Metaethics – An Ontological Analysis Regarding Man: In Franz Rosenzweig’s The Star Of Redemption

Based mainly on part I of the Star of Redemption (the Star), this paper is divided into three main parts. First of all, the first part will mention the new thinking and its circumstances. Rosenzweig criticizes both Kant (man as a moral entity) and Hegel (the notion of totality and reduction of man to spirit). Rosenzweig justifies the need for new thinking as follows: philosophy begins with “the fear of death.” Philosophy has until now endorsed man based on concepts and essences which are inevitably abstract. Thus, he calls for a radical “new thinking.” Next, three irreducible elements (God, world, and man) and the ontological analysis of personality is the content of the second part. Cohen’s infinitesimal calculus and how the three irreducible elements generate themselves out of their own particular nothings will be mentioned. Rosenzweig argues that personality, the first stage in the ontological analysis regarding man, is an inauthentic self. Thirdly, the main content of the third part is the ontological analysis of an authentic self in the second stage (character) and third stage (self). The shift from personality to character is significant. Character is non-relational because it is a self-enclosure. In addition, the writer focuses highly on the self in its entire form (“B=B”) as metaethics. Through these analyses, Rosenzweig proves that man is both finite and infinite. Furthermore, he uses the “soul” as the self that emerges at the intersubjective level. The “soul” is both beyond “personality”, “character” and even “metaethics”. And so, man is beyond metaethics and non-definitive. In conclusion, man is not only one element alongside but also in relation to God as a living subject (in part II of the Star).