The Paradigm Shift in the Modern Understanding of Freedom
Abstract:
The project aims to provide an account of the paradigm shift in the modern understanding of freedom originating in the intersection of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. This shift, turning on the reinterpretation of freedom as self-determination and autonomy, is enabled by a fundamental socio-empirical change taking place in the eighteenth century, through which the multiform possibilities of free human action begin to become apparent. The project focuses on how this change becomes the object of self-conscious philosophical reasoning not only among major figures such as Kant, but also in men and women of letters largely ignored until now, who move towards a revolutionary way of conceiving of the human being within a world profoundly changed by socio-political events.
To carry out this task, the project adopts a novel methodology that unites, in a multidisciplinary perspective, a historical-philological analysis devoted to reconstructing the development of the concept of freedom and the theoretical scope of testing the inner coherence of freedom’s conceptual development in different research fields. This will shed light on the multiform meaning of freedom in the Enlightenment and Romanticism, thereby offering a semantic chart useful for tracking how the notion of freedom is used in fields and topics of principal importance in the contemporary world.
In the context of (a) practical philosophy, the paradigm shift originating in Kant’s “revolution of autonomy” is the pivotal term of a theory meant to break with all preceding accounts of morality; in the context of (b) theoretical philosophy, freedom as self-determination introduces, in the German discussion on the foundation of philosophy as science, a new sense of the spontaneity of reason as the principle of philosophy, so that the notion of freedom as self-determination contributes to establish a system of transcendental philosophy whose standpoint is not absolute reason but rather the human being’s finite reason; in the context of (c) political philosophy, the new conception of human beings as radically self-determining entities, and as such entitled to unconditional respect from other individuals and institutions, suggests a reconsideration of politics in which laws could never be justified if imposed by an external authority; and finally, in the more general context of (d) the history of political thought, the development of a new conception of friendship, usually referred to as sentimental friendship, both facilitates and strengthens the modern paradigm shift in freedom because it presupposes the ability to normatively reflect on one’s desires and wishes and the autonomous pursuit of individual goals.
The project makes relevant to contemporary discussions the positions of classical philosophers, and those of lesser-known men and women of letters who – it will be shown – deserve more attention, with a potential in some cases to become new points of reference in the history of philosophy.
To carry out this task, the project adopts a novel methodology that unites, in a multidisciplinary perspective, a historical-philological analysis devoted to reconstructing the development of the concept of freedom and the theoretical scope of testing the inner coherence of freedom’s conceptual development in different research fields. This will shed light on the multiform meaning of freedom in the Enlightenment and Romanticism, thereby offering a semantic chart useful for tracking how the notion of freedom is used in fields and topics of principal importance in the contemporary world.
In the context of (a) practical philosophy, the paradigm shift originating in Kant’s “revolution of autonomy” is the pivotal term of a theory meant to break with all preceding accounts of morality; in the context of (b) theoretical philosophy, freedom as self-determination introduces, in the German discussion on the foundation of philosophy as science, a new sense of the spontaneity of reason as the principle of philosophy, so that the notion of freedom as self-determination contributes to establish a system of transcendental philosophy whose standpoint is not absolute reason but rather the human being’s finite reason; in the context of (c) political philosophy, the new conception of human beings as radically self-determining entities, and as such entitled to unconditional respect from other individuals and institutions, suggests a reconsideration of politics in which laws could never be justified if imposed by an external authority; and finally, in the more general context of (d) the history of political thought, the development of a new conception of friendship, usually referred to as sentimental friendship, both facilitates and strengthens the modern paradigm shift in freedom because it presupposes the ability to normatively reflect on one’s desires and wishes and the autonomous pursuit of individual goals.
The project makes relevant to contemporary discussions the positions of classical philosophers, and those of lesser-known men and women of letters who – it will be shown – deserve more attention, with a potential in some cases to become new points of reference in the history of philosophy.
Dettagli progetto:
Referente scientifico: Falduto Antonino
Fonte di finanziamento: Bando PRIN 2022
Data di avvio: 17/10/2023
Data di fine: 17/10/2025
Contributo MUR: 52.736 €
Co-finanziamento UniFe: 18.297 €
Partner:
- Università degli Studi di FERRARA (capofila)
- Università degli Studi di MILANO
- Università degli Studi di PARMA
- Università degli Studi di CATANIA