Understanding Hegel's Mature Critique of Kant

by John McCumber

Overview

Hegel's critique of Kant was a turning point in the history of philosophy: for the first time, the concrete, situated, and in certain senses "naturalistic" style pioneered by Hegel confronted the thin, universalistic, and argumentatively purified style of philosophy that had found its most rigorous expression in Kant. The controversy has hardly died away: it virtually haunts contemporary philosophy from epistemology to ethical theory. Yet if this book is right, the full import of Hegel's critique of Kant has not been understood. Working from Hegel's mature texts (after 1807) and reading them in light of an overall interpretation of Hegel's project as a linguistic, "definitional" system, the book offers major reinterpretations of Hegel's views: The Kantian thing-in-itself is not denied but relocated as a temporal aspect of our experience. Hegel's linguistic idealism is understood in terms of his realistic view of sensation. Instead of claiming that Kant's categorical imperative is too empty to provide concrete moral guidance, Hegel praises its emptiness as the foundation for a diverse society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804785457
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2013
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

John McCumber is Distinguished Professor of Germanic Languages at UCLA. His most recent book is On Philosophy: Notes From a Crisis (Stanford UniversityPress, 2013).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Abbreviations ix

A Note on the Texts xi

A Short Introduction to an Endless Task 1

1 Hegel and His Project 15

2 Hegel Contra Kant on Philosophical Critique and the Limits of Knowledge 43

3 Transcendental Versus Linguistic Idealism 77

4 The Nature and Development of Will 111

5 Hegel's Critique of Kant's Moral Theory 147

Notes 173

References 195

Index 205

Editorial Reviews

"Recommended."

CHOICE - J. M. Fritzman

"...McCumber shows in a detailed and highly informative way how Hegel's idealism can be understood as a response to Kant's distinction between transcendental idealism and empirical realism by redefining not just intuition but also the sphere of universality in linguistic terms."

Hegel Studien - Johan Siebers

"McCumber takes a stance on some of the most pressing and interesting topics in recent Hegel scholarship, including the question of whether and in what sense Hegel can be considered a naturalist, the nature of Hegelian idealism, and Hegel's understanding of the freedom of the will."

International Yearbook of German Idealism - Julia Peters

"McCumber's linguistic interpretation of Hegel's idealism offers an elegant, attractive and—in the best philosophical sense—provocative understanding of Hegel's position, one that makes him at once comprehensible and relevant to contemporary philosophy. The book will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the development of German philosophy."

Pomona College - Peter Thielke

"McCumber has been developing a fresh, persuasive reinterpretation of Hegel over multiple books and years; this book is a welcome extension of that project. It offers not only an important corrective to Hegel scholarship but dissolves some of the thorniest questions regarding Kant's undeniable but elusive influence on Hegel's development."

Colby College - Lydia Moland

"...McCumber shows in a detailed and highly informative way how Hegel's idealism can be understood as a response to Kant's distinction between transcendental idealism and empirical realism by redefining not just intuition but also the sphere of universality in linguistic terms."—Johan Siebers, Hegel Studien


"Recommended."—J. M. Fritzman, CHOICE


"McCumber's linguistic interpretation of Hegel's idealism offers an elegant, attractive and—in the best philosophical sense—provocative understanding of Hegel's position, one that makes him at once comprehensible and relevant to contemporary philosophy. The book will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the development of German philosophy."—Peter Thielke, Pomona College


"McCumber has been developing a fresh, persuasive reinterpretation of Hegel over multiple books and years; this book is a welcome extension of that project. It offers not only an important corrective to Hegel scholarship but dissolves some of the thorniest questions regarding Kant's undeniable but elusive influence on Hegel's development."—Lydia Moland, Colby College


"McCumber takes a stance on some of the most pressing and interesting topics in recent Hegel scholarship, including the question of whether and in what sense Hegel can be considered a naturalist, the nature of Hegelian idealism, and Hegel's understanding of the freedom of the will."—Julia Peters, International Yearbook of German Idealism

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