"...And to define America, her athletic democracy" : in memory of Richard Rorty -- How to answer the ethical question : Derrida and religion -- Ronald Dworkin : a maverick among legal scholars -- An avantgardistic instinct for relevances : the role of the intellectual and the European cause -- What is meant by a "post-secular society"? A discussion on Islam in Europe -- European politics at an impasse : a plea for a policy of graduated integration -- The constitutionalization of international law and the legitimation problems of a constitution for world society -- Media, markets and consumers : the quality press as the backbone of the political public sphere -- Political communication in media society : does democracy still have an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on empirical research -- Afterword : lessons of the financial crisis.