A Secular Absolute How Modern Philosophy Discovered Authenticity
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
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How Modern Philosophy Discovered Authenticity Ulrich Steinvorth
A Secular Absolute
Ulrich Steinvorth
A Secular Absolute How Modern Philosophy Discovered Authenticity
Ulrich Steinvorth University of Hamburg Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
ISBN 978-3-030-35035-2 ISBN 978-3-030-35036-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35036-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Alex Linch / shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
Our age is an age of technological innovations, comparable to the innovations that transformed the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. Thinkers from China to Greece, Confucius, the Buddha, Zarathustra, Plato, drew moral and metaphysical conclusions from the innovations. Jaspers (1949) called the time they did Axial Age. They determined what we understand as rational. We can gauge the depth of the Axial Age revolution when we read anthropologists’ reports about tribes not influenced by the Axial Age. Their thought and institutions are bizarre; we can understand them only with difficulty. Current technological innovations open up again deep changes. They provoke again questions about our ultimate goals, about what is real, virtual, and fake, what reality in the end is, and whether and why there is anything at all rather than nothing. Such ultimate questions are metaphysical, assignable to practical and theoretical metaphysics or ontology. Yet the heir of metaphysics, contemporary philosophy, is not fond of asking ultimate questions. For good reasons. Many philosophers blundered answering them. Odds are you make a
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