Hegel’s Jena Practical Philosophy

Author(s):  
Michael Nance

This chapter examines the development of Hegel’s Jena social and political philosophy prior to the publication of the Phenomenology, with a focus on Hegel’s engagement with Fichte. Hegel’s culminating project in his Jena practical philosophy involves synthesizing two social ideals: classical Greek communitarianism and modern liberal individualism. According to Hegel’s conception, the classical communitarian ideal threatens a form of nihilism: the destruction of free, independent subjectivity. The modern individualist ideal, by contrast, threatens atomism: the breakdown of community attachments in favor of the pursuit of private interests. Hegel’s Jena project is to avoid nihilism and atomism by synthesizing the two ideals into one coherent picture of ethical life. Two related conceptual innovations prove crucial to this project: first, the idea that human agency is formed through a struggle for recognition; and second, the idea that modern ethical life is a shape of objective spirit.

Dialogue ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 791-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Weinstock

Wendy Donner's The Liberal Self: John Stuart Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy is an important and thought-provoking addition to the growing body of literature seeking to rescue Mill's practical philosophy from the rather lowly place it occupied in the estimation of many philosophers earlier this century, and to present him as a philosopher whose views form a coherent, systematic whole that can still contribute significantly to numerous moral and political debates. The book proposes an interpretation of the whole of Mill's practical philosophy, and attempts to reveal how aspects of Mill's thought, hitherto considered incompatible, actually mutually support one another. At the same time, Donner sets many of Mill's positions in the context of contemporary moral and political philosophical debates, and finds that on a number of important issues, his thought stands up rather well against more recent work.


Author(s):  
Eirik Lang Harris

Builds up a picture of Shen Dao’s political philosophy by focusing on his analyses of the source, nature, and justification of political organization and order. I argue that his thought can only be understood by first coming to an understanding of his conception of the natural realm and how and why he believes that it is essential to model the social and political realm upon this natural realm. This understanding of nature only gets us so far, however, and must be coupled with a deeper awareness of human dispositions, primary among them that people act based on their own private interests, their strengths and abilities vary, and feelings of resentment and expectation arise when decisions are regarded as subjective. Only once these aspects of the natural world and human nature are understood and accounted for is it possible to construct a stable political realm.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Byczyński

The aim of this article is to clarify the meaning of the concept of recognition in Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition. The main object of interest will be the differences between, what Honneth calls the basic form of recognition and recognition which he describes as a relation. Presented considerations will become premises for such an interpretation of theory of recognition, which differentiates at least between two meanings of the term recognition: first, as a subjective attitude, second, as a relation (which is more adequate interpretation). The indicated differences might be important for in-depth analyses of the theory of recognition, especially considering Honneth’s point of view – more formal approach presented in The Struggle for Recognition, to his analyses of democratic ethical life in his latest book Das Recht Der Freicheit.


Author(s):  
Katrin A. Flikschuh

This chapter examines the political ideas of Immanuel Kant. Kant is widely regarded as a precursor to current political liberalism. There are many aspects of Kant's political philosophy, including his property argument, that remain poorly understood and unjustly neglected. Many other aspects, including his cosmopolitanism, reveal Kant as perhaps one of the most systematic and consistent political thinkers. Underlying all these aspects of his political philosophy is an abiding commitment to his epistemological method of transcendental idealism. After providing a short biography of Kant, this chapter considers his epistemology as well as the relationship between virtue and justice in his practical philosophy. It also explores a number of themes in Kant's political thinking, including the idea of external freedom, the nature of political obligation, the vindication of property rights, the denial of a right to revolution, and the cosmopolitan scope of Kantian justice.


1998 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Cavallar ◽  
August Reinisch

Nowadays Kant's practical philosophy (including his political philosophy) is as highly regarded as his theoretical philosophy. This is an important development since the more constructive side of Kant's philosophy is to be found in his moral and political works. The main task of the Critique of Pure Reason is to clarify its concepts and to get rid of basic errors, and thus only ‘negative’. The moral and political writings, on the other hand, try to expand the scope of reason ‘for practical purposes’ (‘in praktischer Absicht’). Establishing principles of moral and political conduct, their main objective is not negative, but constructive.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Dahlstrom

This paper examines three puzzles that arise from Hegel's account of the constitution of the self and self-consciousness. The puzzles mirror questions of the respective relation of (a) the self to self-consciousness, (b) self-consciousness to recognition of and by others, and (c) the struggle for recognition to ethical life. The paper argues that Hegel's developmental account of the constitution of the self and self-consciousness provides promising prospects for resolving puzzles about the status of the self before self-consciousness and the status of self-consciousness in the family before the struggle for recognition. However, the paper questions the adequacy of Hegel's account of ethical life, in view of the puzzle that it presents and appears unable to resolve. The paper suggests that Hegel's developmental account is too restrictive, since its move from a quest for mastery to mutual recognition apparently fails to account sufficiently for asymmetrical acts of generosity and sacrifice.


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