Hegels Ontology And The Theory Of Historicity

This was Herbert Marcuse's first book on Hegel, written in the early 1930s when he was under the strong influence of Martin Heidegger. It provides a still unequaled Heideggerian reading of Hegel's thought that seeks the defining characteristics of "historicity" - what it means to say that a historical event happens. These ideas were foundational for Marcuse; they express a tradition known as "phenomenological Marxism," subsequently represented by Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty and by some members of the Praxis group in Yugoslavia. The book is in two parts. The first analyzes Hegel's Logic in order to identify its ontological problematic or theory of being; by focusing on Hegel's Early Theological Writings and the Phenomenology of Spirit, the second part argues that the concept of Life in its historicity was in fact the original foundation of Hegelian ontology. Clearly this is a "purer" form of philosophizing than Marcuse was to pursue after he joined the Institut fur Sozialforschung, discovered Freud, and distanced himself from Heidegger's philosophy. But there is a definite connection between his analysis of historicity in this important early work and his later attempts to understand the underlying dynamic of contemporary history and society in such books as One-Dimensional Man and Eros and Civilization. Hegel's Ontology and the Theory of Historicityis included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy,

Hegel's Introduction to the Philosophy of History remains one of the most profound and influential books on the philosophy of history. In clear and cogent terms this book: * examines the ideas and arguments of the Introduction to the Philosophy of History * explains key concepts of Hegel's system, a knowledge of which is essential for fully understanding his philosophy of history * assesses the continuing relevance of Hegel to the contemporary debate about the nature of history.

An English translation of Hegel's introduction to his lectures on the philosophy of history, based directly on the standard German edition by Johannes Hoffmeister, first published in 1955. The previous English translation, by J. Sibree, first appeared in 1857 and was based on the defective German edition of Karl Hegel, to which Hoffmeister's edition added a large amount of new material previously unknown to English readers, derived from earlier editors. In the introduction to his lectures, Hegel lays down the principles and aims which underlie his philosophy of history, and provides an outline of the philosophy of history itself. The comprehensive and voluminous survey of world history which followed the introduction in the original lectures is of less interest to students of Hegel's thought than the introduction, and is therefore not included in this volume.

In the preface to the second edition of the Science of Logic, Hegel speaks of an instinctive and unconscious logic whose forms and determinations "always remain imperceptible and incapable of becoming objective even as they emerge in language." In spite of Hegel's ambitions to provide a philosophical system that might transcend messy human nature, Félix Duque argues that human nature remains stubbornly present in precisely this way. In this book, he responds to the "remnants" of Hegel's work not to explicate his philosophy, but instead to explore the limits of his thought. He begins with the tension between singularity and universality, both as a metaphysical issue in terms of substance and subject and as a theological issue in terms of ideas about the human and divine nature of Jesus. Duque argues that the questions these issues bring out require a search for some antecedent authority, for which he turns to Hegel's theory of "second nature" and the idea of nature as reflected in the nation-state. He considers Hegel's evaluation of the French Revolution in the context of political and civil life, and, in a religious context, how Hegel saw considerations of authority and guilt sublimated and purified in the development of Christianity.

Recent attempts to revitalize Hegel's social and political philosophy have tended to be doubly constrained: firstly, by their focus on Hegel's Philosophy of Right; and secondly, by their broadly liberal interpretive framework. Challenging that trend, Arash Abazari shows that the locus of Hegel's genuine critical social theory is to be sought in his ontology – specifically in the 'logic of essence' of the Science of Logic. Mobilizing ideas from Marx and Adorno, Abazari unveils the hidden critical import of Hegel's logic. He argues that social domination in capitalism obtains by virtue of the illusion of equality and freedom; shows how relations of opposition underlie the seeming pluralism in capitalism; and elaborates on the deepest ground of domination, i.e. the totality of capitalist social relations. Overall, his book demonstrates that Hegel's logic can and should be read politically.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831) was a German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism. The range of Hegel's interest was very wide and it covers such topics as the history of philosophy, the philosophy of history and the philosophy of religion. Hegel has influenced many thinkers and writers whose own positions vary widely. "All the great philosophical ideas of the 19th century—the philosophies of Marx and Nietzsche, phenomenology, German existentialism, and psychoanalysis—had their beginnings in Hegel." Content: Lectures on the Philosophy of History Lectures on the History of Philosophy Lectures on the Proofs of the Existence of God

Hegel’s Philosophy of Right was his last systematic work and the most complete statement of his mature views on ethical and political philosophy. The text explores the relationships between three distinct conceptions of human freedom: persons as possessing contract rights, subjects as reflective moral agents, and individuals as members of an ethical community. It strongly influenced the early Marx and debates over liberalism and communitarianism that arose in the latter half of the twentieth century. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the publication of the Philosophy of Right, the 18 essays in this volume by contemporary scholars examine the nature and impact of Hegel's text. They examine a diverse array of topics, ranging from Hegel's account of rights, religious freedom, gender, the state, history, and naturalism to some hitherto relatively overlooked topics such as Hegel and Luther, art and nationality, and Hegel and the market. Each contribution also pays homage to the work of Terry Pinkard, who, as a foremost interpreter and scholar of Hegel’s thought, revived and reinvented the contemporary field of Hegel studies. Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Critical Perspectives on Freedom and History will be valuable reading for scholars of Hegel, nineteenth-century German philosophy, moral and political philosophy, and the history of political thought.

Much of contemporary philosophy, political theory, and social thought has been shaped directly or indirectly by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, though there is considerable disagreement about how his work should be understood. He has been described both as a metaphysician and characterized as an ironic narrator who anticipated the character of philosophy after metaphysics. His position is equally ambiguous with regard to his political thought. He has been construed both as an enemy of the liberal state and as a friend of freedom. This volume's revisionist reassessment, building on the scholarship of Klaus Hartmann, explores these ambiguities in favor of a non-metaphysical reading of Hegel's arguments. It also shows how the foundations of his political thought support a liberal democratic state. This reappraisal of Hegel's arguments resituates him as a philosopher who anticipates the difficulties of post-modernity and offers a basis for reassessing ontology, aesthetics, and revolution. Philosophers and those doing work in political theory will find this volume of great interest.

In this work, originally published in 1989, the author establishes a tradition of radical historicism from Hegel to the Budapenst School. He charts both its continuous evolution from the early 19th century to the late 20thh, and its transformation in the context of European social, economic and cultural change. Through a reappraisal of historical interpretation from Hegel to Foucault, the book demonstrates the contemporary relevance of radical historicism. It includes detailed analyses of Marx, Dilthey, Simmel, Weber, Lukácks, Horkheimer, Adorno and Habermas.

In this Introduction' we shall sketch the business of ontology, or metaphysics, and shall locate it on the map of learning. This has to be done because there are many ways of construing the word 'ontology' and because of the bad reputation metaphysics has suffered until recently - a well deserved one in most cases. 1. ONTOLOGICAL PROBLEMS Ontological (or metaphysical) views are answers to ontological ques tions. And ontological (or metaphysical) questions are questions with an extremely wide scope, such as 'Is the world material or ideal - or perhaps neutral?" 'Is there radical novelty, and if so how does it come about?', 'Is there objective chance or just an appearance of such due to human ignorance?', 'How is the mental related to the physical?', 'Is a community anything but the set of its members?', and 'Are there laws of history?'. Just as religion was born from helplessness, ideology from conflict, and technology from the need to master the environment, so metaphysics - just like theoretical science - was probably begotten by the awe and bewilderment at the boundless variety and apparent chaos of the phenomenal world, i. e. the sum total of human experience. Like the scientist, the metaphysician looked and looks for unity in diversity, for pattern in disorder, for structure in the amorphous heap of phenomena - and in some cases even for some sense, direction or finality in reality as a whole.