The Pathologies of Individual Freedom

The Pathologies of Individual Freedom PDF

Author: Axel Honneth

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 95

ISBN-13: 140083502X

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This is a penetrating reinterpretation and defense of Hegel's social theory as an alternative to reigning liberal notions of social justice. The eminent German philosopher Axel Honneth rereads Hegel's Philosophy of Right to show how it diagnoses the pathologies of the overcommitment to individual freedom that Honneth says underlies the ideas of Rawls and Habermas alike. Honneth argues that Hegel's theory contains an account of the psychological damage caused by placing too much emphasis on personal and moral freedom. Although these freedoms are crucial to the achievement of justice, they are insufficient and in themselves leave people vulnerable to loneliness, emptiness, and depression. Hegel argues that people must also find their freedom or "self-realization" through shared projects. Such projects involve the three institutions of ethical life--family, civil society, and the state--and provide the arena of a crucial third kind of freedom, which Honneth calls "communicative" freedom. A society is just only if it gives all of its members sufficient and equal opportunity to realize communicative freedom as well as personal and moral freedom.

The Ethics of Democracy

The Ethics of Democracy PDF

Author: Lucio Cortella

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2015-09-08

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1438457553

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Demonstrates how the ethical underpinning of Hegel’s political and social philosophy has relevance for contemporary democratic life. The legal regulations and formal rules of democracy alone are not enough to hold a society together and govern its processes. Yet the irreducible ethical pluralism that characterizes contemporary society seems to make it impossible to impose a single system of values as a source of social cohesion and identity reference. In this book, Lucio Cortella argues that Hegel’s theory of ethical life can provide such a grounding and makes the case through an analysis of Hegel’s central political work, the Philosophy of Right. Although Hegel did not support democratic political ends and wrote in a historical and cultural context far removed from the current liberal-democratic scene, Cortella maintains that the Hegelian theory of ethical life, with its emphasis on securing a framework conducive to human freedom, nevertheless offers a convincing response to the problem of the ethical uprootedness of contemporary democracy. Lucio Cortella is Full Professor of History of Philosophy at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in Italy. Giacomo Donis is a professional translator.

Hegel: A Very Short Introduction

Hegel: A Very Short Introduction PDF

Author: Peter Singer

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2001-08-23

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 0191604410

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Many people regard Hegel's work as obscure and extremely difficult, yet his importance and influence are universally acknowledged. Professor Singer eliminates any excuse for remaining ignorant of the outlines of Hegel's philosophy by providing a broad discussion of his ideas and an account of his major works. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Freedom's Right

Freedom's Right PDF

Author: Axel Honneth

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-03-11

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 0745680062

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The theory of justice is one of the most intensely debated areas of contemporary philosophy. Most theories of justice, however, have only attained their high level of justification at great cost. By focusing on purely normative, abstract principles, they become detached from the sphere that constitutes their “field of application” - namely, social reality. Axel Honneth proposes a different approach. He seeks to derive the currently definitive criteria of social justice directly from the normative claims that have developed within Western liberal democratic societies. These criteria and these claims together make up what he terms “democratic ethical life”: a system of morally legitimate norms that are not only legally anchored, but also institutionally established. Honneth justifies this far-reaching endeavour by demonstrating that all essential spheres of action in Western societies share a single feature, as they all claim to realize a specific aspect of individual freedom. In the spirit of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and guided by the theory of recognition, Honneth shows how principles of individual freedom are generated which constitute the standard of justice in various concrete social spheres: personal relationships, economic activity in the market, and the political public sphere. Honneth seeks thereby to realize a very ambitious aim: to renew the theory of justice as an analysis of society.

Hegel's Philosophy of Freedom

Hegel's Philosophy of Freedom PDF

Author: Paul Franco

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1999-01-01

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9780300093223

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Human freedom is the central theme of modern political philosophy, and G. W. F. Hegel offers perhaps the most profound and systematic modern attempt to understand the state as the realization of human freedom. In this comprehensive examination of Hegel's philosophy of freedom, Paul Franco traces the development of Hegel's ideas of freedom, situates them within his general philosophical system, and relates them to the larger tradition of modern political philosophy. Franco then applies Hegel's understanding of liberty to certain problems in contemporary political theory. He argues that Hegel offers a powerful reformulation of liberalism that escapes many of the problematic assumptions of traditional liberal doctrine and yet avoids falling into the romantic and relativistic excesses of a substantial communitarianism. Devoting the major portion of his attention to Hegel's masterpiece the Philosophy of Right, published in 1821, Franco provides a clear and nontechnical guide to the challenging arguments Hegel presents. Franco establishes the necessary context within which to understand the work and draws on Hegel's other writings, including the unpublished lecture notes, to illuminate it. For the Hegel specialist as well as the reader with a more general interest in political philosophy and modern intellectual history, this book offers significant insights into Hegel's ideas on the theme of human liberty.

The Expansion of Autonomy

The Expansion of Autonomy PDF

Author: Christopher Yeomans

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0199394547

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In one of his pieces of literary criticism Georg Lukács wrote that 'there is autonomy and 'autonomy.' The one is a moment of life itself, the elevation of its richness and contradictory unity; the other is a rigidification, a barren self-seclusion, a self-imposed banishment from the dynamic overall connection.' But it has always been difficult to see how rigidification can be avoided without making the boundaries of the self so malleable that its autonomy looks like a sham. Yeomans explores Hegel's own attempts to grapple with this problem against the background of Kant's attempts, in his theory of virtue, to understand the way that morally autonomous agents can be robust individuals with qualitatively different projects, personal relations and commitments that are nonetheless infused with a value that demands respect.

Freedom and Independence

Freedom and Independence PDF

Author: Judith N. Shklar

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-06-10

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780521143240

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This book was written to guide students of political theory who want to understand Hegel's political ideas as they appear in The Phenomenology of Mind.

Foundations of Hegel's Social Theory

Foundations of Hegel's Social Theory PDF

Author: Frederick NEUHOUSER

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 0674041453

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This study examines the philosophical foundations of Hegel's social theory by articulating the normative standards at work in his claim that the central social institutions of the modern era are rational or good.

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