Substantielle Sittlichkeit II

It is essential for modern subjectivity that it no longer accepts the given as substantially moral. It confronts it, questions it from various points of view and changes it. This is the birth of modern, reflexive subjectivity. The new view took centuries to establish itself and has shaped the culture of Western modernity ever since. This volume shows how it does this and how it succeeds in balancing the dignity and vitality of the given with this kind of questioning subjectivity in ever new ways- The proess starts in Athens with the disintegration of aristocratic morals and continues through the lost war and the Plague of Athens. This volume also shows how the Sophists and Socrates were driving forces behind this process as well as Hegel’s view on the matter.