Abolishing Freedom: A Plea for a Contemporary Use of Fatalism (Provocations)

Pushing Back Against The Contemporary Myth That Freedom From Oppression Is Freedom Of Choice, Frank Ruda Resuscitates A Fundamental Lesson From The History Of Philosophical Rationalism: A Proper Concept Of Freedom Can Arise Only From A Defense Of Absolute Necessity, Utter Determinism, And Predestination. Abolishing Freedom Demonstrates How The Greatest Philosophers Of The Rationalist Tradition And Even Their Theological Predecessors Luther, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Freud Defended Not Only Freedom But Also Predestination And Divine Providence. By Systematically Investigating This Mostly Overlooked And Seemingly Paradoxical Fact, Ruda Demonstrates How Real Freedom Conceptually Presupposes The Assumption That The Worst Has Always Already Happened; In Short, Fatalism. In This Brisk And Witty Interrogation Of Freedom, Ruda Argues That Only Rationalist Fatalism Can Cure The Contemporary Sickness Whose Paradoxical Name Today Is Freedom. -- Fatalism In Times Of Universalized Assthetization -- Protestant Fatalism: Predestination As Emancipation -- Ren The Fatalist: Abolishing (aristotelian) Freedom -- From Kant To Schmid (and Back): The End Of All Things -- Ending With The Worst: Hegel And Absolute Fatalism -- After The End: Freud Against The Illusion Of Psychical Freedom. Frank Ruda. Includes Bibliographical References. Pushing back against the contemporary myth that freedom from oppression is freedom of choice, Frank Ruda resuscitates a fundamental lesson from the history of philosophical rationalism: a proper concept of freedom can arise only from a defense of absolute necessity, utter determinism, and predestination. Abolishing Freedom demonstrates how the greatest philosophers of the rationalist tradition and even their theological predecessors Luther, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Freud defended not only freedom but also predestination and divine providence. By systematically investigating this mostly overlooked and seemingly paradoxical fact, Ruda demonstrates how real freedom conceptually presupposes the assumption that the worst has always already happened; in short, fatalism. In this brisk and witty interrogation of freedom, Ruda argues that only rationalist fatalism can cure the contemporary sickness whose paradoxical name today is freedom. -- Provided by publisher