Professor for Transformation Design at the European University of Flensburg
Harald Welzer, born 1958, is a sociologist and social psychologist and co-founder and director of "Futur Zwei. Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit", which has set itself the task of identifying and promoting alternative lifestyles and economic forms. He is also a professor of transformation design and mediation at the University of Flensburg, a permanent visiting professor of social psychology at the University of St. Gallen and a member of the Future Council of the State of Schleswig-Holstein.
Welzer has written numerous books on socio-political issues and sustainability, most recently "Die smarte Diktatur. The Attack on Our Freedom", published by S.-Fischer-Verlag. Harald Welzer's books have been translated into 22 languages and put the thought leader and intellectual in rankings by the Georg Duttweiler Institute or Cicero, among others.
Wednesday, 10. May 2017, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOH-B-10
Freedom is not in great demand, neither in concept nor in reality. On the contrary, it is beset by all kinds of forces that administer the simple recipes and the simple slogans. Populism from both the left and the right is booming. In some countries, faith in the state has taken on worrying proportions. Yet it is precisely the other way round that the friends of the open society should be encouraged in their responsibility - in politics and in the economy, but also in society and in culture. Consequently, a plea for the values of reason, moderation and enlightenment against the obscurantism of the terribles simplificateurs is called for.
Discussion after the lecture .