Robert Spaemann's Philosophy of the Human Person: Nature, Freedom, and the Critique of Modernity (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)

The German philosopher Robert Spaemann provides an important contribution to a number of contemporary debates in philosophy and theology, opening up possibilities for conversation between these disciplines. He engages in a dialogue with classical and contemporary positions and often formulates important and original insights which lie beyond common alternatives. In this study Holger Zaborowski provides an analysis of the most important features of Spaemann's philosophy and shows the unity of his thought. The question 'Who is a person?' is of increasing significance: Are all human beings persons? Are there animals that can be considered persons? What does it mean to speak of personal identity and of the dignity of the person? Spaemann provides an answer to these questions: Every human being, he argues, is a person and, therefore, 'has' his nature in freedom. In order to understand the person, Spaemann explains, we have to think about the relation between nature and freedom and avoid the reductive accounts of this relation prevalent in important strands of modern thought. Spaemann develops a challenging critique of modernity, incorporating analysis of modern anti-modernisms and showing that these are also subject to a dialectical development, perpetuating the problematic shortcomings of many features of modern reasoning. If we do not want to abolish ourselves as persons, Spaemann reasons, we need to find a way of understanding ourselves that evades the dialectic of modernity. Thus, he reminds his readers of 'self-evident' knowledge: insights that we have once already known, but tend to forget. Contents Abbreviations 1 Philosophy in a time of crisis 1.1 The crisis of modernity 1.2 Robert Spaemann’s Christianly informed criticism of modernity 1.3 Robert Spaemann—a biographical sketch 1.4 An outline of the argument 2 Conversation, recollection, and the search for happiness. Spaemann’s notion of philosophy 2.1 The form of philosophy 2.2 The nature of philosophy 2.3 Recollection, preservation, and the challenge of the future 3 The dialectic of Enlightenment: Spaemann’s critique of modernity and its dialectic 3.1 Philosophy as a theory and critique of modernity and its dialetic 3.2 The grandeur and the misère of modernity 3.3 The main features of modernity as an ambiguous phenomenon 3.4 Jean-Jacques Rousseau as a paradigmatic figure of modernity 3.5 The transformation of the doctrine of Original Sin 4 Society, philosophy, and religion: Spaemann and the dialectic of anti-modernism 4.1 The dialectic of anti-modernism 4.2 The paradigmatic character of Bonald’s philosophy 4.3 The historical context of The Origin of Sociology in the Spirit of Restoration 4.4 The ambiguity of Bonald’s thought 4.5 The functionalistic interpretation of Christianity 4.6 The functionalistic interpretation of philosophy 4.7 The totalitarian claim of sociology in Niklas Luhmann’s philosophy 4.8 The fusion of morality and philosophy of history 4.9 Philosophy as theoria and religion as substantial belief 5 Nature, freedom, and persons: Spaemann’s philosophy of Selbstsein 5.1 The person in contemporary philosophy 5.2 Modernity and the crisis of the ‘person’ 5.3 Historicism and science fiction as philosophical methods 5.4 Life, motion, possibility, and the paradigm of the person 5.5 The ontology of identity and the logical indispensability of the person 5.6 Who is a person? 5.7 Robert Spaemann’s philosophy of Selbstsein 5.8 Person as a nomen dignitatis 5.9 The ‘ontology’ of promising and forgiving 5.10 The human person and the transcendence of Being 5.11 Selbstsein and the end of the dialectic of modernity 6 Christianity, philosophy, and the end of modernity 6.1 The apologetic character of Spaemann’s philosophy 6.2 Spaemann’s view of Christianity 6.3 The relation between philosophy and Christianity from antiquity to modernity 6.4 Christianity and evolutionary metaphysics 6.5 Conclusion: Christianity, post-modern philosophies, and the glory of God Select bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Z An analysis of the most important features of Robert Spaemann's philosophy. Holger Zaborowski demonstrates the importance of Spaemann's contribution to a number of contemporary debates in philosophy and theology and explains the unity of his thought