Table Of ContentModern Individuality in Hegel’s
Practical Philosophy
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 9
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/csgi
Modern Individuality in Hegel’s
Practical Philosophy
By
Erzsébet Rózsa
Translated by
Tamás Nyirkos
LEIdEN • bOSTON
2012
The work is supported by the TÁMOP 4.2.1./B-09/1/KONV-2010-0007 project. The project is
implemented through the New Hungary Development Plan, co-financed by the European
Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rózsa, Erzsébet.
Modern individuality in Hegel’s practical philosophy / by Erzsébet Rózsa ; translated by
Tamas Nyirkos.
p. cm. — (Critical studies in german idealism ; v. 9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-23467-3 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-23572-4 (e-book)
1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. Phänomenologie des Geistes. 2. Individuality.
I. Nyirkos, Tamas. II. Title.
B2929.R6913 2012
193—dc23
2012031141
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ISSN 1878-9986
ISBN 978-90-04-23467-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-23572-4 (e-book)
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In memoriam Manfred Riedel
All that holds human life together, all that has value
and validity, is spiritual in nature
(Hegel)
What we need to do is (. . .) to compel the negative and
positive prejudices against and for Hegel (. . .) into a
re-encounter with Hegel‘s authentic thinking
(Gadamer)
CONTENTS
Volume Foreword ........................................................................................... xi
Paul Cobben
Hegel’s Works in English Translation and Key to Abbreviations .... xiii
Foreword ........................................................................................................... xv
Michael Quante
PART A
INdIVIdUALITy IN THE PERSPECTIVE
OF HEGEL’S THEORy OF MOdERNITy ANd THE
dIMENSIONS OF THE SySTEM
I. Individuality in the Hegelian Concept of Modernity ..................... 3
1. The Question of Modern Individuality on the Points of
Intersection of System, Conceptuality, and Phenomenality ... 3
2. The Principle of “Infinite Subjective Freedom” and Its
Ambivalent Influence on Individuals and Their Lifeworlds –
the Perspective of the basic Motive of the Oeuvre
(Unification) .......................................................................................... 13
3. The Honest Citizen: The Protagonist of Modernity at the
Intersection of the Philosophy of Self-Consciousness,
the Ideal of the Educated Citizen, and Economic
Self-determination .............................................................................. 18
4. The Levels of Systemic Conceptuality of the Question of
Individuality: 1. The “Particular Existence” of the Self, and
the Practical Motivations in the Subjective Spirit; 2. The
Concrete-Particular Lifeworld – in the Objective Spirit .......... 21
5. The Good Life vs. Rational Life Conduct – in the Perspective
of the “Right of Objectivity” as the Normativity of
Modernity ............................................................................................... 26
6. The “Mediocrity” of Modern Individuality and the “Prose of
Life” – From the Viewpoint of “Right Relation in the Whole”
and the Norm of “decent Way of Life” ......................................... 36
viii contents
II. Extra Significance in the dimensions of the System ...................... 41
1. The Requirement of a “Theory of Concept” (Hösle): One Step
back Towards a “Platonizing Conceptuality” (brandom),
or Liberating the Constitutive Role Hidden in the
dimensions of the System? ............................................................ 41
2. The General Features of the dimensions of the System
and the Liberation of Their Extra Significance for a
Reconstruction of the Hegelian Topics of Individuality ........ 45
3. The Import of the Inner Structure and the dynamic
Architectonics of the Particular System of the Spirit
for a Reconstruction in the Field of Individuality ................... 50
PART b
LIFEWORLd, FORMS OF IdENTITy
ANd IdENTITy CRISES IN MOdERNITy
III. The Systematic Conceptual determinations of Modern
Individuality ............................................................................................. 63
1. Forms of Individuality in Natural Philosophy: Incomplete
Existence as the Foundation of desire and Satisfaction ....... 71
2. From Instincts Through Happiness to Freedom.
Transformations of the Natural and Subjective Motivations
Mediated by Reason and Ethical-Normative Contents .......... 75
3. The Structural and Thematic Questions of Particular
Existence and Concrete-Particular Lifeworld in the
Philosophy of Right ........................................................................... 97
3.1. The Outlines of Modern Individuality in Morality ....... 100
3.2. The Normative and Practical dimensions of
Self-determination in Modern Ethical Life ..................... 108
IV. I dentity and Forms of Identity. Symptoms of the Crisis of
Personal Identity in the Social and Gender Role of Man .......... 171
1. Identity Problems and Their Interpretive Horizon in the
Modern World .................................................................................... 171
2. Shapes of Individuality and Forms of Identity in the Text
of the Philosophy of Right .............................................................. 178
3. The Changes on the Shape of Modern Individuality at the
Intersection of the Abstract Aspects and Social-Practical
Contexts of Identity .......................................................................... 181
contents ix
4. Personal and Social Identity in the “Unity of Feeling” in the
Family, and the Crisis of Modern Family – on the Example
of Man ................................................................................................... 185
V. The Self-determination/Self-disposal of Individuals in the
World of Politics and Right. The Hegelian Conception
of the Modern Culture of Freedom ................................................... 195
1. The Liberalism of Hegel? ................................................................. 195
2. Subjective Freedom as the Principle of Political Liberalism –
in the Contexts of Law, Morality and Ethical Life .................. 199
3. Some Idealtypical Phenomena of Modern Freedom – in the
Perspective of the Culture of Freedom ....................................... 207
3.1. “The Fury of destruction”: Modern Religious
Fanaticism and Political Terror ........................................... 207
3.2. bodily Integrity as an Element of Personal Identity ..... 209
3.3. Administration of Justice and Legal Consciousness
as Legal Culture ........................................................................ 212
3.4. Germs of the Welfare State .................................................. 216
PART C
HIGHER FORMS OF THE INdIVIdUALS’
“EdUCATEd CONSCIOUSNESS” IN MOdERNITy.
RELATIVIZATION OF THE AbSOLUTE ANd
AbSOLUTIZATION OF SUbJECTIVITy
VI. Modern Individual’s Idealtypical Relation to God:
“Subjective Religiosity” as “Faith in Feeling” .................................. 223
1. Possibilities of Exploring the Extra Meaning in Systemic
dimensions with Regard to the Question of Modern
Individual’s Religiosity ..................................................................... 223
2. The Problems of Allocating Religion and the Systematic
Status of “Subjective Religiosity” ................................................... 225
3. The Existential Aspect of Religiosity and Inwardness ........... 232
4. “Faith in Feeling.” The Epistemic and Individual-Existential
Meanings of the Relation to God .................................................. 236
5. The “Need for Synthesis” and Its Subjective Satisfaction
Through “Faith in Feeling” .............................................................. 240
6. Extra Meaning in the Hegelian discussion of Modern
Religiosity ............................................................................................. 243
