Love and Politics

Alice Ormiston

Description

Alice Ormiston's Love and Politics argues that modern politics is rooted not merely in the pursuit of power, but that it is essentially underpinned by the experience of love. Hegel understood love as a principle that unites reason and emotion, and self and other, and that provides the foundation for a deep sense of connectedness to the world and for genuine acts of autonomy. Through an original and highly accessible interpretation of Hegel's works, Ormiston shows how the modern commitment to individual rights and freedoms can only be adequately understood by reference to the experience of love that lies at the foundation of the modern subject and its political expression in acts of conscience. Hegel's thought thus joins forces with feminist arguments for an embodied theory of the subject and for a focus on empathy in political reasoning, with republican concerns about democracy and civic education, and with postmodern concerns about the otherness of certain experiences and forms of knowledge. Ormiston's book offers a developed concept of the subject that can serve as a foundation for resistance to problems of our time, including atomism and instrumental rationality, the ills of an unfettered capitalism, and the reality of a radical evil.

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Hegel in the Context of Modernity

1. "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate": Toward a Reconsideration of the Role of Love in Hegel

Introduction
Hegel's Critique of Reflective Rationality
Love as the Overcoming of Reflective Rationality
The Failure of Love as Overcoming
Conclusion: Love, Will, and the Task of the Mature Philosophy

2. From Christianity to Conscience: The Role of Love in Hegel's Phenomenology

Toward a Philosophy of Unity: Hegel and the Transcendental Intuition
Phenomenology of Spirit: The Journey of the Modern Will
Conclusion: The Inadequacy of Intuition as a Philosophical Standpoint
Appendix: The Negative Trajectory of Enlightenment Consciousness

3. Philosophy of Right: The Final Reconciliation of Love and Reason

The Philosophical Standpoint: From Intuition to Notion
The Relationship between Experience and Notional Philosophy
Love and Logic in The Philosophy of Right
Appendix: Hegel and the Woman Question

4. The Historical "Failure" of Ethical Life: A View from Within Hegel

The Historical "Failure" of Ethical Life: The Split between Love and the Will
Hegel's Explanation of the "Failure"
Hegel's Explanation and the Problems of Our Time

5. Hegel and the Dual Task of Today

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie politique

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791485194
• Langue: English

Extrait

Alice Ormiston

L OVE AND P OLITICS

SUNY series in Hegelian Studies

William Desmond, editor

L OVE AND P OLITICS

Reinterpreting Hegel



Alice Ormiston

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2004 State University of New York

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Ormiston, Alice, 1964 Love and politics : re-interpreting Hegel / by Alice Ormiston. p. cm. — (SUNY series in Hegelian studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6067-3 1. Hegel, Georg Ludwig Friedrich, 1807–1831. 2. Love. 3. Political science — Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series. B2949.L84 O76 2004 193—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2003065156

For my parents 

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Acknowledgements

C O N T E N T S

Introduction: Hegel in the Context of Modernity

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“The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate”: Toward a Reconsideration of the Role of Love in Hegel Introduction Hegel’s Critique of Reflective Rationality Love as the Overcoming of Reflective Rationality The Failure of Love as Overcoming Conclusion: Love, Will, and the Task of the Mature Philosophy

From Christianity to Conscience: The Role of Love in Hegel’sPhenomenology Toward a Philosophy of Unity: Hegel and the Transcendental Intuition Phenomenology of Spirit:The Journey of the Modern Will Conclusion: The Inadequacy of Intuition as a Philosophical Standpoint Appendix: The Negative Trajectory of Enlightenment Consciousness

Philosophy of Right: The Final Reconciliation of Love and Reason The Philosophical Standpoint: From Intuition to Notion The Relationship between Experience and Notional Philosophy Love and Logic inThe Philosophy of Right Appendix: Hegel and the Woman Question

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Contents

The Historical “Failure” of Ethical Life: A View from Within Hegel The Historical “Failure” of Ethical Life: The Split between Love and the Will Hegel’s Explanation of the “Failure” Hegel’s Explanation and the Problems of Our Time

Hegel and the Dual Task of Today

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

THIS BOOK GREW OUT OF a dissertation on Hegel I completed at the Univer- sity of Toronto in 1998. To a great extent, that dissertation was shaped by the people I encountered there, with whom I shared friendship, discussion, and real political experiences—Edward Andrew, Michelle Baert, Darin Barney, Lianne Barras, Kathy Bullock, Sandra Clancy, Ann-Marie Czikowski, Abraham Drassinower, Carrie Hull, Ilan Kapoor, Alkis Kontos, Peter Lindsay, Loralea Michaelis, Sarb Mann, Tom Powers, Fredrika Scarth, and Stefano Scoglio. Alkis Kontos was an enormous source of encouragement and support during the dissertation phase of this project. Others who offered me invaluable com- mentary in the development of the work included Ed Andrew, Alan Brudner, Graeme Nicholson, Ronald Beiner, Richard Day, and Tom Darby. Reza Rah- bari has been with me from the beginning to the end of this seemingly endless project, and without his support, and intellectual insight, I could not have com- pleted it. The early stages of the project were assisted by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship. A slightly altered version of chapter one was published inThe Canadian Journal of Polit ical Science35(3) (September 2002): 499–526 under the title “‘The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate’: Re-considering the Role of Love in Hegel.” Impor- tant commentary that contributed to the final shape of this work was provided by reviewers for theCanadian Journal of Political Scienceand the reviewers for the State University of New York Press. Thanks to the Brandon University Inter-Library Loan Department for so speedily transporting obscure Hegelian texts to the middle of the Manitoba prairies, where I was able to complete the work. My final thanks are due to William Desmond, Jane Bunker, and Chris- tine Hamel of the State University of New York Press.

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