Table Of Content“I that is We, We that is I.” Perspectives on Contemporary Hegel
Critical Studies
in German Idealism
Series Editor
Paul G. Cobben
Advisory Board
Simon Critchley – Paul Cruysberghs – Rózsa Erzsébet – Garth Green
Vittorio Hösle – Francesca Menegoni – Martin Moors – Michael Quante
Ludwig Siep – Timo Slootweg – Klaus Vieweg
VOLUME 17
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/csgi
“I that is We, We that is I.”
Perspectives on
Contemporary Hegel
Social Ontology, Recognition, Naturalism, and the
Critique of Kantian Constructivism
Edited by
Italo Testa and Luigi Ruggiu
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Testa, Italo, editor.
Title: “I that is we, we that is I,” perspectives on contemporary Hegel :
social ontology, recognition, naturalism, and the critique of Kantian
constructivism / edited by Italo Testa, Luigi Ruggiu, and Lucio Cortella.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Critical studies in
German idealism, ISSN 1878-9986 ; VOLUME 17 | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017472 (print) | LCCN 2016020782 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004322950 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004322967 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. | Kant, Immanuel,
1724–1804.
Classification: LCC B2948 .I224 2016 (print) | LCC B2948 (ebook) | DDC
193—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017472
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1878-9986
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isbn 978-90-04-32296-7 (e-book)
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Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
List of Abbreviations ix
List of Contributors xi
1 Hegelian Resources for Contemporary Thought: Introductory Essay 1
Italo Testa
Part 1
Hegelian Social Ontology
2 Hegel on Social Ontology and the Possibility of Pathology 31
Frederick Neuhouser
3 Ethical Perfectionism in Social Ontology—A Hegelian Alternative 49
Heikki Ikäheimo
4 Towards an Institutional Theory of Rights 68
Jean-François Kervégan
5 Reason and Social Ontology 86
Luigi Ruggiu
Part 2
Social Action, Ethical Life, and the Critique of Constructivism
6 Does Hegelian Ethics Rest on a Mistake? 109
Robert Stern
7 Hegelian Constructivism in Ethical Theory? 127
Arto Laitinen
8 Hegel’s Theory of Action: Between Conviction and Recognition 147
Francesca Menegoni
9 The Normativity of Ethical Life 157
Axel Honneth
vi contents
10 Freedom and Nature: The Point of View of a Theory of
Recognition 169
Lucio Cortella
Part 3
Naturalism, Work and Power
11 Nature, Subjectivity and Freedom: Moving from Hegel’s Philosophy of
Nature 183
Luca Illetterati
12 Social Self and Work in The Phenomenology of Spirit 202
Emmanuel Renault
13 The Form of Labor: Individuation and Socialization 220
Paolo Vinci
14 Attractors of Recognition 230
Italo Testa
Part 4
The Logic of Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity
15 Hegel on Recognition: Self-Consciousness, Individuality and
Intersubjectivity 253
Alfredo Ferrarin
16 “I that is We and We that is I.” The Phenomenological Significance and
the Logical Foundation of Intersubjectivity in Hegel 271
Franco Chiereghin
17 The Community of the Self 286
Leonardo Samonà
18 The Political Surplus Value of Subjectivity in Hegel 299
Geminello Preterossi
Index of Names 311
Index of Subjects 315
Preface and Acknowledgements
Can Hegel’s thinking provide us with a common thread for the critical reassess-
ment of the constellation of contemporary thought? Could we find within it
conceptual resources in order to gain a better understanding of a number of
questions of crucial relevance to modern philosophy, concerning the intersub-
jective nature of rationality, the social structure of intentional action, the onto-
logical form of institutional reality, and the varieties of naturalism? About
twenty years ago in Venice, the editors of this book, at that time respectively a
Ph.D student and his supervisor, (who since the eighties had been teaching at
Ca’ Foscari University the sociality of reason as a key to understanding Hegel),
realized that an epochal shift was taking place and that both in the European
and in the Anglo-American tradition Hegel’s image was undergoing a deep
transformation. This realization led to a research project and to the organiza-
tion of a series of conferences, named Contemporary Hegel, designed to pro-
mote a renewed international dialogue, and which have been held in Venice in
2001, 2006, and 2013.
This book brings together a selection of the papers presented at the latest
Contemporary Hegel conference. This series of conferences has been made
possible by the support of the Italian ministry of Education’s PRIN research
program of national interest, led in Venice for many years by Luigi Ruggiu.
Without the generous help of many students and colleagues it wouldn’t have
been possible to organize these events. Here we would like to say a special thank
you to Lucio Cortella for his participation in the scientific committee. We also
acknowledge, for their work as commentators of the papers, Niccolò Cristante,
Federica Gregoratto, Filippo Ranchio, Arvi Särkelä, Sabrina Tortorella, Diego
Zucca.
We cannot thank the contributors of this book enough for their wonderful
work, suggestions, and for agreeing to come on board in the first place. In addi-
tion, we would like to thank Sage, the journal’s editor David Rasmussen, as well
as the translator Felix Koch, for permission to reprint Axel Honneth’s paper
“The Normativity of Ethical Life”, previously published in Philosophy & Social
Criticism, Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 115–124.
We would like also to thank Brill, and the “Critical Studies in German
Idealism” book series’ editor Paul Cobben, for fully supporting the project
from the very outset. For their assistance, we thank Meghan Connolly, Michael
Mozina, and Karen Cullen. Thanks also to Niccolò Cristante and Valentina
Simeoni for their valuable assistance in preparing a first draft of the m anuscript.
viii preface and acknowledgements
Finally, we would like to acknowledge Ca’ Foscari University and Parma
University for their institutional and financial support.
Italo Testa and Luigi Ruggiu
Parma and Venice, June 2016
List of Abbreviations
GW Gesammelte Werke, 21 vols. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, with
the Hegel-Kommission der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften and the Hegel-Archiv der Ruhr-Universität Bochum
(Hamburg: Meiner, 1968–). Cited by volume and page number.
Werke Hegel: Werke: Theorie Werkausgabe, eds. Eva Moldenhauer and Karl
Markus Michel (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1970). Cited by volume
and page number.
PR Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. GW 14.
Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, trans. H.B. Nisbet, ed. Allen W. Wood
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Cited by paragraph
(§) number sometimes followed by page number. Hegel’s remarks
(Anmerkung) are indicated by an “R,” additions (Zusatz) from student
lecture notes by an “A”.
PS Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807). GW 9.
Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A.V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1977). Cited by paragraph of Miller’s translation, and
page number, followed by pagination from GW.
Enc. Encyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften (3rd ed.: 1830), GW 20.
Cited by paragraph number, sometimes followed by page number of
the English translation. Hegel’s remarks (Anmerkung) are indicated
by an “R,” additions (Zusatz) from student lecture notes by an “A”.
References to different English translations used by the authors are
provided using the following abbreviations (followed by the paragraph
number of the original edition):
Enc. I Hegel’s Encyclopedia Logic, trans. Théodore Geraets, Wallis A.
Suchting, and Henry S. Harris (Cambridge, MA: Hackett,
1991).
Enc. I* Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic
Outline, Part I: Science of Logic, trans. Klaus Brinkmann
and Daniel O. Dahlstrom (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2010).
Enc. II Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature, 3 vols., ed. and trans. Michael J.
Petry (London: George Allen & Unwin; New York: Human-
ities Press, 1970).
