Our mission statement

The Faculty of Humanities conducts innovative basic research for the interpretation and cultural classification of current social transformations. Digitalization, climate change, wars, loss of cultural heritage, and migration are some of the central social issues and challenges to which the Faculty of Humanities finds complex and creative answers. With its diverse forms of knowledge, it contributes significantly to strengthening liberal democracy.

Our faculty works fundamentally in a mode of critical reflection on current conditions and developments, questioning prevailing beliefs and assumptions with regard to their supposed self-evidence. In this way, we develop scenarios for alternative futures in the spirit of a New Enlightenment. Through the study of different languages, literatures, and cultures, the humanities promote understanding of other ways of life and patterns of perception. In this way, they strengthen the capacity for empathy as the basis for global understanding and as a prerequisite for a more just, diverse, and solidarity-based society.

Critical thinking and ethical reflection characterize research and teaching in our faculty and form the basis for the development of methods and approaches to answer complex questions. The preservation, transmission, and actualization of cultural heritage are at the heart of our numerous disciplines, which can positively influence the self-image of communities through their research contributions.

Our faculty is committed to both individual and collaborative research in research alliances. Through the training of teachers and numerous national and international collaborations with various social actors, we transfer science-specific differentiation achievements to the public.

In order to adequately appreciate the range of human experiences, history, and the diversity of cultural expressions, our faculty cultivates small disciplines that are dedicated to non-European cultures, among other things, and provide a new perspective on Europe from multiple perspectives. Interreligious dialogue between Protestant, Catholic, Islamic, and Alevi theology as well as Jewish studies is one of the unique features of our faculty.