Hegel's Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life

by Robert B. Pippin

This fresh and original book argues that the central questions in Hegel's practical philosophy are the central questions in modern accounts of What is freedom, or what would it be to act freely? Is it possible so to act? And how important is leading a free life? Robert Pippin argues that the core of Hegel's answers is a social theory of agency, the view that agency is not exclusively a matter of the self-relation and self-determination of an individual but requires the right sort of engagement with and recognition by others. Using a detailed analysis of key Hegelian texts, he develops this interpretation to reveal the bearing of Hegel's claims on many contemporary issues, including much-discussed core problems in the liberal democratic tradition. His important study will be valuable for all readers who are interested in Hegel's philosophy and in the modern problems of agency and freedom.

Genres: Philosophy

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2008

About the author

Robert B. Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books and articles on German idealism and later German philosophy, including Kant's Theory of Form; Hegel's Idealism: The Satisfactions of Self-Consciousness; Modernism as a Philosophical Problem; and Idealism as Modernism: Hegelian Variations. In addition he has published on issues in political philosophy, theories of self-consciousness, the nature of conceptual change, and the problem of freedom. He also wrote a book about literature and philosophy: Henry James and Modern Moral Life. A collection of his essays in German, Die Verwirklichung der Freiheit, appeared in 2005, as did The Persistence of Subjectivity: On the Kantian Aftermath, and his book on Nietzsche, Nietzsche, moraliste français: La conception nietzschéenne d'une psychologie philosophique, appeared in 2006. Fatalism in American Film Noir: Some Cinematic Philosophy appeared in 2012. He was twice an Alexander von Humboldt fellow, is a winner of the Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in the Humanities, and was recently a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. He is also a member of the German National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Reviews

[Van]

"Marx was right about Hegel, in other words. The point of philosophy for Hegel is to comprehend the world, not to change it; and this for a simple reason that Marx never properly understood: it can't." Oh my.

[Tom Pepper]

One of the best books on Hegel I’ve ever read. I’m not a big fan of Pippin’s writing style, but once you get used to it, what he has to say about Hegel is well worth the effort.

[James Liu]

I'm reviewing this for The Front Table.

[Lucas]

Obviously an indispensable read for anyone interested in Hegel's practical philosophy. In my opinion, a much better guide through Hegel than Allen Wood's book, at least partially for its focus on Hegel's systematicity.

A few things of note:

(1) The first half of the book is, by my lights, far superior to the second half

(2) Pippin has a habit of sometimes going off on tangents and not returning to the original point of departure, which ranges from mildly to incredibly frustrating

(3) There are a lot of holes to fill and a lot of work left to be done to defend Hegel, which, depending on one's constitution, can either be frustrating (many questions left unanswered) or enriching (a path forward for oneself)

[Joris]

Although not (in my opinion) Pippin's finest book on Hegel, it's a good introduction to the practical issues found in Hegel's philosophy, or at least to their reception in the anglophone world.
A bit chaotic and fragmented at times (e.g., at the end of chapter 8 he makes plenty of claims that get zero to non explanation or justification), but offering some greatly valuable discussions (I particularly liked the chapters on "the freedom of the will", in section II of the book), Pippin does a very solid job, specially bearing in mind that the book intends to open up possible interpretations rather than to offer a systematic account of the subjects treated.
It is, in any case, a very recommendable book to anyone with interest in post-kantian philosophy.

[Agilitycape]

Not Hegel