Hegel's social and political philosophy

Recent debates

Bibliographic Data

ID4079019
AuthorsMichael Nance (0000-0002-3600-2214, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume11
Issue12
Pages804-817
Publication date2016-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/phc3.12384
OpenAlexW2563290272
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited48

This article discusses three topics that have been the subject of debate in recent scholarship on Hegel's social and political philosophy: first, the relevance of Hegel's systematic metaphysics for interpreting Hegel's social and political writings; second, the relation between recognition (Anerkennung), social institutions, and rational agency; and third, the connection between the constellation of institutions and norms that Hegel calls "ethical life" (Sittlichkeit) and Hegel's theory of freedom. This article provides a critical overview of the positions in these three debates. In the case of the first debate, I clarify the conceptual terrain by distinguishing between several kinds of systematicity that are at issue. In the case of the second debate, I argue that the views of two of the major participants, Axel Honneth and Robert Pippin, are in fact compatible. In the case of the third debate, I seek to clarify the connection in Hegel between two different ideas of freedom in ethical life, each of which has been emphasized by different interpreters of Hegel: the idea of freedom asnon-alienationand the idea of freedom associal freedom. I conclude with a discussion of the ways in which ethical life, for Hegel, enables the freedom of individuals

Alienation · Dialectic · Epistemology · Hegelianism · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics