The Human Being in History: Freedom, Power, and Shared Ontological Meaning

The Human Being in History affirms the ontological dignity of the human being and calls for liberation and empowerment in the face of a global power which seeks to reduce every Other. Daniel Dei argues that the challenges posed by the twenty-first century are not just political, economic, and social, but existential and metaphysical. In the face of these challenges, philosophy must show how to confront issues in a new way: not as problems that admit technical resolution, but as questions which involve openness to meaning and which demand the exercise of freedom. Dei also insists that freedom and power must be reexamined and changed from their current meanings, which emphasize appropriation and the exercise of national identity, into concepts which emphasize humans' ability to reshape the meaning of events and discover our own destiny. This new translation by James G. Colbert introduces the work of a marginal yet truly forward-thinking philosopher to English-speaking audiences, and is sure to enrich philosophical discussions on the future of man in the twenty-first century.