Reforming the Moral Subject : Ethics and Sexuality in Central Europe, 1890-1930 / Tracie Matysik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matysik, Tracie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics, Modern--20th century.

Ethics, Modern.

Ethics, Modern--19th century.

Sexual ethics--Europe, Central--History--20th century.

Sexual ethics.

Sexual ethics--Europe, Central--History--19th century.

Ethical culture movement--Europe, Central--History--20th century.

Ethical culture movement.

Ethical culture movement--Europe, Central--History--19th century.

Europe, Central--Moral conditions.

Europe, Central.

Europe, Central--Intellectual life--20th century.

Europe, Central--Intellectual life--19th century.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 302 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Reforming the Moral Subject explores a movement known as "ethics reform" that flourished in Central Europe between 1890 and 1930. Tracie Matysik examines the works of German-speaking intellectuals and activists-moral philosophers, sociologists, legal theorists, pedagogy specialists, psychoanalysts, sexual liberationists, and others-who discovered in the language of ethics a means to revitalize the public sphere. Ethics reformers used the academic field of moral philosophy to contest public- and state-sponsored rhetoric that they thought equated "morality" with national loyalty, religious tradition, and repressive sexual mores. They founded organizations and periodicals, circulated brochures, and hosted lectures and conferences, all aimed at rethinking ethics for a secular modernity. Arising in a context sharply influenced by materialism, Darwinism, and the advent of sexology, ethics debates gradually focused not surprisingly on the role of sexuality in definitions of ethics and of the moral subject. Intellectuals and activists came to agree that sexuality was central to the formation of the moral subject. Some viewed the moral subject as that individual who had learned to suppress sexual drives, while others saw sexual drives and sexual autonomy as the source of moral energy and sentiment. The association of sexuality with a wide and variegated discussion of ethics made the sexualized moral subject an open concept that could not be fully regulated, confined, or conflated with national identities. Matysik's compelling intellectual and cultural history of ethics and moral subjectivity reframes the nature of German liberalism and intellectual activism from the end of the nineteenth century until the interwar period.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Introduction: CRITICAL ETHICS OR THE SUBJECT OF REFORM

PART I Ethics Reform

1. AN ETHICS OF GESELLSCHAFT

2. THE "NEW ETHIC "

PART II The Sexualization of the Moral Subject

3. CONFLICTED SEXUALITIES AND CONFLICTED SECULARISMS

4. GLOBAL INFLUENCES, LOCAL RESPONSES

5. MORAL LAWS AND IMPOSSIBLE LAWS

PART III Resonances and Resistances

6. SOCIAL MATTERS

7. LOSSES AND UNLIKELY LEGACIES

AFTERWORD: MORAL CITIZENSHIP, OR ETHICS BEYOND THE LAW

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-289) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Sep 2019)

ISBN:

1-5017-2443-6

OCLC:

1080549699