What role do philosophical and religious value conceptions play in the state‘s assumption of social responsibility? The Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy is exploring this question in a lecture series entitled “Ethical and Religious Foundations of the Welfare State.”

Ideas of “good conduct” have been and remain important pillars for establishing social responsibility. They can serve as a basis for creating institutions that are founded on the principle of solidarity and give it concrete form. In the modern welfare state, however, their role is ambivalent. In pluralistic societies, recourse to philosphical or religious ethics to legitimise social protection conflicts with state neutrality. Therefore, the coexistence of state and ethically motivated social responsibility is not without tension, especially when mutual influence can be assumed.

Against this background, the lecture series aims to explore different approaches to a social ethics grounded in religious and philosophical worldviews, to highlight their contribution to the foundation of state social responsibility, and to discuss their interaction with the welfare state. Speakers from all parts of the world are invited to contribute, so that we can include perspectives from the Global South alongside the Western perspectives with which we will begin.

The lectures will take place online and will be conducted in either German or English.