1st Edition

Dialectics, Politics, and the Contemporary Value of Hegel's Practical Philosophy

By Andrew Buchwalter Copyright 2012
    342 Pages
    by Routledge

    354 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book explores and details the actuality (Aktualität) of Hegel’s social and political philosophy--its relevance, topicality, and contemporary validity. It asserts--against the assumptions of those in a wide range of traditions--that Hegel’s thought not only remains relevant to debates in current social and political theory, but is capable of productively enhancing and enriching those debates. The book is divided into three main sections. Part 1 considers the actuality of Hegel’s social and political thought in the context of a constructed dialogues with later social and political theorists, including Marx, Adorno, Habermas, and Rawls. Part 2 explores Hegel’s internal criticism of Enlightenment rationality as well as the unique manner in which his thought reaffirms both the classical tradition of politics and the Christian conception of freedom in order to deepen and further develop our understanding of modernity and modern secularity. Part 3 considers Hegel’s contribution to current theorizing about globalization.

    1. Introduction: Dialectics, Politics, and the Contemporary Value of Hegel’s Practical Philosophy  Part 1: Normative Political Theory in Dialogue  2. Hegel, Marx, and the Concept of Immanent Critique  3. Hegel, Adorno, and the Concept of Transcendent Critique  4. Law, Culture, and Constitutionalism: Remarks on Hegel and Habermas  5. Political Pluralism in Hegel and Rawls  Part 2: Modernity and Secularity  6. Hegel and the Doctrine of Expressivism  7. Hegel, Hobbes and Kant on the Scienticization of Practical Philosophy 8. Hegel’s Concept of Virtue  9. Political Theology and Modern Republicanism: Hegel’s Conception of the State as an "Earthly Divinity"  Part 3: Eurocentrism, Globality, and Interculturalism  10. Hegel’s Conception of an "International ‘We’"  11. Hegel, Global Justice, and the Logic of Recognition  12. Is Hegel’s Philosophy of History Eurocentric?

    Biography

    Andrew Buchwalter is John A. Delaney Presidential Professor at the University of North Florida. He was Fulbright Professor at the University of Bochum Germany. He is Vice-President of the Hegel Society of America.

    "To be sure, establishing contemporary value is hardly the only reason to study the history of philosophy, and one might think that such an emphasis can obscure much of what is interesting and valuable in learning from the past. So we can take Andrew Buchwalter's attempt to show how Hegel's practical philosophy has contemporary value to be a project of distinctive ambition. It is a project that he pursues carefully, developing arguments informed by extensive knowledge of the relevant debates and sensitive to troubling issues of our period." – Richard T. Peterson, Michigan State University, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

    "The work’s encyclopaedic structure is advantageous for Hegelian scholars focusing on a specific philosophical or political issue, as well as to a wider audience. The chapters are concise and clearly articulated and most arguments are backed by a comprehensive account of the original sources (Kant, Hegel, Hobbes, as well as Marx, Adorno, Rawls and Habermas, among others), ‘classic’ commentators, more recent critical contributions and even recently discovered lecture versions of Hegel’s political philosophy, which may point to new and exciting research directions." –  Bernardo Enes Dias, New University of Lisbon, Hegel Bulletin