A Secular Absolute: How Modern Philosophy Discovered Authenticity

ISBN-13: 9783030350383 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 278 str.

Ulrich Steinvorth

Spis treści

Chapter I: Introduction                                                                                                                                   

1 Absolutes and naturalism                                                                                                                                            

2 Why Kant, Hegel and Heidegger?                                                                                                                          

 

Chapter II: Kant’s Vernünftigkeit                                                                                                               

3 The Categorical Imperative                                                                                                                                     

4 Teleology                                                                                                                                                                       

5 Kant on Copernicus                                                                                                                                                     

6 The transcendental deduction of a priori concepts                                                                                                        

7 A conception of reason acceptable for both idealists and natuarlists                                                                     

8 A conception of free will acceptable also for naturalists                                                                                              

9 Kant’s double heritage                                                                                                                                             

 

Chapter III: Hegel’s Sittlichkeit                                                                                                                   

10 Historicizing mind and morality                                                                                                                           

11 The development of mind and morality                                                                                                           

12 Authenticity and militarism                                                                                                                                   

13 The spheres of absolute and objective mind                                                                                                  

14 Sittlichkeit in Marx                                                                                                                                                    

15 Sittlichkeit in Weber                                                                                                                                                

16 Hegel’s absolute                                                                                                                                                                      

 

Chapter IV: Heidegger’s Eigentlichkeit                                                                                                                     

17 A first look at Heidegger’s authenticity                                                                                                                             

18 Nothing and authenticity                                                                                                                                      

19 The voice of conscience                                                                                                                                       

20 Science and philosophical method                                                                                                                  

21 Authenticity in antiquity and Montaigne                                                                                                                       

22 Rousseau and Kierkegaard                                                                                                                                   

23 Another look at Heidegger’s authenticity                                                                                                       

 

Chapter V: Reflections                                                                                                                                 

24 Absolutes and transcendental justification                                                                                                   

25 Moral and metaphysical norms                                                                                                                         

26 Weber spheres and the origin of rationality                                                                                                 

27 World-exploration vs self-realization and world-constitution                                                                             

28 Authenticity vs pleasure and power                                                                                                                 

29 Public concerns                                                                                                                                                    

30 A metaphysical argument for authenticity and justice                                                                             

O autorze

Ulrich Steinvorth is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hamburg, Germany.   

Blurb

Premodern societies believed in something sacred that obliged unconditionally. Modern societies rely on fallible science. Do they also need something absolute, a secular sacred? Steinvorth analyzes the writings of modern philosophers who claim that there is an absolute norm: the norm to be rational and authentic. In his view, their claim is true if it is reinterpreted. The norm is not moral, as it was thought to be, but metaphysical, and authenticity is not self-realization, but doing things for their own sake. 

 In discussing the pros and cons of philosophical claims on absolutes, this book spreads out the rich pool of philosophical ideas and clarifies urgent contemporary questions about what can be demanded with universal validity. It argues this is not only the principle of justice, not to harm, but also a metaphysical principle by which to find meaning in life. Moreover, it points to some consequences this principle has in politics.