More than ever, our previously taken-for-granted Western values are under pressure. The rapidly spreading Islamic fundamentalism, as well as authoritarian China, emerge as powerful opposites to Western liberalism, to the idea of freedom and the rights of the individual on the stage of world history. Against this backdrop, Larry Siedentop reexamines the history of the emergence of our Western value system. Spanning nearly two millennia, he recounts the crucial philosophical turning points. A significant historical-philosophical endeavor that demonstrates what defines the West—and once again highlights that only by understanding ourselves can a fruitful dialogue with other cultures be possible. What exactly are the so-called Western values? When did the idea of the free individual arise?.