Wie wird Freiheit verkörpert?

Magnus Schlette

pp. 143-163

in: Matthias Jung, Michaela Bauks, Andreas Ackermann (eds), Dem Körper eingeschrieben, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

The essay is a contribution to a phenomenally based ethical conceptualization of the good life. It introduces the widely discussed American TV-series Breaking Bad (2008-2013) as an artistic reflection on so called "anarchic individualismé in modern western societies. Within the thematic context of this anthology, the social imaginary of anarchic individualism is interesting, because it is rooted in an embodied understanding of personal freedom, according to which the feeling of ownership of oneés actions in the bodily exchange with a recalcitrant environment becomes a benchmark for prudential orientation in life. Following the concept of embodied freedom, whether we live free is dependant on the enlivening experience of cutting a fine figure in our daily affairs, whatever those may be. The concept reminds us that the bodily sensing of the ownership of oneés actions in our daily affairs is a conditio sine qua non for a full-fledged concept of personal freedom. In anarchic individualism, the embodiment of freedom may become destructive, though, because it is taken to be the sufficient criterion to guide our lives. It thus outrules second-order ethical reflection on what we do, as long as we are enlivened by our performances.