Hans Blumenberg: An Introduction

This introductory chapter provides a background of philosopher Hans Blumenberg. In the quarter-century since his death, Blumenberg has become a modern classic in his native Germany, making him one of the most important philosophers of the postwar period. His reception in the English-speaking world has been slower: even though his three major volumes have been available in translation since the 1980s, it was only during the previous decade that the life and work of Blumenberg began to move past the realms of academic rumor or a secret reserved for the initiated. This book presents an overview of Blumenberg's work, which spans almost twenty books published during his lifetime and a steady flow of further volumes from his extensive archive. The topics he covered include but are not limited to modernity and secularization; the philosophy of history; the history of science and technology; language philosophy and rhetoricity; aesthetics and literary theory; philosophical anthropology; theology; and mythical thought, to name just a few.