Human beings lead their lives based on their self-knowledge. This self-awareness, in its most fundamental sense, cannot be traced back to any other fact. Within it, numerous intelligent achievements are intertwined like a central point. Therefore, philosophy can gain a perspective on many of its fundamental problems from the relationship with the self, as Dieter Henrich clearly illustrates in his Weimar lectures. In self-awareness, there is a counteracting approach, on one hand, to conceptions of the world and, on the other hand, to a self-interpretation. From this foundation, a justification of ethics as well as a discourse on subjectivity and freedom is developed.