How do values form in our consciousness? Do we adopt values, or do they take hold of us? Do we shape values such as tolerance, human dignity, reverence for life, fairness, equality, social justice, or do they shape us?What are the pre-requisites for values to be able to develop in our consciousness and inform our behaviour? Are they specific social conditions or individual capabilities? And what causes values to form in an individual? Does health only gain significance when we are ill? Does tolerance only become important when we encounter intolerance?This volume takes up these questions from a specialist and an interdisciplinary perspective. Scholars of the natural sciences, philosophy, theology, religious studies, education studies, elementary science education, sport science, ethics and the fine arts from the Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Value Formation at the University of Osnabrück analyse the possibilities for value formation in their discipline and examine the synergy effects in co-operation with other disciplines. They provide different answers to the above questions, but share the opinion that value formation is a subjective process of self-education.

Dr. Elisabeth Naurath ist Professorin für Evangelische Theologie mit Schwerpunkt Religionspädagogik und Didaktik des Religionsunterrichts an der Universität Augsburg.