Critique of Freedom: The Central Problem of Modernity

331 Pages·2020·1.312 MB·English

by  Otfried Höffe, Nils F. Schott (transl.)

Critique of Freedom

critique
of
Otfried Höffe
translated by nils f. scHOtt
fre d m
e o
tHe central PrOblem Of mOdernity
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2020 by The University of Chicago
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duced in any manner whatsoever without written permission,
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views. For more information, contact the University of Chicago
Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2020
Printed in the United States of America
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ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 46590- 6 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 46606- 4 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi .org/10.7208
/chicago/9780226466064.001.0001
Originally published in German as Kritik der Freiheit. Das
Grund problem der Moderne © Verlag C.H.Beck oHG,
München 2015.
The translation of this work was funded by Geisteswissenschaften
International— Translation Funding for Work in the Humanities
and Social Sciences from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz
Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, the col-
lecting society VG WORT, and the Börsenverein des Deutschen
Buch handels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Höffe, Otfried, author. | Schott, Nils F., translator.
Title: Critique of freedom : the central problem of modernity /
Otfried Höffe ; translated by Nils F. Schott.
Other titles: Kritik der Freiheit. English
Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020026483 | ISBN 9780226465906 (cloth) |
ISBN 9780226466064 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Liberty—Philosophy. | Civilization, Modern—
Philosophy. | Philosophy, Modern. | Ethics, Modern.
Classification: LCC B824.4 .H6413 2020 | DDC 123/ .5—dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn.loc .gov/ 2020026483
♾This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Freedom in free association
For Evelyn

Contents
Preface ix
1. Putting Freedom and Modernity to the Test — 1
Part i:
freedOm frOm natural cOnstraints — 23
2. External Cultivation: Technology — 25
3. Medicine — 38
4. Inner Cultivation: Education to Freedom — 61
Part ii:
freedOm in ecOnOmy and sOciety — 77
5. Enlightened Liberalism — 79
6. Free Market: Vision or Illusion? — 95
7. Justice in the Name of Freedom — 114
8. Free Society — 129
Part iii:
science and art — 143
9. Knowledge and Freedom — 145
10. Freedom and Creativity: Art — 158
Part iV:
POlitical freedOm — 173
11. Constitutional Democracy — 175
12. Liberties — 192
13. Minimal Citizen, State Citizen, World Citizen — 208
14. Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization — 223
15. A Liberal Global Order — 237
Part V:
PersOnal freedOm — 245
16. A New Conflict of the Faculties — 247
17. Personal Autonomy — 266
18. On the Price of Freedom — 278
19. Retrospection: Freedom and Modernity — 285
Notes 287 Index 311
Preface
Freedom is humanity’s highest good. It constitutes human dignity. Not surpris-
ingly, freedom in various ways shapes all human history. It therefore assumes
a preeminent position in two respects, anthropologically and with regard to a
specific age. To understand this double status, we must overcome a widespread
but narrow conception of freedom. Freedom is not just a political topic and,
merely as a supplement, one of personal responsibility.
To take on the much vaster theme of freedom is to engage with a tricky and
convoluted phenomenon. For example, freedom is constitutive of the human
being, and nonetheless, it remains a task still to be accomplished. And for ac-
complishing this task, in turn, modernity has elaborated a highly sophisticated,
multifaceted project.
There is, however, skepticism toward this project, and thus toward freedom.
In evidence, skeptics cite the negative consequences of modernity and the flip-
sides of the project of freedom. This book takes such skepticism seriously. It
subjects freedom and, with it, modernity to a judicative critique. For, without
possessing an exclusive right to it, modernity is of overwhelming importance
for freedom, while, inversely, freedom in its numerous versions plays an out-
standing role in modernity. My study thus conceives of itself as a contribution
both to a philosophical anthropology and to a critical theory of freedom and
modernity. And because furthermore, it understands itself to be a reflection
on the situation of our time, it joins the tradition of a truly practical and po-
litical philosophy.
I have developed reflections toward a critical theory of freedom and mo-
dernity in earlier works, namely, in Categorical Principle of Law: A Counterpoint of
Modernity (1990), Morality as the Price of Modernity (1993), and Kant’s Critique of
Pure Reason: The Foundation of Modern Philosophy (2003). In this book, I continue
my discussions from The Art of Life and Morality (2007) and the interpretation
of Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason: A Philosophy of Freedom (2012) with the aim
of outlining a more comprehensive theory.1