The Vocation of Responsibility

During the European Protestant Reformation, one s calling to serve humanity became connected to the§accumulation of material rewards. This notion was not§new, as it originated in the Old and New Testaments.§This study traces this ethic by examining explicit§and implied references to vocation in the primary§texts of five major continental philosophers.§Fichte s ascetic concept required unity with a total§and holistic transcendental power. When Kierkegaard§reconsidered this idealistic notion, he lamented the§disappearance of the single individual. His notion of§vocation is explicitly religious and incorporates a§concept of conversion that emphasizes a response to§the suffering of others. Nietzsche s ethical concept§of responsibility is directly related to his original§notions of truth and persona as a multiplicity of§forces. For Nietzsche, being called to serve others§requires freedom from resentment and learning to love§complacently. These ethical concepts show up in§Lévinas and Derrida s postmodern ethics. Lévinas §emphasis on the other and Derrida s examination of pure giving displays how the ancient and modern§concept of vocation is articulated in original §ways.