Thesis Notice of Lockenhaus
Thesis 1 : No turning back. The coherent perception of a start.
A year ago, the Europahaus decided to continue to be, against the will of Burganland's provincial government. And so it has. The Europahaus has gone too far; it has crossed the threshold of its founding. Now we are pursued by the question of the significance of such an undertaking.
To pursue meaningful actions is suspicious behavior. It does not concern itself with the spirit of the times, which demands efficient actions, precise goals and quick completion. The refusal of such nonsense demonstrates the difficulty that must be overcome. It is about the work of art, the vision, which has carried the Europahaus and should propel it onwards, under its own direction and in the public debate. The discourse on a new mission statement is successful if it creates words that, while sailing with reality, point out the horizon.
Political culture is for society, what education is for the individual: life according to thought out and deliberate principles and the creation of an order that manages this. If such an undertaking appears to be offensive or even scandalous to the guardians of power, it is possible that storms will follow. And then it is good to hear the words of the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, who had sailed around the Earth and who, during a hurricane on the Indian Ocean, called to his team: "Ahead, children, the ocean is cowering before you."
Thesis 2: The expulsion of the monsters. In praise of the logical.
Only by switching the terms development politics and political education, does the substantial become recognizable: the development of politics, education of the political. Curing the Third World, or avoiding climate catastrophes are not the domain of education.
Masters of the political have been faced by a dilemma for the past 2400 years. Unlike technical skills, which, despite the fact that they generally can be taught, are only possessed by a few specialists, political intelligence can not be taught, even though it should be shared by the most people. This thought of Socrates is countered by Protagoras, though he can only support his counter-thesis by referring to the myth of Prometheus and Empimetheus. He refers to the gods. When politics exceeds knowledge and becomes an art (or a treasure), no pedagogy in the world and not even the most sophisticated education is capable of teaching this art. Only gods possess it. If this is the case, then the concern is the creation of appropriate conditions that lead to a meaningful handling of knowledge and - possibly - lure the gods. Such appropriate conditions and manners are known as logos (also the word for word).
Those who handle themselves meaningfully are not far from logical thinking. When regarding a world that in all practicality is spinning completely out of control, nothing seems more urgently needed in our (developmental) political education than a good theory. A bit of order in my poor head (William of Baskerville)