What unites us as a society

Broad and multi-layered promotion of young talent: Four Schools invite Master's students and doctoral candidates, postdocs and postdocs to the second edition of the "Oldenburg School" for the humanities and social sciences. A series of events is open to all interested parties. The foundations of social solidarity or historical discourse analysis, unspeakable obesity or business start-ups for humanities scholars - with various workshops and lectures, a summer school and a research workshop, the two-week "Oldenburg School" once again covers a wide range of topics. It brings together the diverse programmes for young academics under the umbrella of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences (3GO). Most of this year's events will take place in the Schlaues Haus on Schlossplatz. A degree in the humanities, possibly a doctorate, and then founding a company? "Of course you can - very well in fact!" emphasise Prof. Dr Stephanie Birkner, Junior Professor of Female Entrepreneurship, and start-up coach Cindy Stern from the university's Start-up and Innovation Centre. In their workshop "Geistreich gründen" on Friday, 22 September from 9.30 am to 2 pm, the focus will be on what distinguishes successful founders and what founding talents the workshop participants bring with them. Together, the group will develop initial approaches for start-up ideas and then go through a short pitch training session. Some places are still available, registration is possible online. A workshop with Düsseldorf historian and expert Prof. Dr Achim Landwehr on Wednesday, 27 September from 9.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. aims to convey the fact that historical discourse analysis wrongly has the nimbus of a secret science. His aim is to make the theoretical considerations behind the approach comprehensible by discussing current works by the participants. They can contribute questions and approaches from their theses or dissertations, but also "construction sites" from individual chapters of ongoing projects. There are also still a few places available for which interested parties can register . The 3GO is also still accepting registrations for its two-day Summer School "Empirical Research and Normative Theory" on 28 and 29 September with contributions in German and English. The speakers are travelling from Groningen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, Göttingen, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Munich and Kiel, among others. They will shed light on various topics ranging from "Empirical Social Research in Medical Ethics" and moral preferences at kindergarten age to the imperfection of justice and its underlying theories. The various public lectures organised by the organisers from School I to IV can be attended spontaneously and without admission. Berlin sociologist and migration researcher Dr Serhat Karakayali will talk about the foundations of solidarity and the question of what unites us as a society on Tuesday, 19 September at 6 p.m., also in the Schlaues Haus. His lecture "Solidarity as distant love" opens the "Oldenburg School" and is part of a masterclass organised by the "Migration Society Border Formations" doctoral programme coordinated at the university. The next public lectures will follow on Monday, 25 September. The Amsterdam philosopher Prof Dr Paul Cobben will speak at 10.00 a.m. on "'The formation of the free subject' or 'Overcoming the fear of death'". He is a guest at the invitation of the Oldenburg DFG Research Training Group "Self-Formation", as is the media scientist Prof Dr Beate Ochsner from Constance. She will be giving a keynote lecture entitled "(Important) Images or: Audiovisual Production of Obesity" from 11.00 am. Among other things, it will deal with the balancing act between what is visible and what can be said. On Tuesday, 26 September at 6.15 pm, Mainz theologian Dr Marcus Held will raise the question: "Is our only option left to remain silent?" Held, who worked at the University of Oldenburg for several years, will highlight forms of articulation of religion in a secular world in which reason is increasingly taking precedence over religion. "Habermas' conception of normativity" will be the focus of the public lecture by Oldenburg sociologist emeritus Prof. Dr Stefan Müller-Doohm on Thursday, 28 September at 6.00 pm. Müller-Doohm is a recognised expert on Jürgen Habermas and his philosophy and published the first comprehensive biography of the thinker a few years ago. The lecture is part of the 3GO Summer School, which concludes the following day on the Haarentor campus: On Friday 29 September, Stuttgart philosopher Prof. Dr Philipp Hübl will give a lecture on moral thinking and arguments against the power of emotions. The lecture entitled "Taming the Elephant" begins at 3 p.m. in the University Senate Meeting Room (Lecture Centre A14, Uhlhornsweg 86, Room 1-111).