Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought Thomas McCarthy,
general editor Alfred Schmidt, History and Structure: An Essay on
Hegelian Marxistand Structuralist Theories
if History,
1981
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Reason in the Age if Science, 1982 Joachim
Ritter, Hegel and the French Revolution: Essays on the philosophy
of Right, 1982 Theodor W. Adorno, Prisms, 1982 Hans Blumenberg, The
Legitimacy if the Modem Age, 1983
The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
The Legitimacy of the Modern Age
Hans Blumenberg Translated by Robert M. Wallace
Publication of this volwne was made possible in part by a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.This translation
1983 by the Massachusetts lnstirute of Technology. This work
originally appeared in German as Die Legitimitiit tier Neuuit
(erweiterte und iiberaTbeitete neuausgabel, 1966, 1913, 1914, 1916
by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, Federal Republic of Germany. First
MIT Press paperbaok edition. 1985 Seventh printing. 1999
All right:.~ reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any fonn or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any infonnation storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.This book was set in Baskerville by The MIT Press
Computergraphics Department and printed and bound in the United
States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication
Blumenberg. Hans. The legitimacy of the modern age. (Sruclies in
contemporary German social thoughtl Translation of. Die
Legitimitlit der Nemeit:. 2nd rev. ed. 1976. inclu(ies
bibliographical references and index. 1. Civilizli.tion-History. 2.
Civilization, Modern-History. 3. Philosophy, ModernHistory. 4.
Europe-intellectual life. L TJtle. n. Series.CBSS.B5613 1983 901
ISBN 0-262-02184-6 (hardcover) ISBN '0-262-52105-9 (paperback)
82-10035
Jb.ta
AACR2
Contents
Series Foreword Translator's IntroductionPart I Secularization:
Critique of a Category of Historical Wrong
ixXl
1 Status of the Concept 2 A Dimension of Hidden Meaning? 3
Progress Exposed as Fate 4 Instead of Secularization of
Eschatology, Secularization by Eschatology 5 Making History So As
to Exonerate God? 6 The Secularization Thesis as an Anachronism in
the Modern Age 7 The Supposed Migration of the Attribute of
Infinity 8 Political Theology I and II 9 The Rhetoric of
Secularizations
3 13 27 37 53 63 77 89 103
vi Contents
Part IITheological Absolutism and Hmnan Self-Assertion
Introduction 1 The Failure of the First Attempt at Warding Off
Gnosticism Ensures Its Return 2 World Loss and Demiurgic
Se1f-Detennination3 A Systematic Comparison of the Epochal Crisis
of Antiquity to That of the Middle Ages 4 The Impossibility of
Escaping a Deceiving God 5 Cosmogony as a Paradigm of
Se1f-Constitution
125 127137
145 181 205
Part m The 'Trial' of Theoretical Curiosity Introduction1 The
Retraction of the Socratic Turning229
243 263 269 279309
2 The Indifference of EpicUrus's Gods3 Skepticism Contains a
Residue of Trust in the Cosmos
4 Preparations for a Conversion and Models for the Verdict of
the
