Abstract

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the main claims made by Hegel about reformation as presented in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History. According to Hegel, the emancipatory meaning of reformation fulfils itself not simply in the act of setting the human subjectivity free from the overwhelming power of the external. Th e subjects, liberated from the bonds of the external authority, then not only actively transform the world, but also conceive of the practices they undertake as expression of the same truth and good they discover in themselves. Th is concept of the refl exive ‘ethicization’ of the world is confronted with the interpretation of Max Weber who connects the phenomenon of reformation with the unleashing of the dynamics of economic-instrumental rationality. Contrary to that, following in Hegel’s footsteps enables us to understand reformation not only as the source of the rational-technical organization of the modern world, but also as the source of its deeply ethical nature.