‘The Power to Die’
Mortality as a Condition of Freedom
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24239078 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gal Katz (0000-0001-6822-448X, Columbia University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 265-287 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hegel Bulletin (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2051-5367 • E-ISSN: 2051-5375 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/hgl.2026.10098 |
| OpenAlex | W7222937360 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
Explicating a concept that Hegel coins in his early writings, this paper shows how death—which initially appears as an absolute limitation on human freedom—can be understood as its condition. Understood as ‘the power to die’, our mortality becomes the freedom to negate any determination whatsoever, much as to own and value some determinations. The last section juxtaposes this agentive understanding of mortality against Hegel’s ideal of modern Ethical Life, sketching the ways in which modern ‘second nature’ is better grounded in our mortal ‘first nature’.
Death · determination · early Hegel · ethical life · first nature · Freedom · Hegel · MORTALITY · negativity · second nature · Kierkegaardian Philosophy and Influence · Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Hegel · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|