Abstract

The article reveals the history of the concept of fate in Germany from the 17th century until the First World War. It shows that the concept changes not only itsmeaning but also its function in several discourses, reaching from theological and philosophical debates in Enlightenment to discussions in literature, politic andscience in the 19th century. Being fi rst an expression for the causal determination in a mechanized world the concept of fate was as well demonized as internalized in mind and body around 1800. Additionally it became an identifi cation concept and challenge for communities, like the nation or the ›Volk‹. The concept of fate pointed to key questions of the self-refl ection of the modern German society: it dealt with the preconditions of human life and the consequences of human action, which could not be mastered by the modes of modern rationality.