G. W. F. Hegel. Sari Roman-Lagerspetz Lecture at the University of Turku Classics of Political Thought Fall 2015

Transcription

1 G. W. F. Hegel Sari Roman-Lagerspetz Lecture at the University of Turku Classics of Political Thought Fall 2015

2 G. W. F. Hegel (August 27, 1770 November 14, 1831). Main works: Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit,1807 Science of Logic, 1812, 1813, 1816, Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, 1817 The Logic of Hegel, Hegel's Philosophy of Nature Hegel's Philosophy of Mind Elements of the Philosophy of Right, 1821 Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Introduction

3 The philosophical and political thought of Hegel makes up an enormously large and complex whole. He has been interpreted in many ways: Metaphysical system builder Conservative apologetic of the Prussian nation state of his time Conservative Christian Predecessor of Marx Critic of Kant patriarchalist

4 . One of the reasons why Hegel has been read in many - and often mutually contradicting - ways may be that his thinking proceeds often dialectically: it pursues to include opposite views as moments of the same system. Another reason may be that his texts are very difficult to read. There are good introductory texts:

5 Books on Hegel Kojève, Alexandre: Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. [on suomeksi] Kojève; Alexandre: Historian loppu [ valikoima artikkeleita suomeksi] Taylor, Charles: Hegel (1975) Inwood, M. J.:Hegel (1983) Inwood, J. M. :A Hegel Dictionary (1995) Williams, Robert R.: Hegel s Ethics of Recognition (1997) Butler, Judith: Subjects of Desire (1999 [1986]) Knowles, Dudley: Hegel and the Philosophy of Right (2002) Hutchings, Kimberley: Hegel and the Feminist Philosophy (2003)

6 More books on Hegel (and on recognition): Pulkkinen, Tuija: Valtio ja vapaus (1989) Roman-Lagerspetz, Sari: Striving for the Impossible. The Hegelian Background of Judith Butler (2009) Ikäheimo, Heikki: Tunnustus, subjektiviteetti ja inhimillinen elämänmuoto (2003) Ikäheimo, H. & Laitinen, A. (eds.): Recoginition and Social Ontology (2011) Honneth, Axel: Struggle for Recognition (1996) Thompson, Simon: The Political Theory of Recognition (2006)

7 Hegel s. subject theory: The social constitution of the human person Attempt to grasp the constitution of persons and the constitution of the rest of the social and institutional world as an interconnected whole Particularity, universality, autonomy, heteronomy, dependence and independence are aspects of the self or I

8 The developmental narrative in Hegel s subject theory consists of the I :s development towards freedom Normative essentialism: persons are free and their telos or aim is to strive for freedom at various inter-related levels (psychological, social, institutional, epistemic etc.) Master and Bondsman: struggle for recognition

9 The struggle for recognition between the two I :s in the Phenomenology of Spirit It is difficult for the I to accept that there is another similar being (another I ) [At the primitive level of freedom] the both I :s try to silence/suppress/enslave the other I. Both I :s consider the other s freedom as a threat to their existence The I becomes free when it learns to accept the others freedom & recognize him as an equal person

10 Self-consciousness achieves its satisfaction only in another selfconsciousness (Phenomenology of Spirit 175) Self-consciousness exists in and for itself when, and by the fact that, it so exists for another; that is, it exists only in being acknowledged (Phenomenology of Spirit 178)

11 Dialectics Important Hegelian concept: 1) one or more categories are taken as fixed and distinct from each other. They are two opposite theses 2) when we reflect on such categories, one or more contradictions emerge in them. The contradictions burden and unstabilize the categories and push them towards each other and towards some kind of resolution 3) the result is a new, higher category ( synthesis ) which embraces the earlier categories and resolves the contradiction involved in them The new category may become its own thesis and continue the dialectical process..

12 Hegel: a conceptual realist The objective materiality ( Being ) has its own independence Being is ultimately conceptual

13 The influence of Hegel Marxism: dialectical materialism Hegel s theories of the Nation State influenced, for example, the formation of Finland as an independent nation, especially through J.V.Snellman. British idealism was a liberal-democratic movement inspired by Hegel: T. H. Green; Bernard Bosanquet Marxist feminism Russian-French philosopher Alexandre Kojève gave lectures on Hegel in France in 1930`s. French thinkers influenced by Kojève: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty; Jacques Lacan

14 Alexandre Kojève s Hegelianism: The subject is ultimately an Individual in the sense of being a fully self-determining being. Individual is a free nothingness, a free negating power: it can overcome any restrictions placed upon it by time, history, culture or other subjects. (Sartre adopted this view.) History proceeds as a continuous political struggle between the Masters and Slaves. In Kojève, Marx s class struggle was replaced by the struggle for recognition as the motor of the history. Kojève equates universal recognition with the End of History. There are no more slaves and thus no more history.

15 Kojeve on the historical progress of freedom: Generally speaking, it is the Slave, and only he, who can realize a progress, who can go beyond the given and in particular the given that he himself is ; possessing the idea of Freedom and not being free, he is led to transfrom the given (social) conditions of his existence that is, to realize a historical progress (Introduction to the Reading of Hegel, 50)

16 Kojeve s utopian Marxist homogeneous state Free Individuality can be fully realized (the desire for recognition and freedom can be completely satisfied) only in and by the universal homogeneous State. In this State all differences of class, race, and so on are overcome Ideally this State embraces the whole of the human race The universal and homogeneous State completes History. There is no need for politics any more, because politics is about struggle for recognition.

17 Many prominent French (and European) intellectuals adopted Kojève s interpretation of Hegel. While they generally accepted the idea that the subject should not suppress the other or otherness, they detested Hegelian idea of recognition between the self and the other (or the Kojevian interpretation of it), as it would lead into a universal Homogeneous State. Critics of Hegel who interpreted him largely thorough Kojève: Louis Althusser and other structuralist Marxists ; postmodernists

18 Hegelian reflections on contemporary thought: Theories of Recognition by, for example, Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser (In Finland: Arto Laitinen, Heikki Ikäheimo) The philosophy and politics of performativity by Judith Butler Feminist, post-feminist and queer-theories, inspired by Judith Butler

19 Judith Butler on her relation to Hegel: In a sense, all of my work remains within the orbit of a certain set of Hegelian questions: What is the relation between desire and recognition, and how is it that the constitution of the subject entails a radical and constitutive relation to alterity? (Subjects of Desire, xiv)