Book ReviewsRobert Pippin, . Hegel’s Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. 320. $29.99 (cloth).

Ethics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-787
Author(s):  
Christopher Yeomans
Keyword(s):  
Practical Philosophy ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Rational Agency ◽  
Cambridge University

scholarly journals Philosophy and war: Hegel’s therapeutic movement of the spirit

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-104
Author(s):  
Rastko Jovanov
Keyword(s):  
Social World ◽  
Practical Philosophy ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Ethical Duty ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Therapeutic Function ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Therapeutic Dimension

In addition to Axel Honneth?s thesis on the therapeutic function of the concept of ethical life in Hegel?s philosophy, I want to underline two moments which, to my mind, show Hegel?s views on the therapeutic dimension of both philosophy and the war against the pathology of civil society more clearly. In this context, (a) philosophy performs a corrective function by fostering the individual?s virtue conceived as an ethical duty of care both for oneself and for others. The main aim of Hegel?s practical philosophy is hence to return the individual from abstract subjective concepts to his concrete everyday intersubjective practices, and to show him the way to understand himself and the social world as originally related to each other; (b) one of the main problems for the moral development of individuals consists in their propensity to perceive the good in particularist and selfish terms: in this context events such as natural disasters or wars can be seen as performing a therapeutic function by teaching individuals to view the good in more principled and general terms.

Hegel’s Jena Practical Philosophy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nance
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Practical Philosophy ◽  
Ethical Life ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Struggle For Recognition ◽  
Liberal Individualism ◽  
Community Attachments ◽  
Culminating Project ◽  
Coherent Picture

This chapter examines the development of Hegel’s Jena social and political philosophy prior to the publication of the Phenomenology, with a focus on Hegel’s engagement with Fichte. Hegel’s culminating project in his Jena practical philosophy involves synthesizing two social ideals: classical Greek communitarianism and modern liberal individualism. According to Hegel’s conception, the classical communitarian ideal threatens a form of nihilism: the destruction of free, independent subjectivity. The modern individualist ideal, by contrast, threatens atomism: the breakdown of community attachments in favor of the pursuit of private interests. Hegel’s Jena project is to avoid nihilism and atomism by synthesizing the two ideals into one coherent picture of ethical life. Two related conceptual innovations prove crucial to this project: first, the idea that human agency is formed through a struggle for recognition; and second, the idea that modern ethical life is a shape of objective spirit.

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