Beyond Liberalism and Communitarianism

Studies in Hegel's Philosophy of Right

Edited by Robert R. Williams

Subjects: German Idealism
Paperback : 9780791449349, 286 pages, March 2001
Hardcover : 9780791449332, 286 pages, March 2001

Table of contents

Introduction
Robert R. Williams

1. Hegel's Critical Appropriation of Kantian Morality
Ardis B. Collins

2. Institutional Normativity: The Positivity of Right
Kevin Thompson

3. Hegel in Political Identity and the Ties That Bind
Mark Tunick

4. Postcolonialism and Right
Richard Dien Winfield

5. Freedom in the Body: The Body as Subject of Rights and Object of Property in Hegel's "Abstract Right"
Angelica Nuzzo

6. Hegel on the Justification of Punishment
Dudley Knowles

7. War, Slavery, and the Ironies of the American Civil War: A Philosophic Analysis
Lawrence S. Stepelevich

8. Social Contract Theory and the Politics of Recognition in Hegel's Political Philosophy
Alan Patten

9. Hegel's Implicit View on How to Solve the Problem of Poverty: The Responsible Consumer and the Return of the Ethical to Civil Society
Joel Anderson

10. Law, Culture, and Constitutionalism: Remarks on Hegel and Habermas
Andrew Buchwalter

11. The End(s) of the State in Hegel's Philosophy of Right
David C. Durst

12. Hegel, Rawls, and the Rational State
Stephen Houlgate

Author Biographies

Index

Reflects new advances in Hegel scholarship and demonstrates the contemporary relevance of the Philosophy of Right.

Description

Beyond Liberalism and Communitarianism is the first collection of essays treating Hegel's social and political philosophy to appear since 1984. Several new books have since been published transcribing Hegel's lectures on the Philosophy of Right. This book reflects these advances in Hegel scholarship and debunks the widely held notion of the totalitarian Hegel. Rather, Hegel's thought is revealed to be an alternative to both liberal individualism and communitarianism. The essays here treat Hegel's critique of morality (Kant), social contract theory, capitalism, poverty, as well as Hegel's views on punishment, freedom, and the ethical character and unity of the idea of the state.

Robert R. Williams is Professor of Philosophy at Hiram College. He is the author of several books, including Hegel's Ethics of Recognition; Schleiermacher the Theologian: The Construction of the Doctrine of God; and Recognition: Fichte and Hegel on the Other, also published by SUNY Press.

Reviews

"The authors speak to the current debates about communitarianism, but what is novel is that they refuse the usual identification of Hegel with communitarian views, and attempt to reframe the debate in new ways. " — David Kolb, author of The Critique of Pure Modernity: Hegel, Heidegger, and After

"This book addresses a variety of important issues relating to Hegel's Philosophy of Right in a way that is professional, accessible, and thought provoking. They are not mere expositions of Hegel. In addition to appropriate explication of Hegel's texts there is much to challenge the reader in terms of rethinking and rereading Hegel and reconsidering him in relation to other thinkers and traditions. " — David A. Duquette, St. Norbert College