Prohibitions and commandments are the pivots of religious and ethical ways of life, they stabilize social orders, protect against violence, and limit the abuse of power. Rights, including fundamental rights, are safeguarded by prohibitions. At the same time, prohibitions themselves are an expression of political, economic, and social power relations. Prohibiting others—or even oneself—from doing something means restricting scope for action and self-realization. The fact that this repressive function of prohibitions and taboos inherently possesses a culture-forming dimension accounts for the discontent that Sigmund Freud already attributed to civilization at the beginning of the 20th century. The productive power of prohibitions can also be traced etymologically: As far back as Old Low German, the verb »verbieten« [to forbid] [Middle Low German »vorbēden«] was closely related to the command, in the sense of an emphatic directive for action.

In the summer semester of 2026, the Mosse Lectures aim to shed light on the ambivalences of prohibitions from a historical and systematic perspective and to examine their relevance to contemporary social debates. For while criticism of prohibitions has seemed ubiquitous in many social spheres for some time now, and »destigmatization« carries positive connotations for good reasons, prohibitions are experiencing a renaissance in contexts where they become instruments of crisis management. For example, in the global discussions surrounding the necessity and legitimacy of a social media ban for children and adolescents. Or in current climate policy, which—under the banner of safeguarding intertemporal freedom—faces the task of recalibrating the relationship between intergenerational justice and a »culture of prohibition« and debating the current imperative for bans. The debates surrounding cancel culture, fake news, and digital privacy rights also revolve around the possibilities of prohibitive restrictions. The Mosse Lectures bring together perspectives from philosophy, cultural studies, ethnology, and legal studies to examine the conditions under which prohibitions appear legitimate, their cultural foundations and political functions, and, not least, the power that is constituted in the very act of prohibiting.

PLEASE NOTE: The Mosse Lectures take place in the Senatssaal of Humboldt University [Unter den Linden 6]. The room is barrier-free.