Energie, Wissenschaft und Religion

On the basis of a comprehensive study of the sources, the author systematically summarises Wilhelm Ostwald's religious statements, reconstructs their genesis and discusses the claim to replace religion with science. The associated processes of appropriation and reinterpretation illustrate the ambivalence and contradictions of these monistic ideas. At the same time, however, the religious-theoretical approach also reveals the religiously productive power of monism. It allows us to see Ostwald as an actor in the religious-political discourse of his time. This also has implications for the present: naturalistic worldviews may appear anti-religious, but they are not necessarily to be judged as non-religious.