To research living beings one has to participate in life.' Viktor von Weizsäcker's legacy

Losch, Andreas (2015). To research living beings one has to participate in life.' Viktor von Weizsäcker's legacy. In: Evers, Dirk; Fuller, Michael; Jackelén, Antje; Knut-Willy, Saether (eds.) Issues in Science & Theology: What is Life? Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology (pp. 157-167). Cham: Springer

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Viktor von Weizsäcker has been a German medical doctor and philosopher, well known throughout Europe, but hardly received in the Anglo-American culture. He focusses on the crucial epistemological question how one can conduct research on living beings. The article’s title represents a key quote of his opus magnum “Der Gestaltkreis”, which works out a theory of the unity of perception and motion. According to Viktor von Weizsäcker, one cannot separate the two, meaning that we locate ourselves in a fundamental union with the living world, which has lasting influence on our capacity of perception. This idea does not seem too different from Ian Barbour’s idea about critical realism, exploring a “consciousness of ourselves as arising out of rapport, interconnection and participation in processes reaching beyond ourselves.” Both authors, Viktor von Weizsäcker and Ian Barbour, still have lasting influence on the dialog between religion and science, each in their respective cultures – a further reason to compare their core ideas, after presenting Viktor von Weizsäcker’s life and thought. Finally, the theological impact of von Weizsäcker’s thought will be assessed. Following his philosophy, it becomes clear that the miracle of creation is the condition of the possibility of any perception.

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