In his short auto-biographical text, “Which Way to Go? How I Became the Philosopher of Orientation,” Werner Stegmaier narrates his life story from the historical contexts surrounding his birth year in 1946, after the end of World War II, to how he discovered first philosophy and eventually the philosophy of orientation as his life task, delving into the political, intellectual, and philosophical conditions that influenced his path:
“My way led to a philosophy of what orientation itself is. It precedes all theories, ideologies and utopias. The way was not scheduled, the route not paved. It did not follow a predefined pattern, had to run off the main streams, and yet was rather inconspicuous. It was due to many random opportunities and happy coincidences and only became apparent over time, even for myself. I gradually realized that it is an important art of life to use coincidences as opportunities and even turn hardships into virtues. Every time, this is a piece of successful orientation. My life – like the lives of most people – attained its own meaning step by step. The way of my life, seen from the end, was the development of a philosophy of orientation, and my life was a life for this philosophy of orientation. At the age of 77, I try to describe how I became the philosopher of orientation: due to which actual conditions, with the help of which coincidences, but also with which goals in changing situations.”