Die Semantik des Schicksals

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How could modern society, with its rational self-understanding, come to be so dependent on such an occult-like term such as “fate”? Franziska Rehlinghaus shows that since its establishment around 1650 the German idea of fate (“Schicksal”) was a central concept for dealing with the respective problems of each era. Indeed, one can speak of modern times as the “Fatalistic Age.” The author reconstructs for the first time the semantic and functional changes as well as the conjunctures this term underwent from the time of the Enlightenment to the beginning of the 20th century.