Feindliche Übernahme

Abstract As several studies of Thomas Mann’s novel Der Zauberberg have shown, the novel refers in various complex ways to the so-called ›literature of world-views‹ (›Weltanschauungsliteratur‹), represented by the works of Ernst Haeckel, Oswald Spengler, and others. The article explores one aspect of this relationship, focusing on argumentative techniques that characterize the ›literature of world-views‹. In Mann’s novel, these techniques of argumentation - especially generalizations, analogies and inferences from ›is‹ to ›ought‹ - are shown in a very critical light when they are employed by Settembrini and Naphta; the novel suggests that they are dubious from a moral as well as an epistemic standpoint. However, in other parts of the novel, the same modes of argumentation are used by the protagonist and the narrator to develop a general view of the human, nature, ethics and politics, a view that is meant to surpass the world-views represented by Settembrini and Naphta.