#1 Best Non Fiction Book this July August – FREEDOM TO STAY by Eva von Redecker
Eva von Redecker – „ one of the most interesting thinkers of her generation” (Der Spiegel) – just published her new essay at S. Fischer and FREEDOM TO STAY is currently #1 of the non-fiction best list of ZDF Kultur, Deutschlandfunk and DIE ZEIT this July + August:
Freedom has always been associated with movement: Thomas Hobbes defines it by the absence of obstacles, the EU by open borders for goods and people. But is this concept of freedom still contemporary in times of global crises? The philosopher Eva von Redecker develops a radically new approach: Where living space is disappearing, those who are allowed to stay are free. – the jury
- a radical new concept of freedom from a passionate voice of contemporary philosophy
- a SPIEGEL bestseller
- #1 on the non-fiction list of Best Books of July and August
Rarely has freedom been discussed as intensively as during the pandemic: freedom to travel, to move around without restriction, to meet up with people wherever one would like. But just how future-proof is such a spatially defined concept of freedom when we are facing times in which habitable places are disappearing and the climate crisis or wars are rendering entire regions uninhabitable? For this reason, philosopher Eva von Redecker has reconceptualised freedom: as the freedom to live in a place where we can remain. The freedom to remain evolves over time. In considering liveable freedom in the future, she not only focuses on the preservation of our present living conditions, she also reduces the gap between the freedom of individuals and that of the community. The freedom to remain can only be achieved communally. And it expands when we share it.
„Erudite, rigorous, playful, and readable, at once of the world and soaring above it, von Redecker is a brilliant and wondrous intellectual, driven by the philosophical question of how we can make a better future through what we do now.“
— Prof. Wendy Brown, Princeton University NJ/USA
a thought-provoking book
— Daniel Arnet – Blick
Her book is a flaming appeal to live a full, rather than a wasteful, life and to gain clarity about our collective actions.
— Thomas Hummitzsch – tip Berlin
Redecker […] is one of the most interesting thinkers of her generation
– Der Spiegel
In a short Instagram reel, Eva von Redecker explains the freedom to stay with these words:
„Freedom to stay“ – what is that? It is like being able to exhale. The freedom to stay grants us the unhoped-for, intense sensation of being able to live without being under threat. The idea is to think about freedom no longer always as freedom of movement, that is, the question of where I can go in space, what I can want, but as having time, freedom over time, freedom as time, fulfilled time. That would be the freedom to stay.