 While a novel axiology constitutes the core of Hartmann’s innovative approach, his treatment of the “problem of freedom” in the last part of the book is also as groundbreaking as it is unique. He dissects the problem of freedom and reveals “personal autonomy” to be a novel form of determination in the world. Rejecting Scheler’s “metaphysical personalism” as resting on a teleological prejudice, Hartmann conceives of human beings as meaning-makers who realize values in action. Their “place in the world” is to bring values into reality which without them would otherwise remain unrealized (ET2 11h). Elsewhere he states that “humankind is the trustee (Sachwalter) of values and of the ought in the real world. Human beings are the intermediary that implements them in actuality” (S 40; P14f). Because aesthetic values and objects are some of the most meaningful and significant for human beings, he also develops an extensive analysis of them in one of his final works.