Bernard Bolzano Gesamtausgabe / Reihe II: Nachlaß. A. Nachgelassene Schriften. Band 23,1: Erbauungsreden der Studienjahre 1817/1818. Erster Teil
Bernard Bolzano, Kurt F. Strasser
On the third Sunday in November of 1817, Bernard Bolzano began the twelfth annual cycle of his edification speeches. In this academic year he began by dealing with the students’ responsibility to their parents and teachers but also to the opposite (female) sex and the society of mankind as a whole. In four of his speeches, he paid particular attention to the virtue of unselfishness. For Bolzano, the reasonable substantiation of the Christian religion was just as important, since it transcended natural religion in that it could not be explained completely by reason. Again and again Bolzano drew a new boundaries between natural religion and the Christian religion in a constant effort to ultimately establish these precisely. Bolzano‘s attempt to combine faith and reason ended in a balancing act. Although this was admired by some, many however viewed it with suspicion, misunderstood it and increasingly rejected it openly. This was one of the reasons for Bolzano to speak also of “the advantages and dangers in the precoccupation with ideals“ and to draw up clear rules for the creation and application of ideas. In spite of all these difficulties, Bolzano tried to obtain a view of a better world by developing an appreciation of beauty.
