Hegel and the History of Political Philosophy

This book covers a lot of years, conferences and sleepless nights. For the last twenty years or so I have been engaged in thinking about Hegel and the history of political philosophy. This book reflects and refines my thinking on Hegel and a number of political philosophers. The individual chapters in this book draw on a number of articles I have written and conference papers I have delivered over the last ten years. Every topic, however, has been turned to afresh, and all previous writings reconsidered and revised, if not always improved. I have tried to ensure that the essays in this book take account of recent scholarship, harmonise with one another and express my current thinking. In the processes of reflection, creation and reworking that shaped the essays in this volume, I became highly conscious of many debts incurred and it is a happy circumstance that allows me to acknowledge, if not discharge, them. I am very grateful for the permission I have received from a number of sources to draw upon articles already published. Chapters 1 and 6 draw upon articles that first appeared in This book relates Hegel to preceding and succeding political philosophers. The status of Hegel as a political philosopher is ambiguous. On the one hand, he is seen as a perceptive theorist of the modern political world, and yet his claim to have assimilated past perspectives into an absolute reading of modern politics repels a sceptical contemp-orary turn of mind. This book assesses Hegel's political philosophy by relating Hegel to a number of predecessors and successors. The Hegelian notion of the interdependence of political philosophy and its history is developed and criticised. Hegel's substantive political philosophy is examined in essays reviewing Hegel's critical assimilation of Plato and Hobbes and in studies appraising subsequent critiques of Hegel by Stirner, Marx and Collingwood. The contemporary relevance of Hegel, a theme of the book, is highlighted in essays comparing Hegel with Lyotard and Rawls Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-15 Plato and Hegel: Reason, Redemption and Political Construction....Pages 16-33 Hegel’s Plato: The Owl of Minerva, Political Philosophy and History....Pages 34-45 Hobbes, Hegel and the Modern Self....Pages 46-62 Stirner’s Critique of Hegel: Geist and the Egoistic Exorcist....Pages 63-74 The German Ideology, Stirner and Hegel: The Theory of History and the History of Theory....Pages 75-92 Good and Bad Infinites in Hegel and Marx....Pages 93-105 New Leviathans for Old: Collingwood’s Hobbes and the Spirit of Hegel....Pages 106-117 Lyotard’s Hegel and the Dialectic of Modernity....Pages 118-127 Rawls and Hegel: The Reasonable and the Rational in Theory and Practice....Pages 128-142 Conclusion: Politics, Philosophy and Critique....Pages 143-157 Back Matter....Pages 158-185 This book relates Hegel to preceding and succeeding political philosophers. The Hegelian notion of the interdependence of political philosophy and its history is demonstrated by the links established between Hegel and his predecessors and successors. Hegel's political theory is illuminated by essays showing its critical assimilation of Plato and Hobbes, and by studies reviewing subsequent critiques of its standpoint by Stirner, Marx and Collingwood. The relevance of Hegel to contemporary political philosophy is highlighted in essays which compare Hegel to Lyotard and Rawls. "This book assesses Hegel's political philosophy by relating Hegel to a number of predecessors and successors." "The Hegelian notion of the interdependence of political philosophy and its history is developed and criticised. Hegel's substantive political philosophy is examined in essays reviewing Hegel's critical assimilation of Plato and Hobbes and in studies appraising subsequent critiques of Hegel by Stirner, Marx and Collingwood."--BOOK JACKET "The status of Hegel as a political philosopher is ambiguous. On the one hand, he is seen as a perceptive theorist of the modern political world, and yet his claim to have assimilated past perspectives into an absolute reading of modern politics repels a sceptical contemporary turn of mind. This book assesses Hegel's political philosophy by relating Hegel to a number of predecessors and successors."--BOOK JACKET