Hermann Lübbe

1. Introduction

Hermann Lübbe (b. 1926) is a German philosopher whose work centers on the conditions of stability and freedom in technologically advanced liberal societies. Active mainly from the 1960s to the early 2000s in Germany and Switzerland, he is often situated between classical conservatism, Catholic and Protestant political theology, and Frankfurt School critical theory, without fully belonging to any of these currents.

Lübbe is best known for three clusters of ideas: a practice‑oriented theory of modernization and secularization, an account of prudential conservatism in liberal democracies, and a controversial thesis about the “value of forgetting” in dealing with historical catastrophe, especially National Socialism. Across these themes, he emphasizes the fragility of modern orders: they depend on traditions, virtues and beliefs they cannot easily reproduce through law or policy.

Unlike many contemporaries who offered either sweeping critiques or enthusiastic affirmations of modernity, Lübbe undertook a functional analysis of institutions and cultural practices. He argued that modernization generates powerful “follow‑up burdens”—social, moral, and ecological costs—which must be managed rather than simply denounced or celebrated. Religion, civil ritual, and inherited moral practices figure in his work less as objects of private belief than as resources for social integration.

His ideas have been influential in debates on secularization, philosophy of technology, political liberalism, and memory politics. Supporters regard him as a lucid theorist of late‑modern complexity; critics question both his conciliatory stance toward existing institutions and his arguments for controlled forgetting. The following sections trace his life, intellectual development, main works, and the reception of his key theses.

2. Life and Historical Context

2.1 Early Life and Education

Hermann Lübbe was born on 31 December 1926 in Aurich, East Frisia, a predominantly Protestant and provincial milieu that later informed his reflections on religion and tradition. His adolescence coincided with the final years of National Socialism and the Second World War, and he experienced the collapse of the Nazi regime in 1945 as a formative rupture.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Lübbe studied philosophy, theology, history and sociology at several German universities, completing a doctorate in philosophy around the mid‑1950s. This interdisciplinary training underpins his later ability to move between conceptual analysis, historical interpretation, and sociological diagnosis.

2.2 Academic Career and Public Office

Lübbe’s academic career unfolded in the context of the Federal Republic’s institutional consolidation. After early posts, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the newly founded Ruhr University Bochum in 1966, a key site of West German higher‑education expansion.

From 1970 to 1974 he served as State Secretary for Science and Research in the government of North Rhine‑Westphalia. This period gave him first‑hand experience with bureaucratic decision‑making, technology policy, and the politics of higher education, experiences that later fed into his analyses of expertise and modernization.

In 1979 he accepted a chair in philosophy at the University of Zurich. Teaching in Switzerland exposed him to somewhat different political and church‑state arrangements, sharpening his comparative perspective on secularization and liberal democracy.

2.3 Post‑War German and European Context

Lübbe’s work is embedded in the broader trajectory of post‑war West Germany and Western Europe: the transition from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy, the economic “miracle,” the student movements of the late 1960s, and subsequent debates on dealing with the Nazi past. He wrote against the background of the Cold War, welfare‑state expansion, and rapid technological development, all of which informed his focus on modernization’s benefits and “follow‑up burdens.”

His interventions on secularization and memory emerged within intense public struggles over the role of religion, denazification, and later the politics of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past). These historical circumstances shaped both the themes and the urgency of his philosophical output.

3. Intellectual Development

3.1 Formative Years (1926–1960)

Lübbe’s early intellectual development was marked by the moral and institutional vacuum following 1945. His studies in philosophy, theology, history and sociology led him away from both metaphysical system‑building and purely scholastic theology toward questions of political order and social integration. Proponents of this reading emphasize that his later interest in traditions and religion’s civil function reflects an early concern with how post‑totalitarian societies can stabilize themselves without reverting to authoritarianism.

3.2 Modernity, Religion, and Politics (1960–1980)

In the 1960s and 1970s, Lübbe developed his main positions on modernization, secularization, and political liberalism. At Bochum and during his tenure as state secretary, he articulated a critical distance from both restorationist conservatism and radical critiques of capitalism and technology. Essays later collected in Aspekte der Modernität and his studies on secularization formulate a functional analysis of religion and tradition in modern democracies.

His proximity, yet opposition, to the student movement and to Frankfurt School critical theory crystallized his “pragmatic conservative” profile. He defended incremental reform and institutional learning instead of revolutionary change, while rejecting nostalgic anti‑modernism.

3.3 Technology, Time, and Complexity (1980–2000)

Following his move to Zurich in 1979, Lübbe focused more explicitly on philosophy of technology and the experience of temporal acceleration. Works such as Gegenwartssinn und Zukunftsbewältigung analyze how rapid innovation compresses the “present” and shifts political decision‑making toward expert cultures and risk management. This phase also develops his notion of “follow‑up burdens of modernity”, integrating ecological, social and ethical costs into his modernization theory.

3.4 Memory and Forgetting (1990–present)

From the early 1990s onward, Lübbe directed increasing attention to collective memory, especially regarding National Socialism. In essays culminating in Der Wert des Vergessens, he proposed that selective, socially organized forgetting is a functional necessity for post‑catastrophic societies. Supporters see this as a consistent extension of his earlier emphasis on functional stabilization; critics view it as a problematic relativization of historical responsibility. This late phase reinforces his reputation as a nuanced yet controversial interpreter of Germany’s post‑war moral and political landscape.

4. Major Works

4.1 Overview of Key Publications

4.2 Thematic Significance

• Political and Religious Language: In this early work, Lübbe examines how political and religious discourses structure public understanding and legitimation. He analyzes key terms as tools that guide perception rather than as neutral descriptions, a concern that recurs in his later critique of “secularization.”

• Modernity and Follow‑Up Burdens: Aspekte der Modernität and Modernität und Folgelasten formulate his core thesis that modernization generates systemic benefits and cumulative costs. These works situate Lübbe in debates on welfare states, technology, and institutional adaptation in post‑war Europe.

• Secularization and Civil Religion: In Säkularisierung, Lübbe reconstructs the term’s intellectual history and argues that the narrative of linear religious decline is misleading. This text is central to his reputation as a critic of standard secularization theory and as a proponent of civil religion.

• Time, Technology, and Risk: Gegenwartssinn und Zukunftsbewältigung elaborates his concept of present‑present and analyzes how accelerated change pressures democratic decision‑making. It contributes to broader discussions of risk society and the politics of technological innovation.

• Memory and Forgetting: Der Wert des Vergessens gathers essays on the ethics and politics of memory, particularly regarding National Socialism. It is the focal point of debates over his notion that controlled forgetting can be morally and politically functional.

5. Core Ideas on Modernity and Secularization

5.1 Modernization and “Follow‑Up Burdens”

Lübbe conceptualizes modernization as a long‑term process of institutional differentiation, technological innovation, and expanding individual freedoms. He emphasizes that this process generates “follow‑up burdens” (Folgelasten)—unintended social, moral, and ecological costs.

Proponents of his view highlight his insistence that democracies must develop compensatory institutions to manage these burdens: welfare systems, environmental regulations, professional ethics, and forms of social insurance. Critics argue that his functional focus may underplay structural injustices or power asymmetries, presenting modernization’s downsides too much as manageable side‑effects rather than deep conflicts.

5.2 Presentism and the Sense of Modernity

Linked to modernization is Lübbe’s diagnosis of a specific modern experience of time, in which expectations of rapid change become normal. Modern societies, he suggests, live with a contracted sense of the present and short planning horizons. This temporal structure, in his view, reinforces both innovation and fragility, since institutions must cope with long‑term consequences under short‑term pressures.

5.3 Critique of Secularization Narratives

Lübbe’s work on secularization challenges the widespread thesis that modernization necessarily entails the decline or privatization of religion. In Säkularisierung, he reconstructs “secularization” as a historically contingent polemical concept, often used to legitimize political programs of emancipation from church authority.

He argues that:

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“Secularization” functions less as a neutral description than as a programmatic slogan in ideological conflicts.

(Paraphrased from Säkularisierung)

Proponents of his approach stress that he shows how religion persists in transformed roles, especially as a resource for social cohesion and moral motivation. An alternative view, often associated with more classical secularization theory, maintains that religious institutions do lose overall social significance, even if residual or transformed functions remain.

5.4 Civil Religion

A central element of Lübbe’s secularization analysis is his use of civil religion to describe quasi‑religious symbols, rituals and narratives supporting modern states. He contends that even officially secular polities rely on such patterns of legitimation, for example in national holidays, constitutional oaths, and commemorations.

Supporters see this as a realistic account of how modern democracies sustain loyalty and sacrifice. Critics worry that the concept may blur the line between religious and secular justification or inadvertently sacralize political orders.

6. Political Thought and Prudential Conservatism

6.1 Liberal Democracy and Post‑Totalitarian Order

Lübbe’s political thought is shaped by the question of how liberal democracies can remain stable after experiences of totalitarianism and rapid social change. He holds that democratic orders depend on pre‑political virtues—trust, self‑restraint, willingness to compromise—that are only partly produced by law and procedure.

A frequently cited paraphrase of his view is:

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Liberal freedom requires conservative virtues.

This encapsulates his claim that free institutions presuppose habits and traditions that developed under non‑liberal conditions and cannot simply be engineered at will.

6.2 Prudential Conservatism

Lübbe is often associated with prudential conservatism, a stance he neither codifies as a doctrine nor identifies with party politics, but exemplifies in his analyses. This view emphasizes:

• Incremental, reversible reforms rather than radical breaks
• Respect for evolved practices, whose functions may be opaque
• Attention to unintended consequences of policy innovations

Proponents argue that such prudentialism is grounded in epistemic modesty: policymakers cannot foresee all outcomes, so they should proceed cautiously. Critics, including some left‑liberal and critical‑theory authors, contend that this stance may entrench existing power relations and inhibit necessary structural change.

6.3 Tradition, Religion, and the State

Within his political philosophy, traditions and religion play primarily functional roles. Lübbe argues that they provide motivational resources and identity‑forming narratives that buttress constitutional loyalty. He does not advocate a confessional state, but suggests that democracies should recognize and, within limits, accommodate religious contributions to public ethos.

Supportive readers view this as a moderate alternative to both laïcist exclusion and overt political theology. Skeptics worry that even a functional endorsement of religion could marginalize non‑religious citizens or less dominant faiths.

6.4 Relation to Contemporaries

Lübbe’s prudential conservatism is often contrasted with Frankfurt School critical theory and more radical 1968‑era politics. Where critical theorists stress emancipation from domination, he emphasizes stabilization and the management of modernization’s side‑effects. Some commentators see his position as complementing liberal constitutionalism; others regard it as insufficiently sensitive to systemic injustices.

7. Time, Acceleration, and Technology

7.1 Present‑Present and Temporal Compression

Central to Lübbe’s analysis of modernity is the notion of “present‑present” (Gegenwartsgegenwart)—a shrinking temporal horizon in which only a short span of past and future is experienced as practically relevant. He argues that technological and social acceleration intensify this compression, leading to frequent updates of knowledge, skills, and institutional arrangements.

This diagnosis suggests that modern societies become future‑oriented yet short‑sighted: they constantly plan for the future but under conditions of high uncertainty and limited foresight.

7.2 Technology and Expert Systems

Lübbe treats technology not merely as tools but as complex socio‑technical systems requiring specialized knowledge. As these systems expand, lay citizens must increasingly rely on trust in experts and institutions—from nuclear power regulation to medical technologies. He argues that this reliance creates new vulnerabilities: errors or failures have wide‑ranging consequences, and public trust can easily erode.

Proponents see his account as a nuanced alternative to both technocratic optimism and wholesale technophobia. Critics argue that his focus on trust and risk management sidelines questions of democratic participation and control over technological choices.

7.3 Follow‑Up Burdens of Technological Progress

In works like Modernität und Folgelasten and Gegenwartssinn und Zukunftsbewältigung, Lübbe links technological innovation to the generation of follow‑up burdens such as environmental damage, long‑term health risks, and social dislocation. He maintains that political systems must institutionally internalize these burdens through regulation, compensation, and precautionary policies.

Some interpreters align his perspective with theories of the “risk society”, noting convergences with Ulrich Beck’s analyses, though Lübbe places greater emphasis on incremental management rather than structural critique.

7.4 Decision‑Making under Acceleration

According to Lübbe, accelerated change overloads political decision‑making. Legislators and administrators must make binding choices under tight deadlines, with incomplete knowledge of long‑term consequences:

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The acceleration of change contracts the present and overloads political decision‑making with unforeseeable consequences.

(Paraphrased from Gegenwartssinn und Zukunftsbewältigung)

He argues that this situation favors procedural rationality, reliance on expert committees, and adaptive learning. Supporters interpret this as a realistic account of late‑modern governance; detractors worry that it may normalize technocratic drift and weaken democratic deliberation.

8. Memory, Forgetting, and Dealing with the Past

8.1 Context: Germany’s Confrontation with National Socialism

Lübbe’s reflections on memory and forgetting emerge within debates over how the Federal Republic of Germany should address the Nazi past. From the 1960s onward, conflicts arose between advocates of continuous critical remembrance and those favoring closure or normalization. Lübbe’s position seeks to analyze how societies actually handle traumatic pasts, rather than prescribing a simple imperative to remember.

8.2 The Value of Forgetting

In Der Wert des Vergessens, Lübbe argues that forgetting is not merely a cognitive failure but a “cultural technique” used by societies to cope with past injustices. He suggests that, beyond a certain point, unending legal and political re‑litigation of historical crimes can hinder reconciliation and forward‑looking cooperation.

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Forgetting is not merely a deficiency of memory, but a cultural technique of coping with the past.

(Paraphrased from Der Wert des Vergessens)

This thesis emphasizes selective, socially organized forgetting, for example through statutes of limitations, amnesties, or a gradual shift in commemorative focus.

8.3 Supportive and Critical Responses

Supporters interpret Lübbe as describing a functional balance between remembering and forgetting. They argue that his analysis helps explain why, in practice, post‑conflict societies often adopt time‑limited prosecutions and symbolic gestures rather than indefinite punishment. Some scholars of transitional justice engage his work as a caution against moral maximalism that could destabilize fragile democracies.

Critics, including historians and political theorists, contend that his thesis risks relativizing or prematurely closing questions of guilt, responsibility, and victim recognition. They worry that framing forgetting as functionally necessary may legitimate pressures to silence marginalized memories or minimize structural continuities with the past.

8.4 Memory Politics and Civil Religion

Lübbe links memory practices to civil religion: public rituals of remembrance, monuments, and anniversaries integrate traumatic histories into a shared narrative. He views these as double‑edged. On one hand, they preserve awareness of past wrongdoing; on the other, they can eventually normalize that past by embedding it in a stabilized national story.

Interpretations diverge on whether Lübbe’s approach strengthens critical historical consciousness or tends toward reconciliation at the expense of ongoing critique. His work continues to be cited in controversies over Holocaust remembrance, reparations, and the temporal limits of transitional justice.

9. Impact on Philosophy and Related Fields

9.1 Position within Post‑War German Thought

Lübbe occupies a distinctive position in post‑war German philosophy. He is often categorized alongside thinkers who sought to defend liberal democracy and technological modernity without adopting either technocratic optimism or radical critique. His work interacts with, but is clearly differentiated from, Frankfurt School critical theory, political theology, and neo‑Aristotelian ethics.

9.2 Influence Across Disciplines

9.3 Reception and Critique

Supporters value Lübbe’s clear, empirically oriented style and his willingness to integrate philosophical reflection with policy concerns. They credit him with anticipating debates on risk society, social acceleration, and the persistence of religion in secular contexts.

Critics raise several concerns:

• That his functionalism may treat existing institutions and traditions as normatively acceptable simply because they stabilize order.
• That prudential conservatism can shade into complacency about social inequalities or historical injustices.
• That his forgetting thesis conflicts with widely held norms of remembrance, especially in relation to the Holocaust.

Some commentators see his work as primarily influential in German‑language debates, with more limited international reception. Others point to growing interest in his concepts of presentism and civil religion in comparative political theory and sociology.

9.4 Institutional and Public Impact

Beyond academic philosophy, Lübbe’s role as a public intellectual and former state secretary contributed to discussions on higher‑education reform, science policy, and church‑state relations in Germany and Switzerland. His accessible essays have been cited in policy reports and public debates on ethical issues surrounding technology, religion in the public sphere, and memory politics.

10. Methodology and Style of Argument

10.1 Practice‑Oriented and Functional Analysis

Lübbe’s methodology is often described as practice‑oriented and functionalist. Rather than constructing comprehensive metaphysical systems, he examines how institutions, traditions, and beliefs function within modern societies. He frequently asks what stabilizing or destabilizing roles specific practices play, whether or not their original justifications remain widely shared.

Supporters regard this as a sober, empirically informed approach that avoids both romanticism and abstract moralism. Critics argue that a strong focus on function can obscure normative evaluation, implicitly favoring what “works” over questions of justice.

10.2 Historical and Conceptual Reconstruction

In works such as Säkularisierung, Lübbe employs historical‑conceptual analysis. He traces how key terms—“secularization,” “modernity,” “civil religion”—emerged and shifted meaning in political and theological debates. This method seeks to uncover the ideological uses of concepts and to separate descriptive claims from programmatic ones.

His approach parallels some forms of conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte), though he tends to link conceptual shifts more directly to institutional changes and political conflicts than to purely semantic evolution.

10.3 Style: Clarity and Accessibility

Lübbe writes in a relatively unadorned and accessible German, often aiming at educated non‑specialists as well as academics. He favors essayistic arguments, concrete examples, and references to current policy debates over dense technical formulations. This has facilitated his role as a public intellectual but has also led some philosophers to classify his work as “applied” or “interventionist” rather than strictly systematic.

10.4 Relation to Empirical Research

Although trained as a philosopher, Lübbe extensively engages sociology, history, and political science. He frequently cites empirical studies on religious practice, technological risk, and institutional development to support or illustrate his claims. Proponents see this as a strength that grounds his theorizing; critics question whether his use of empirical material is selective or oriented toward confirming his functionalist assumptions.

10.5 Normativity and Implicit Presuppositions

Lübbe’s arguments often contain normative implications—for example, favoring liberal democracy, incremental reform, or balanced memory practices—without always presenting these as explicit moral theories. Some commentators describe his stance as a “liberal‑conservative common sense” that relies on shared post‑war European assumptions. Others see in his work a form of moderate perfectionism, valuing stability, predictability, and institutional learning as intrinsic political goods.

11. Legacy and Historical Significance

11.1 Place in Intellectual History

Hermann Lübbe is widely regarded as a representative of a post‑war liberal‑conservative current in German thought that sought to secure parliamentary democracy and technological modernity while acknowledging their vulnerabilities. His work stands alongside, yet distinct from, that of contemporaries such as Ernst‑Wolfgang Böckenförde, Odo Marquard, and Robert Spaemann, who similarly explored the preconditions of modern freedom.

11.2 Contributions to Key Debates

Lübbe’s lasting significance is often located in three debates:

• Modernity and its costs: His concept of “follow‑up burdens” has informed discussions on welfare policy, environmental regulation, and technology assessment.
• Secularization and civil religion: His critique of linear secularization narratives and emphasis on civil religion influenced theology, sociology of religion, and constitutional debates on church‑state relations.
• Memory and forgetting: His thesis on the value of forgetting, while controversial, has become a reference point in scholarship on transitional justice and memory politics, especially regarding time limits on legal and political reckoning.

11.3 Evaluations of His Overall Impact

Sympathetic assessments portray Lübbe as a lucid diagnostician of late modernity, whose analyses of time compression, expert governance, and residual religion anticipate later work on risk society and social acceleration. They highlight his role in bridging philosophical reflection and practical politics.

Critical evaluations emphasize perceived blind spots: an underestimation of structural inequalities, a tendency to treat stability as a paramount value, and the moral risks of legitimizing forgetting. Some commentators consider his influence substantial in German‑speaking contexts but comparatively modest internationally, partly due to limited translation.

11.4 Continuing Relevance

Lübbe’s ideas are periodically revisited in light of new technological challenges (digitalization, biotechnology), religious pluralization, and ongoing debates over historical injustices. His analyses of presentism, expert reliance, and the political uses of memory continue to offer conceptual tools for understanding the tensions of 21st‑century liberal democracies, even as scholars dispute his normative conclusions and political recommendations.