Rudolf Otto e la Wertethik di Nicolai Hartmann

Abstract · Rudolf Otto and Nicolai Hartmann’s Wertethik · As attested by his Aufsätze zur Ethik [Essays on Ethics] (1931-1937), in the last years of his life Rudolf Otto shows a clear interest in ethical issues. He focuses in particular on Nicolai Hartmann’s philosophy of values. This confrontation is carried out in a critical perspective, especially where Otto tries to bring Hartmann back to the theoretical task of seeing in values the manifestations of an absolute order. Anyway, Hartmann’s approach does not admit such an analogical perspective. In other words, for Hartmann, nature and history are axiologically and teleologically neutral ; for Otto, instead, they are already permeated with value and meaning. However, a possible convergence point should be noted : both authors assign to human beings the greatest possible freedom in the respective ontological contexts.