Welt und Bildung bei Eugen Fink

The work is dedicated to the philosophical and pedagogical opus of Eugen Fink. Besides the introduction to the characteristics of Finks thinking, the first part elaborates on the methodical foundation of Finks anthropology. Fink contrasts the anthropological concept of the human being as animal rationale, with his model of the human being as entity without entity, as "existing indefiniteness", which is based on his critism of Plato. Hence the analysis of the human being as ongoing interpretation in the presence of the human being provides a genuinely "human" basis for a pedagogical anthropology. The concept of understanding and interpretation according to Fink is thus demarcated for the first time in systematic-comparative methodology against the concept by Heidegger from the phase around "Sein und Zeit" ("Being and Time"). This facilitates the understanding of how Fink differs in his methodology from Heidegger, although his approach in analysing the fundamental phenomena of human existence mirrors the existential analysis by Heidegger. The second part of the work explores the cosmology by Fink. It shows how Fink, by resorting to the wordly wisdom of the myth, rehabilitates objective contents of the thinking of world as a form of cosmological transcendency of the human being. The "cosmological difference", which Fink introduces in analogy to Heideggers "ontological difference", is explained in order to grasp the concept of the distinction between world and object occurring in this world on the one hand, and the human being, who in thinking this concept embraces the entire world while himself existing in this world, on the other hand. Reconstructing the interpretation of Platos parable of the cave shows how Fink reveals alternative cosmic contents. This involves an interpretation of the fragile symbols of heaven and earth which Finnk employs with heuristic intention. Finks conclusions are critically discussed according to the model of operational and thematic concepts developed by Fink himself. The third part of the work follows the central question of the parallelism of thinking and acting in Finks opus. Especially the work of the "september-gesellschaft" ("September-Society"), in the "Oberaudorfer Kreis" ("Oberaudorf Circle") and in the "Gewerkschaft Wissenschaft und Erziehung" ("Trade Union Science and Education") shows important priorities in the theory and the politics of education. The "Bremer Plan" ("Plan of Bremen") itself is subsequently analysed in the history of its formation and its material form. The analysis is based on unpublished material from the "Archiv der sozialen Demokratie" (archive of the social democracy") of the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung (Friedrich Ebert Foundation). By way of conclusion, this section reconstructs Finks influence on the final form of the "Bremer Plan" and gives a substantiated judgement as to if and where he himself is in correspondence or in contradiction to his theoretical opus. A final chapter discusses the importance of religion in Finks opus and makes a clarifying contribution.