The central reference point of the volume is Heinz-Joachim Heydorn's essay "Survival Through Bildung - Outline of a prospect" (1974), which was translated into English and subsequently made available to a broad public for the first time. Despite the time gap of almost 50 years, Heydorn's text is fascinating, because the survival of humanity - at least a qualitatively substantial survival of humanity - seems extremely questionable today. Researchers with different theoretical perspectives question the text on its contemporary content and put their interpretations up for discussion.