Die offene Zukunft und ihre Freunde – Kritischer Rationalismus in Zeiten der Krise

In the organizer's words:

The open future and its friends - critical rationalism in times of crisis
Lecture and discussion with Florian Chefai

Climate catastrophe, AI revolution, wars - the world seems to be coming apart at the seams. In the face of major challenges, Western societies are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the future and are losing faith in liberal democracy. While many people are nostalgically longing for a glorified past, the market for hopeful literature that focuses on the supposedly "right mindset" is booming: positive thinking is being touted as the answer to the collective malaise.
Between tech utopias and doomsday fears, we are losing sight of what is actually possible: a sober yet confident way of looking at the future as an open space of possibility. But how can we talk sensibly about the future today when forecasts are unreliable and developments are barely foreseeable? What does it do to a society when confidence in a better tomorrow is lost? What remains of the Enlightenment's promise of progress?
Florian Chefai will examine these questions from the perspective of critical rationalism, as developed by philosophers Karl Popper and Hans Albert, among others. He will show that an open society is not based on certainties, but on the ability to learn and the courage to embrace transience - and that this is precisely where its resilience to the crises of the present can be found.

Florian Chefai is the scientific coordinator of the Hans Albert Institute and is responsible for press and public relations at the Giordano Bruno Foundation. He specializes in ethics, legal philosophy and the history of ideas. From 2015 to 2019, he was deputy editor-in-chief of the Humanist Press Service (hpd) and then wrote for the philosophy magazine, among others. He accompanied several humanitarian projects and advised institutions on the topics of radicalization and extremism.

Moderation: Eva Creutz
Moderation live chat and online discussion: Katrin Wiesemann
Livestream: Ricarda Hinz

A joint event organized by DA!, Respekt und Mut

Photography and filming: Photos and video recordings will be made during the event.

Price information:

Admission 5.- / reduced and with DA! membership card 2.-