From 1932, economists of the Freiburg School around Walter Eucken developed ordoliberalism. In this view, the state creates an Ordnungsrahmen, a framework of order, that guarantees competition and the freedom of citizens in the market. Eucken’s formula is often quoted: Staatliche Planung der Formen – ja; staatliche Planung und Lenkung des Wirtschaftsprozesses – nein. (State planning of the forms, yes. State planning and steering of the economic process, no.) Ludwig Erhard’s economic policy after the war drew on these ideas. Ordnungspolitik, policy that shapes the economic order through stable framework conditions, is still one of the three classic areas of German economic policy.
philosophy
The Imperative of Responsibility
In Das Prinzip Verantwortung (The Imperative of Responsibility, 1979), the philosopher Hans Jonas proposed a new rule for an age of powerful technology: Handle so, dass die Wirkungen deiner Handlung verträglich sind mit der Permanenz echten menschlichen Lebens auf Erden. (Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life on earth.) Where the risks are uncertain, he asked for a Heuristik der Furcht, a heuristic of fear. That means to die schlechtere Prognose der besseren vorzuziehen, to give the worse forecast priority over the better one.
All Those Affected
In Faktizität und Geltung (Between Facts and Norms, 1992), the philosopher Jürgen Habermas defined which rules are valid: Gültig sind genau die Handlungsnormen, denen alle möglicherweise Betroffenen als Teilnehmer an rationalen Diskursen zustimmen könnten. (Valid are exactly those norms of action to which all those possibly affected could agree as participants in rational discourse.)
Legitimacy Through Procedure
In 1969, the sociologist Niklas Luhmann published Legitimation durch Verfahren, legitimacy through procedure. Luhmann argued that people do not accept decisions by the state because of ideas about what is right. They accept them because they believe in the procedure that produced them, while the outcome is still open, and because they took part in that procedure.
Conflict as a Creative Force
The sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf, a pioneering thinker of liberalism, built his work on one idea about conflict. He did not see it as a disturbance of social order. He saw it as eine hervorragende schöpferische Kraft, an outstanding creative force, of social change. He wrote about it from his 1957 book on class conflict in industrial society to Der moderne soziale Konflikt (The Modern Social Conflict, 1992).
Argue, but Obey
In December 1784, Immanuel Kant answered the question Was ist Aufklärung?, what is enlightenment, in the Berlinische Monatsschrift. From all sides he heard the cry: do not argue! Der Offizier sagt: räsonniert nicht, sondern exerziert! (The officer says: do not argue, drill!) Kant’s answer kept obedience and objection together. An officer who receives an order must obey it while on duty. But he cannot fairly be prevented, as a scholar, from writing about the errors in the military service and putting them before the public. A citizen cannot refuse to pay his taxes. He may still argue publicly against them. Kant quoted the one ruler who allowed this: räsonniert, so viel ihr wollt, und worüber ihr wollt; aber gehorcht! (Argue as much as you like, and about whatever you like, but obey!)
Authority Must Be Earned
In Wahrheit und Methode (Truth and Method, 1960), the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer argued against the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment had given Vorurteil, prejudgment, a negative meaning. Gadamer gave it a positive role in all understanding. The Enlightenment made reason the last source of authority. Gadamer argued that tradition carries authority. For Gadamer, authority cannot be handed to anyone. It must be earned, because others recognize that its judgment and insight are superior.
The Categorical Imperative
In 1785 Immanuel Kant published the Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Its basic rule reads: Handle nur nach derjenigen Maxime, durch die du zugleich wollen kannst, dass sie ein allgemeines Gesetz werde. Act only according to that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.
The force of the better argument
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas wrote of der zwanglose Zwang des besseren Arguments, a phrase that is now much invoked in Germany. It means the unforced force of the better argument. In a discussion, the better argument should win. The phrase belongs to his theory of communicative action.
One Conjecture in One Manuscript
In 1917 Max Weber gave his lecture Wissenschaft als Beruf, Science as a Vocation, in Munich. He said that a scholar must be able to believe that the fate of his soul depends on one detail: ob er dies, gerade diese Konjektur an dieser Stelle dieser Handschrift richtig macht. That means whether he gets this conjecture right, exactly this one, at this point in this manuscript. Anyone who cannot do this, Weber said, der bleibe der Wissenschaft nur ja fern. He should stay away from science.