Inaugural lecture Christoph Henning: a new draft of humanist philosophy
14 februari 2025
On Friday 14 February, Christoph Henning, Professor of Philosophy and Humanism, deliveres his inaugural lecture Humanism in crisis: A new draft of humanist philosophy. He argues that humanism has a lot to say if it is contextualized and re-applied.
At a time of permanent ecological, social and political crisis, humanism has come under fire. Does it still have something to say? In view of these uncertainties, Christoph Henning re-reads the humanist approach in its global entangled history and examines how humanism can be reconceived today. To do this, we first have to be sure of philosophy as a method: what can philosophy still accomplish today? He defines it as an approach that neither lectures people nor arrogantly ignores other opinions, but first listens and does justice to diverse views. We need to understand why many people no longer have faith in humanism. Their experiences need to be taken seriously.
But Henning draws another conclusion: There are many crises that point us back to a renewed humanism as a unification of humankind. Without it, the dangers we will be exposed to in the future cannot be addressed: the global climate crisis, the erosion of minimum political standards and the loss of human standards by new technologies. It is essential to understand humans as vulnerable beings who are dependent on nature and each other and who must unite if we are to pass the tests of the coming times.
Christoph Henning (1973) is Professor of Humanism and Philosophy at the University of Humanistic Studies. After his habilitation in St. Gallen (Switzerland) in 2014, he worked as a philosophy fellow at the Max Weber College of the University of Erfurt (Germany). In 2003, he received his PhD from TU Dresden with distinction. He has written on alienation, happiness, creativity, degrowth or new materialism. At the University of Humanistic Studies, he works on contemporary humanist values.
A Dutch translation of the lecture can be found here.
Christoph Henning, Professor of Philosophy and Humanism delivered his inaugural lecture 'Humanism in crisis: A new draft of humanist philosophy'. He argues that humanism has a lot to say if it is contextualized and re-applied.
