Hegel's Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life

by Robert B. Pippin

• ISBN13: 9780521728720
• ISBN10: 052172872X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-17
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This fresh and original book argues that the central questions in Hegel's practical philosophy are the central questions in modern accounts of freedom: What is freedom, or what would it be to act freely? Is it possible so to act? And how important is leading a free life? Robert Pippin argues that the core of Hegel's answers is a social theory of agency, the view that agency is not exclusively a matter of the self-relation and self-determination of an individual but requires the right sort of engagement with and recognition by others. Using a detailed analysis of key Hegelian texts, he develops this interpretation to reveal the bearing of Hegel's claims on many contemporary issues, including much-discussed core problems in the liberal democratic tradition. His important study will be valuable for all readers who are interested in Hegel's philosophy and in the modern problems of agency and freedom.

Author Biography

Robert B. Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College at the University of Chicago

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. viii
Spirit
Introduction: leading a free life	p. 3
Naturalness and mindedness: Hegel's compatibilism	p. 36
On giving oneself the law	p. 65
The actualization of freedom	p. 92
Freedom
The freedom of the will: psychological dimensions	p. 121
The freedom of the will: social dimensions	p. 147
Sociality
Hegelian sociality: recognitive status	p. 183
Recognition and politics	p. 210
Institutional rationality	p. 239
Concluding remarks	p. 273
Bibliography	p. 282
Index	p. 301
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