Lyotard and Hegel: what is wrong with modernity and what is right with the philosophy of right (original) (raw)

Critique of Hegel's `Philosophy of Right

The American Historical Review, 1972

respect but gratitude. It may well represent a milestone in the study of Hegel's political philosophy and the end of an era of irresponsibility. The picture of Hegel that emerges here bears little resemblance to the bogeyman presented to us by his detractors. Nor does the book revive the Hegel image of the British Idealists. The new portrait is much more accurate. But it does not capture the distinctive and often bizarre boldness of this unique thinker.

The Mark of the State: Reading the Writing of ‘Right’ in Hegel’s Political Philosophy

This project is a critique of the connection between lethal violence and justice within Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Our critique focuses on three specific moments—moments that Derrida touches upon in Glas, but does not address in detail—namely, heroic vengeance, execution and warfare. By subjecting each of these moments to a close reading we will be calling into question the very possibility of an act of violence that can lay claim to being absolutely ‘necessary’ or ‘just’ either within its specific historical moment or from beyond it. The theoretical basis of the project closely parallels Jacques Derrida’s work on Hegel, in that it stems from a deconstruction of the connection between epistemology and ontology. This also has serious implications for the question of ethics. By tracing the play of différance through the semeiological structure of both theoretical and practical cognition Derrida’s work makes it possible to address the ethical implications of speculative dialectics from a non-dialectical angle. Figuratively speaking, the relationship between theoretical and practical cognition can be thought of as the relationship between reading and writing. As such, the title of the project is to be taken as a figurative reference to the connection between theoretical (i.e. reading) and practical (i.e. writing) cognition and by extension to the connection between epistemology, ontology and ethics. Addressed in this manner our project begins by tracing the silence (i.e. the ‘a’ of différance) that is, at one and the same time, a condition of the possibility and impossibility of meaning. This silence has serious ramifications for Hegel’s political philosophy. Hegel’s system sets out to ground the law within the ‘positive’ infinity of the Concept [Begriff] and thus, close the circle of philosophy. This project will attempt to expose the ethical stakes—and the ultimate impossibility—of Hegel’s ‘positive’ infinity by taking up the thread of lethal violence in the Philosophy of Right.

The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty

Œconomia, 2020

Hegel’s interpretation of the question of poverty in modern states has been an important topic in Hegelian scholarship. His early engagement with political economy (e.g., John Locke, Adam Smith and James Steuart) and his attentiveness to social phenomena made him especially concerned with the ethical significance of poverty. Poverty is a puzzling issue for Hegel: it appears both as a necessary and unsolvable outcome of the modern rational ethical life and as an ethical failure that undermines the legitimation of this very form of life. In this paper, I articulate and defend Hegel’s understanding of poverty as an ethical failure, by showing that it frustrates fundamental aspects of the actualization of the concept of freedom. Also, I argue that Hegel’s failures in the face of this puzzle, namely that he is not able to map the necessity of this problem onto the rationale of modern ethical life, stem from the fact that he could not understand that there is another operative law in modern markets, i.e. the law of value, which does not correspond to the market’s rational justification as theorized in his account of “civil society”. Finally, I contend that the philosopher’s impasse expresses a rationality deficit in modern civil society itself. By arguing so I shed light on important aspects of Hegel’s conception of modernity and show how this interesting philosopher can be insightful even in his blind spots.

Hegel's Social and Political Philosophy: Recent Debates

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 as non-alienation and the idea of freedom as social freedom. I conclude with a discussion of the ways in which ethical life, for Hegel, enables the freedom of individuals. 1 | INTRODUCTION This article discusses recent work on Hegel's social and political philosophy. In Section 2, I introduce two basic concepts of Hegel's social and political thought, familiarity with which is presupposed in the rest of the discussion: Hegel's concept of recognition (Anerkennung) and his doctrine of ethical life (Sittlichkeit). The rest of the article is organized around three topics that have been both prominent and controversial in recent scholarship: first, the relation of Hegel's social and political philosophy to his philosophical system as a whole (Section 3) 1 ; second, the function of social and political institutions and institutionally-mediated recognition in Hegel's account of action and agency (Section 4); and third, Hegel's theory of social and political freedom and its relation to his theory of ethical life (Section 5).

Philosophy and the Logic of Modernity: Hegel's Dissatisfied Spirit 2009.

Review of Metaphysics, 2009

Humanity's fall is a central theme in Hegel's thought. In his case the Fall is inflicted by human cognition and thinking. It is not sinfulness per se that announces humanity's distinctiveness but the knowledge of good and evil. 2 This reflective capacity is what initiates humanity's separation from nature. Rousseau famously argued that man was in modern culture alienated from himself. 3 The issue that concerned him was the general corruption of natural man in modernity.

The Crisis of Freedom: Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right after 200 Years

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right we would like to invite you to an international conference in Frankfurt am Main in January 2021. The conference will be structured essentially according to the sections of the Elements. For about half of the thematic blocks we plan to have a panel in addition to an individual lecture, and we would like to invite scholars from philosophy, law, sociology, political science, history and related disciplines to submit their contributions.