A/517717

Hegel's Critique of Modernity Reconciling Individual Freedom and the Community

Timothy C. Luther

LEXINGTON BOOKS

A division of ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanhatn • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Contents

Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 The Purpose of the Book 4 Hegel's Philosophical Importance 10 A Preview of the Chapters 13 2 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: His Philosophy and Context 19 Hegel's History of Philosophy 22 The Development of Western Philosophy 23 The Modern Conflict Between the Individual and Community 28 Hegel's Philosophy in Context 30 The Dialectical Method: Geist and Aufhebungen 42 Hegel's Critique of Modernity 51 3 The Dialectic and History: The Odyssey of Liberty 63 Geist, Freedom, and Conflict 67 The Dialectic of World History 69 The Oriental World 72 Ancient Greece 78 The Roman Empire 81 Medieval Christianity 83 The Reformation and the Renaissance 86 The Enlightenment 90 The French Revolution 92 Hegel's Life and Times 95 Freedom and the Community 105 viii Contents

4 Hegel's Sittlichkeit: Individual Freedom in Ethical Life 117 Greek Sittlichkeit 122 Kant's Metaphysics of Morals and Modern Freedom 128 Hegel's Critique of Kant's Modernism 135 Modern Sittlichkeit 140 5 The Family and Burgerliche Gesellschaft: Hegel's Realm of Particular Freedom 155 The Family 158 Civil Society 165 The System of Needs and Political Economy 167 The Administration of Justice and Property 172 Police and the Regulation of Community Welfare 179 Corporations 183 The Particular and Subjective Freedom 186 6 Autonomy and Solidarity: Hegel's Rechtsstaat 199 The Critique of Social Contract Theory 203 Reconciling Individualism and Community 207 Hegel' s Rechtsstaat 212 Constitutional Monarchy 213 The Universal Estate 215 The Legislative Assembly 216 Separation of Church and State and Toleration 220 Hegel's Critique of Modern Liberalism 226 7 The Emergence of Hegelianism: Right and Left Movements 243 Hegel's Philosophy of Versohnung 247 Immediate Reactions to Hegelianism 250 Left Hegelianism 253 Ludwig Feuerbach 256 Marx's Dialectic 261 Hegel and the Real World 269 8 Nineteenth-Century Rejections of Hegelianism 279 Existentialism as a Response to Hegelianism 281 S0ren Kierkegaard: Philosophy Without Foundations 282 Friedrich Nietzsche and the Criticism of Metaphysics 288 Hegel's Critique of Modern Metaphysics 296 9 Hegel and Postmodernism 313 Critical Theory and Negative Dialectics 317 Postmetaphysical Intersubjectivity 326 Contents ix

Phenomenological and Philosophical Hermeneutics 329 Poststructuralism and Deconstruction 333 Hegel's Antifoundational Defense of Modernity 337 10 Conclusion: Hegel Today 345 Hegel and Economic Justice 347 Political Economy and Alienation 348 Contemporary Globalization 352 Hegel and Contemporary Dilemmas 363 Excessive Individualism and Fragmentation 366 Restoring Community and Ethical Life 370

Bibliography 381 Index 393