic society.
Click here for the article on the pages of WirtschaftsWoche.
Essay competition
Democracy and Economy
WirtschaftsWoche and the Centre for Liberal Modernity have awarded me the “Liberal Democracy” essay prize. I am very grateful for this.
The text of the essay can be found here.