Abstract

The article tackles two of the main points of Michael Hampe's book "Die Dritte Aufklärung" (The Third Enlightenment): 1. Hampe's version of the classical liberal paradoxon (how much violence is allowed in order to maintain the non-violence-vote?). 2. Hampe's definition of cruelty and violence and his ideas on how to avoid them. Regarding 1., I counter Hampe's vote for tolerance regarding lifestyles by insisting on the importance of a unified or at least always partially converging reality, that we all inhabit commonly. This allows for a different, though not less rigorous, evaluation of the use of violence against, in Hampe's case, the "enemies of enlightenment". Regarding 2., I argue that cruelty should not be relegated to the realm of physical violence only but include the subtle humiliations that stem from crushing people's ways of attributing existential sense to their lifes, i.e. their sets of interconnected beliefs and desires. Hampe is voting for more rationality and Bildung in order to counter the post-truth-plight. I agree on the need for rational practices but think that the creation of a common imaginary is equally important and that this is possible only if it includes equal opportunities and hence the redistribution of wealth. Where Hampe thinks that we are in need of a Third Enlightenment, I argue that the last Enlightenment has not kept its promise of emancipation because most people's desires for autonomy are still waiting to be backed up by reality.