Infinite phenomenology: the lessons of Hegel's science of experience PDF
Preview Infinite phenomenology: the lessons of Hegel's science of experience
INFINITE PHENOMENOLOGY I N F I N I T E P H E N O M E N O L O G Y The Lessons of Hegel’s Science of Experience John Russon Northwestern University Press Evanston, Illinois Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © 2016 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2016. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Russon, John, 1960– author. Infinite phenomenology : the lessons of Hegel’s science of experience / John Russon. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 8101- 3190- 3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 8101- 3191- 0 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 8101- 3192- 7 (ebook) 1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. Phénomenologie des Geistes. 2. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. I. Title. B2929.R858 2015 193—dc22 2015025261 Dedicated to Jay Lampert, my friend for more than thirty years, and the guy who introduced me to Hegel. ’Tis the good reader that makes the good book. — Emerson, Society and Solitude Contents Acknowledgments ix A Note on Citations xi Introduction: Reading Hegel’s Phenomenology xiii Prologue: The Project of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit 3 Part 1. Reality 1 The Lessons of Sense- Certainty: Temporality and Ontology 27 2 The Logic of Perception: On Things, Persons, and the Nature of Love 42 3 Understanding: Reading and Différance 57 Part 2. Personality 4 Desiring-P roduction and Spirit 77 5 Mood and Articulation 96 6 Recognition and Religious Narrative 107 7 The Call of the Beyond: Unhappy Consciousness and the Structure of Hegel’s Argument 126 Part 3. Freedom 8 Spirit and Method 145 9 Freedom as Nature, Revolution, and Event 162 10 Freedom and Institutions: Perception, Spirit, and the Time of Right 176 11 Democratic Regime and Democratic Practice: The Politics of Modernity 192 12 Conscience and the Unity of Being 208 vii 13 The Phenomenology of Religion: Freedom as Exposure to the Absolute 228 Epilogue: Subjectivity and Objectivity in Hegel’s Science of Logic 256 Appendix: The Reception of Hegel in French Philosophy 271 Notes 293 Bibliography 365 Index of Passages 387 Index of Subjects 389 Acknowledgments Writing acknowledgments is a particularly pleasant task, because it gives one the opportunity to make clear the personal level of meaning and indebtedness that is purposely effaced from scientific writing. This book is a major personal accomplishment for me, and so it has a reality that reverberates with all the major intersubjective dimensions of my life. First and most obviously, I am eager to acknowledge my incalculable debt to Shannon Hoff, who daily supplied me with the emotional and intellec- tual support that kept me motivated to do this work. Indeed, much of the writing of this book was done while sitting across from Shannon at Ideal Coffee as she wrote The Laws of the Spirit, her first book on Hegel, and much of the writing of this book channels the energy and insights generated in our conversations in that setting. Throughout the time of the writing of this book I also drew heavily on the resources of my dear friends Patricia Fagan from the University of Windsor (to whom I dedi- cated my first book on Hegel) and Kirsten Jacobson from the University of Maine, both of whom have proved themselves over many years to be intellectual interlocutors of the first order, as well as excellent compan- ions. I have also benefited greatly from the inspiration and insights of- fered by many other friends and colleagues, some of the most prominent of whom are Kym Maclaren, David Ciavatta, Maria Talero, Luis Jacob, Greg Kirk, Whitney Howell, Laura McMahon, John Lysaker, Len Law- lor, Pravesh Jung, Siby George, John Hacker- Wright, Pete Costello, Tim Brownlee, Réal Fillion, Karen Robertson, Brian Rogers, Joe Arel, Bryan Richard, Jacob Singer, Jeff Morrisey, Jill Gilbert, Emily Jaklic, Cherilyn Keall, Fred Guerin, Jing Long, Scott Marratto, Alexandra Morrison, Thom Campbell, Adam Loughnane, Tim Fitzjohn, Jared Babin, Jenn Friis, and Adam Schneider. I am also extremely grateful to all those who have participated, over the last ten years, in my annual Toronto Summer Seminar in Philosophy: this has proved to be the most stimulating and rewarding arena for philosophical exchange that I have known, and I am grateful to you all for your contributions to this intellectual community. Many of the chapters of this book were initially delivered as public lectures. I am grateful to all those who participated in sessions at E mory ix
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