Petrified Intelligence

Alison Stone

Description

Petrified Intelligence offers the first comprehensive treatment of Hegel's Philosophy of Nature, exploring its central place within his system, including its relation to his Logic, Philosophy of Mind, and moral and political thought. It highlights the contemporary relevance of Hegel's approach to nature, particularly with respect to environmental issues. Challenging the standard view that Hegel devalues nature relative to mind and culture, Alison Stone reveals the deep concern to re-enchant the natural world that pervades his entire philosophical project. Written in clear and nontechnical language, the book also provides a critical introduction to Hegel's metaphysics.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Problem of Hegel's Philosophy of Nature

Abbreviations

1. A Priori Knowledge in Hegel's Philosophy of Nature

Textual Ambiguities in the Philosophy of Nature
How Cogent is Strong A Priorism?
How Cogent is Weak A Priorism?
Metaphysical Disputes in the Interpretation of the Philosophy of Nature
The Fecundity of the Strong A Priori Reading

2. The Development of Nature: Overcoming the Division between Matter and Thought

Consciousness/Nature
Sensuous Consciousness/Material Externality
Perception/Bodies
Understanding/Physical Qualities
Life
Hegel's Metaphysical Theory of Nature

3. The Rationality of Nature

Hegel's Rationalist Conception of Nature
Rationalist and Scientific Conceptions of Nature
Teleology and Modern Science
Science, A Priori Reasoning, and the Rationality of Nature
Nature as Petrified Intelligence

4. Two Defenses of Hegel's Metaphysics of Nature

The Limits of Empirical Science
Hegel's Argument from Explanatory Power
Hegel's Argument from Systematic Derivation
From Logic to Nature?

5. Sensibility and the Elements

Bildung and the Articulation of Sensibility
The Elements in Sensibility
The Physical Elements in Nature
Rationality and Dynamism in Elemental Nature
Evaluating Hegel's Phenomenological Argument

6. Ethical Implications of Hegel's Theory of Nature

Ethical Complexity in the Philosophy of Nature
Practical Reason in the World
The Goodness of Nature
Sensibility and the Intrinsic Value of Nature
The Morality of Transforming Nature
How Consistent is Hegel's Account of Nature's Ethical Status?
Assessment of Hegel's Ethical Argument

Conclusion: Hegel's Project of a Philosophy of Nature

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Éthique et morale
• Ethique et morale
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791484043
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

PETRIFIED INTELLIGENCE

SUNY series in Hegelian Studies William Desmond, editor

PETRIFIED INTELLIGENCE

Nature in Hegel’s Philosophy

ALISON STONE

S U N Y P TATE NIVERSITY OF EW ORK RESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2005 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Stone, Alison, 1972– Petrified intelligence : nature in Hegel’s philosophy / Alison Stone. p. cm.—(SUNY series in Hegelian studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0791462935 (alk. paper)—0791462943 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. 2. Philosophy of nature. I. Title. II. Series.

B2949.N3S76 2004 113'.092—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2004041677

The feeling of the contradiction between nature and the existing life is the need for its removal; it becomes this need whenever the existing life has lost its authority and all of its worth, when it has become a pure negative. —Hegel,Fragment on the Ideal of Social Life

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Introduction: The Problem of Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature Abbreviations 1. A Priori Knowledge in Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature Textual Ambiguities in thePhilosophy of Nature How Cogent is Strong A Priorism? How Cogent is Weak A Priorism? Metaphysical Disputes in the Interpretation of thePhilosophy of Nature The Fecundity of the Strong A Priori Reading 2. The Development of Nature: Overcoming the Division between Matter and Thought Consciousness/Nature Sensuous Consciousness/Material Externality Perception/Bodies Understanding/Physical Qualities Life Hegel’s Metaphysical Theory of Nature 3. The Rationality of Nature Hegel’s Rationalist Conception of Nature Rationalist and Scientific Conceptions of Nature Teleology and Modern Science Science, A Priori Reasoning, and the Rationality of Nature Nature as Petrified Intelligence

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CONTENTS

4. Two Defenses of Hegel’s Metaphysics of Nature The Limits of Empirical Science Hegel’s Argument from Explanatory Power Hegel’s Argument from Systematic Derivation From Logic to Nature? 5. Sensibility and the Elements Bildungand the Articulation of Sensibility The Elements in Sensibility The Physical Elements in Nature Rationality and Dynamism in Elemental Nature Evaluating Hegel’s Phenomenological Argument 6. Ethical Implications of Hegel’s Theory of Nature Ethical Complexity in thePhilosophy of Nature Practical Reason in the World The Goodness of Nature Sensibility and the Intrinsic Value of Nature The Morality of Transforming Nature How Consistent is Hegel’s Account of Nature’s Ethical Status? Assessment of Hegel’s Ethical Argument Conclusion: Hegel’s Project of a Philosophy of Nature Notes Works Cited Index

85 86 90 94 98 107 109 117 124 128 130 135 137 139 145 149 153

158 162 165 171 203 217

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A large number of people have helped me, in various ways, with writing this book, and I can only single out a few of them here. This book was written largely while I held the Thole Research Fellowship in Philosophy at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. I am very grateful to the Master and Fellows of Trinity Hall for giving me this opportunity to carry out my research. I have finished the book since joining the Institute for Environment, Philosophy, and Public Policy at Lancaster University, and I am grateful to my colleagues for their sup port and encouragement of my work. I am very grateful to Andrew Chitty, who supervised my earlier doctoral thesis on Hegel at the University of Sussex, and helped de velop my interest in Hegel. I thank all those who have read and commented on parts of the manuscript, in various incarnations, in cluding John Burbidge, Andrew Chitty, Paul Davies, John Fritzman, Raymond Geuss, Joe McCarney, Jonathan Rée, Andrea Rehberg, Jer emy Spencer, Robert Stern, Céline Surprenant, John Varty, and Tho mas Wartenberg. I have benefited from conversations with John Fritzman about the meaning of ‘rational necessity’ in Hegel. I am grateful to Stephen Houlgate and, especially, Andrew Chitty, Susan James and Robert Stern for advice and encouragement. In particular, I want to thank Simon Gillham, who read through and repeatedly discussed with me the whole manuscript. Special thanks are due to the two anonymous referees for SUNY Press, who read the manuscript very carefully and made many extremely helpful suggestions for im provements. I would like to thank my acquisitions editor at SUNY Press, Jane Bunker, and her former assistant, Olli Baker. I would also like to thank Kurt Stüber for plate 2 from Ernst Haeckel’sArt Forms in Nature, from Kurt’s website www.biolib.de. This image appears on the cover.

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