Hegel's Philosophy Of Reality, Freedom, And God (modern European Philosophy)

This 2005 book shows that the repeated announcements of the death of Hegel's philosophical system have been premature. Hegel's Philosophy of Freedom, Reality, and God brings to light accomplishments for which Hegel is seldom given credit: unique arguments for the reality of freedom, for the reality of knowledge, for the irrationality of egoism, and for the compatibility of key insights from traditional theism and naturalistic atheism. The book responds in a systematic manner to many of the major criticisms leveled at Hegel's system, from Feuerbach and Kierkegaard to Heidegger and Charles Taylor. It provides detailed interpretations of Hegel's Philosophy of Spirit, large parts of his indispensable Science of Logic, and important parts of his Philosophy of Nature and Philosophy of Right. Unlike many academic books on Hegel, this one treats him very much as a 'live' thinker, whom we can learn from today. Cover......Page 1 Half-title ......Page 3 Series-title ......Page 5 Title ......Page 7 Copyright ......Page 8 Dedication ......Page 9 Contents......Page 11 Acknowledgments......Page 17 Publication Citation Style......Page 19 Preface......Page 25 1.1 OUR COMMITMENT TO INDIVIDUALISM AND OUR PROBLEMS WITH IT......Page 37 1.2 HEGEL ENDORSES INDIVIDUALISM – AS A POINT OF DEPARTURE......Page 41 2.1 KANT AND HEGEL ON THE WILL......Page 46 2.2 IS THIS “FREEDOM” ACTUALLY SLAVERY (FOR THE “INCLINATIONS”)?......Page 54 2.3 IS THIS “FREEDOM” ETHICALLY EMPTY?......Page 56 2.4 IS THIS “GOING BEYOND... ” REALLY “FREEDOM”?......Page 58 2.5 INDIVIDUALISM AND ETHICS: HOBBES AND GAUTHIER......Page 63 2.6 AN EARLY CRITIC OF HOBBES AND GAUTHIER: PLATO ON THE WILL AND JUSTICE......Page 67 2.7 KANT ON INDIVIDUALISM (“AUTONOMY”) AND ETHICS: THE APPARENT FAILURE OF A GREAT ARGUMENT......Page 75 2.8 HEGEL'S REFORMULATION OF KANT'S ARGUMENT FROM AUTONOMY TO ETHICS......Page 78 2.9 KANT AND HEGEL ON GOD AND THE WORLD......Page 80 3.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 84 3.2 OBJECTIVE THINKING......Page 89 3.3 BEING......Page 90 3.4 DETERMINATE BEING, QUALITY, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE SUBJECT......Page 95 3.5 “NEGATIVITY,” OR THE “NEGATION OF THE NEGATION”......Page 100 3.6 FINITE BEING......Page 102 3.7 THE FINITE AND THE INFINITE......Page 105 3.8 INFINITY, FREEDOM, AND NATURE......Page 109 3.9 SPURIOUS INFINITY AND TRUE INFINITY......Page 112 3.10 EMPIRICISM, DUALISM, AND TRUE INFINITY......Page 116 3.11 HOW HEGEL'S POSITION RELATES TO “COMPATIBILISM” AND “INCOMPATIBILISM”......Page 118 3.12 TRUE INFINITY, “STRIVING,” AND “ACTUALITY”......Page 119 3.13 TRUE INFINITY AND THE “NEGATION OF THE NEGATION”......Page 122 3.14 SUBSTANCE AND SUBJECT......Page 124 3.15 MODERNITY AND “METAPHYSICS”: HEGEL AND HIS PREDECESSORS......Page 127 3.16 REALITY AND IDEALITY, “REALISM” AND “IDEALISM”......Page 128 3.17 TRUE INFINITY AND GOD......Page 132 3.18 TWO CONTRASTING CRITIQUES OF HEGEL'S THEOLOGY: HEIDEGGER AND MAGEE......Page 139 3.19 KNOWLEDGE, SKEPTICISM, AND TRUE INFINITY......Page 145 3.20 KNOWLEDGE AND “FAITH”......Page 152 3.21 EARLIER VERSIONS OF THESE IDEAS, IN HEGEL'S DEVELOPMENT......Page 154 3.22 CHARLES TAYLOR'S INTERPRETATION OF TRUE INFINITY......Page 158 3.23 HEGEL NOT AN “ATOMIST”......Page 162 3.24 BEING-FOR-SELF AND THE “COLLAPSE” OF TRUE INFINITY......Page 163 3.25 ATOMISM......Page 168 3.26 SOCIAL ATOMISM......Page 172 4.1 INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTERS 4 AND 5......Page 177 4.2 QUANTITY AND THE THEME OF “UNITY”......Page 179 4.3 MEASURE......Page 183 4.4 ABSOLUTE INDIFFERENCE......Page 188 4.5 BEYOND ABSOLUTE INDIFFERENCE: ESSENCE......Page 190 4.6 INTRODUCTION TO ESSENCE: BEING-IN-AND-FOR-SELF......Page 191 4.7 ESSENCE AS SHINE AND NEGATIVITY: HEGEL'S NEW CONCEPTION OF IMMEDIACY OR BEING, AND HIS CRITIQUE OF “THE GIVEN”......Page 195 4.8 ESSENCE AS REFLECTION......Page 205 4.9 THE REFLECTION-DETERMINATIONS: IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE......Page 211 4.10 THE REFLECTION-DETERMINATIONS: DIFFERENCE......Page 214 4.11 THE REFLECTION-DETERMINATIONS: FROM DIVERSITY TO OPPOSITION......Page 216 4.12 THE REFLECTION-DETERMINATIONS: FROM OPPOSITION TO CONTRADICTION......Page 220 4.13 FROM REFLECTION TO ACTUALITY......Page 226 4.14 FROM ACTUALITY TO ABSOLUTE NECESSITY......Page 228 4.15 THE ACTUAL AND THE RATIONAL......Page 233 4.16 SUBSTANCE AND CAUSALITY......Page 235 4.17 FROM RECIPROCAL ACTION TO FREEDOM......Page 238 4.18 WHAT SORT OF “FREEDOM” IS THIS?......Page 244 5.1 FROM SUBSTANCE TO THE “CONCEPT”......Page 250 5.2 THE CONCEPT AS “FREE LOVE” AND TRUE INFINITY......Page 252 5.3 WHY CALL THIS A “CONCEPT”?......Page 254 5.4 SUBSTANCE AND SUBJECT......Page 260 5.5 PARTICULARITY AND SINGULARITY; “ABSTRACTNESS” AND “EMPTINESS” VERSUS “CONCRETENESS”......Page 264 5.6 THE “EMPTINESS” OF KANT'S PRINCIPLE OF ETHICS......Page 267 5.7 THE CONCEPT AND THE WILL (PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT, INTRODUCTION)......Page 269 5.8 FROM THE CONCEPT (“SUBJECTIVITY”) TO OBJECTIVITY......Page 273 5.9 FROM OBJECTIVITY TO THE “IDEA”......Page 275 5.10 THE “IDEA,” REASON, AND ACTUALITY......Page 279 5.11 CAN METAPHYSICS, LIKE THIS, BE RATIONALLY DEFENDED?......Page 282 5.12 THE IDEA, THE “CUNNING” OF REASON, AND “GOD”......Page 283 5.13 THE IDEA AS LIFE......Page 285 5.14 THE “GENUS”: UNIVERSALITY AND “IDENTITY WITH THE OTHER”......Page 286 5.15 THE “DEATH” OF THE LIVING INDIVIDUAL......Page 289 5.16 THE IDEA AS “COGNITION,” OR SPIRIT......Page 294 5.17 THE ABSOLUTE IDEA AS A REFUTATION OF EGOISM......Page 296 5.18 “METHOD” AS BEING AND AS RESULT: THE CIRCLE CLOSES......Page 301 6.1 FROM LOGIC TO NATURE TO SPIRIT......Page 304 6.2 SUBJECTIVITY WITHIN NATURE......Page 306 6.3 SPIRIT......Page 312 6.4 SUBJECTIVE SPIRIT: “SOUL”......Page 315 6.5 SUBJECTIVE SPIRIT: “CONSCIOUSNESS”......Page 319 6.6 SUBJECTIVE SPIRIT: “SPIRIT AS SUCH,” THEORETICAL, PRACTICAL, AND FREE......Page 328 6.8 OBJECTIVE SPIRIT: ABSTRACT “RIGHT,” PROPERTY AND WRONG......Page 334 6.9 OBJECTIVE SPIRIT: “MORALITY,” CONSCIENCE AND EVIL......Page 335 6.10 OBJECTIVE SPIRIT: “ETHICAL LIFE” (SITTLICHKEIT)......Page 338 6.11 ABSOLUTE SPIRIT: INTRODUCTION......Page 344 6.12 ABSOLUTE SPIRIT: ART......Page 348 6.13 ABSOLUTE SPIRIT: REVEALED RELIGION......Page 349 6.14 ABSOLUTE SPIRIT: PHILOSOPHY......Page 352 Conclusion......Page 355 Index......Page 359 In This Book, Robert Wallace Shows That The Repeated Pronouncements Of The Death Of Hegel's Philosophical System Have Been Premature. Wallace Brings To Light Unique Arguments In Hegel For The Reality Of Freedom, Of God, And Of Knowledge - Each Of Them Understood As Intimately Connected To Nature, But Not As Reducible To It - And For The Irrationality Of Egoism. And Wallace Systematically Answers Many Of The Major Criticisms That Have Been Leveled At Hegel's System, From Feurbach, Kierkegaard, And Marx Through Heidegger And Charles Taylor. The Book Provides Detailed Interpretations Of The Major Works Of Hegel's Mature System - His Entire Philosophy Of Spirit, Most Of His Indispensable Science Of Logic, And Key Parts Of His Philosophy Of Nature And Philosophy Of Right. With The Exception Of Chapters 4 And 5, Which Will Particularly Interest Advanced Students, Hegel's Philosophy Of Reality, Freedom, And God Is Written For Students Of Philosophy At All Levels. Wallace Explains Hegel's Terminology Thoroughly, Analyzes Many Important Passages From Hegel's Works In Detail, And Outlines Alternative Approaches (plato's, Hume's, And Kant's, Among Others), So That The Distinctiveness Of Hegel's Solutions Becomes Apparent.--jacket. 1. Introduction -- 2. Naturalism, Plato, Kant, And Hegel On Reason, Freedom, Responsibility, Ethics, And God -- 3. Reality, Freedom, And God (science Of Logic I) -- 4. Identity, Contradiction, Actuality, And Freedom (science Of Logic Ii) -- 5. Freedom, God, And The Refutation Of Rational Egoism (science Of Logic Iii) -- 6. Nature, Freedom, Ethics, And God (the Philosophy Of Nature And The Philosophy Of Spirit) -- 7. Conclusion. Robert M. Wallace. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book shows that the repeated announcements of the death of Hegel's philosophical system have been premature. Hegel's Philosophy of Freedom, Reality, and God brings to light accomplishments for which Hegel is seldom given credit, responding in a systematic manner to many of the criticisms leveled at his system.