The Figure of Modernity: On the Irregularity of an Epoch

214 Pages·2020·1.264 MB·English

by  Tilo Schabert

Tilo Schabert
The Figure of Modernity

Tilo Schabert
The Figure of
Modernity
On the Irregularity of an Epoch
Translated from the German
by Javier Ibáñez-Noé
With a Foreword by James Greenaway
This work has originally been published in German: Das Gesicht der Moderne. Zur Irregularität
eines Zeitalters. © Verlag Karl Alber (Herder), Freiburg-Munich, 2018.
ISBN 978-3-11-067170-4
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067173-5
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067187-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938476
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Cover image: © Gerd Altmann auf Pixabay
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
Dedicated to my relatives in Chicago:
The Iberle Family

Acknowledgments
Itakepleasureinextendingmysincerethankstothepersonswhosegenerosity,
activeinterest,competence,andskillscontributedtotheformationandpublica-
tion of this book.
LukasTrabert,HeadofAlberpublishers,pavedthewayforthearrangement
ofanEnglisheditionofthisbook,publishedoriginallyinGermanbyhishouse.I
found in Christoph Schirmer at De Gruyter a most attentive Acquisition Editor,
fromthemomenthetookontheprojectofthisedition,heattendedtoitthrough-
out the review process up to the final acceptance. Anne Hiller, Content Editor,
didanexcellentworkwitheditingandpreparingthedifferentpartsofthemanu-
script for publication. And SabinaDabrowski, as Production Editor,wentabout
her part with admirable energy and competence.
JavierIbáñez-Noéproducedatranslationofexceptionalquality.Heconsult-
edregularlywithmeonhistranslationoftheninechaptersofthebook,chapter
bychapter,tomakesurethateverythingexpressedinGermanwasperfectlyren-
dered also in English. I am full of gratitude for his work.
James Greenaway responded most kindly to the request for a foreword for
the book.What he contributed is in fact a thoughtful and learned essay that
does indeed splendidly introduce to the book’s content.
IappreciatetheeditorialassistancelentbymycolleaguesandfriendsBarry
Cooper and Johnvon Heyking.
Anunexpecteddiscoveryoffamilyaffection,respect,andsupporthasmade
the translation of the book possible.This was a rare and all the more exquisite
blessing that Igladly acknowledge.

Contents
Foreword by James Greenway XIII
Prolegomenon XXIII
Chapter 1 1
The Floundering God 1
Chapter 2 12
What is Modernity? 12
Chapter 3 30
Discourse On Method 30
Chapter 4 45
The Heritage of the Renaissance: Cosmos and Nature 45
The mental revolution leading up to modernity 45
The Transformation in the Experience of the World: Francis of
Assisi and Pascal 49
What does “cosmos” mean? 50
The Christian De-Deification of the Cosmos 53
The Development of the Modern Idea of “Nature” 55
The Operative Nature Philosophy of Modernity 59
From Cosmos to “Nature” 61
The World of “Nature” 62
The Paradoxof modern world experience: real but also
unreal 65
Newton’s Perplexity 68
The One-Sidedness of Experience – Partial Speechlessness 70
The Human Control of Nature: Towards the Genealogy of a
Motif 73
Chapter 5 79
The Heritage of the Renaissance: On the Misery and Dignity of the
Human Being 79
The Motive for the Experiment of Modernity 79
The Excellence of the Human Being 80
X Contents
A Decisive Debate on the Dignity and the Misery of the Human
Being 82
The Human Being: “God’s Most Excellent Creature” (The
Ploughman) 83
“Everything is vanity, a sickness of the soul” (Death) 83
Death’s Critique of the Present Age 88
The Apotheosis of the Human Being 91
A Confusion of Thoughts: The Hypertrophy of Human Arrogance in
the Unrestricted Freedom of the Human Imagination 98
Chapter 6 107
The Mastery Over Nature 107
The “Kingdom of Man” 107
The Competition Between Humankind and Nature 108
Science as the Instrument of the Domination of Nature 110
The Transformation of Nature Through the Reality-Founding Power
of Humankind 115
The Unrestrainable Power of Humankind 121
Two Kinds of History of Modernity 123
Chapter 7 125
The Crisis of Modernity I 125
Towards a Phenomenology of the Modern Consciousness 125
Towards a Phenomenology of the Modern Lifeworld 126
Religion and Modernity 127
Modernity in the Realm of the Economy 129
Modernity of Literature 134
Modernity in the Realm of Architecture 138
Consciousness of Modernity and Modernity of Society 145
Chapter 8 149
The Crisis of Modernity II 149
Existence in Chaos 149
The Difference Between “History I”and “History II” 150
The Divergence Between Culture and Civilization 151
The Loss of Common Convictions or The Decline of the Human
World 153
The Crisis of the Ego 154
Illimitation and Imagination 157
The Intellectual Creation of a Climate of Violence 158