ABSTRACT

While Kantian constructivism has become one of the most influential and systematic schools of thought in analytic moral and political philosophy, Hegelian approaches to practical normativity hold out the promise of building upon Kantian insights into individual self-determination while avoiding their dualistic tendencies. James Gledhill and Sebastian Stein unite distinguished scholars of German idealism and contemporary Anglophone practical philosophy with rising stars in the field, to explore whether Hegelian idealist philosophy can offer the categories that analytic practical philosophy requires to overcome the contradictions that have so far plagued Kantian constructivism.

The volume organizes the contributions into three parts. The first of these engages debates in metaethics regarding the relationship between realism and constructivism. The second part sees contributors draw on debates about the nature of political normativity, focusing primarily on the problems of historical contextualism, relativism, and critical reflection. The concluding part considers the application of the Hegelian framework to contemporary debates about specific ethical issues, including multiculturalism, democracy, and human rights.

Hegel and Contemporary Practical Philosophy contributes to the on-going debate about the importance of systematic philosophy in the context of practical philosophy, engages with contemporary discussions about the shape of a rational social order, and gauges the timeliness of Hegelian philosophy. This book is a must read for scholars interested in Hegel and in the contemporary tradition of Kantian constructivism in moral and political philosophy.

chapter |24 pages

Introduction

ByJames Gledhill, Sebastian Stein

section Section 1|128 pages

Hegelian Ethics Between Constructivism and Realism

chapter 2|38 pages

Choosing to Do the Right Thing

Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel on Practical Normativity and the Realism-Constructivism Debate
BySebastian Stein

chapter 3|19 pages

Constraint and the Ethical Agent

Hegel Between Constructivism and Realism
ByJoshua I. Wretzel

chapter 4|21 pages

Hegel’s Metaethical Non-Constructivism

BySebastian Ostritsch

chapter 5|25 pages

Rawls’s Post-Kantian Constructivism

ByJames Gledhill

section Section 2|150 pages

Hegelian Political Normativity Between Reason and History

chapter 6|26 pages

Hegel’s Political Philosophy as Constructivism of the Real

ByAngelica Nuzzo

chapter 7|27 pages

Kant, Hegel, and Our Fate as a Zoôn Politikon

ByKenneth R. Westphal

chapter 8|25 pages

Finding by Making

The Mediating Role of Social Constructions, Commitments, and Resonance in Hegelian Normative Realism
ByArto Laitinen

chapter 9|23 pages

Historical Constructivism

ByChristopher Yeomans

chapter 10|32 pages

Critical Agency in Hegelian Ethics

Social Metaphysics Versus Moral Constructivism
ByMichael J. Thompson

chapter 11|15 pages

Hegel on a Form of Collective Irrationality

ByRobert B. Pippin

section Section 3|73 pages

Hegelian Perspectives on Contemporary Politics

chapter 12|13 pages

Saving Multiculturalism with Stakeholding

Hegel and the Challenges of Pluralism
ByThom Brooks

chapter 13|30 pages

Hegelian Sittlichkeit, Deweyan Democracy, and Honnethian Relational Institutions

Beyond Kantian Practical Philosophy
ByPaul Giladi

chapter 14|28 pages

Hegel and the Intercultural Conception of Universal Human Rights

ByAndrew Buchwalter