After the Death of God : Secularization As a Philosophical Challenge from Kant to Nietzsche.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hammer, Espen.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (245 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2025.

Summary:

A fresh history of nineteenth-century philosophy’s many ideas about secularization. The secularization thesis, which held that religious belief would gradually yield to rationality, has been thoroughly debunked. What, then, can we learn from philosophers for whom the death of God seemed so imminent? In this book, Espen Hammer offers a sweeping analysis of secularization in nineteenth-century German philosophy, arguing that the persistence of religion (rather than its absence) animated this tradition. Hammer shows that Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche, each in their own way, sought to preserve and transform religion’s ethical and communal aspirations for modern life. A renewed appreciation for this tradition’s generous thought, Hammer argues, can help us chart a path through needlessly destructive conflicts between secularists and fundamentalists today.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introductory Remarks

CHAPTER ONE Secularization and Modernity

CHAPTER TWO The Kantian Compromise

CHAPTER THREE Hegel's Rescue Mission

CHAPTER FOUR A Social Critique of Religion: Feuerbach and Marx

CHAPTER FIVE Nietzsche and the Overcoming of Christianity

Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780226838519

022683851X

OCLC:

1499928641