Menschenbild und Gesellschaft

The first part of the studies contains a fundamental work on "Helmuth Plessner. Philosoph und Soziologe-Wissenschaft als Beruf in der Endzeit des bürgerlichen Humanismus" (Philosopher and Socio-Logical Science as a Profession in the Last Days of Bourgeois Humanism), on which Christian von Ferber wrote until old age and whose discussion is still pending. In the second part of the studies, von Ferber describes his career in the post-war period under the influence and in the circles of Helmuth Plessner and other teachers, up to becoming a professor of sociology. He followed three orientations: Science is more than the acquisition of methodological and theoretical competence. Scepticism is appropriate towards statements that cannot relate to primary reality, and science is related to the values of human life. Fundamental reflections on the freedom-securing character of sociology and on central questions of health policy and social medicine illuminate Christian von Ferber's life's work and the topicality of his questions.