The Persistence of Subjectivity_On the Kantian Aftermath (CUP 2005)

381 Pages·2005·2.81 MB·English

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ThePersistenceofSubjectivity
OntheKantianAftermath
ThePersistenceofSubjectivityexaminesseveralapproachestoandcriti-
cismsoftheideaattheheartoftheself-understandingofthemodern
Western, or “bourgeois,” form of historical life: the free, reflective,
self-determining subject. Since it is a relatively recent historical de-
velopment that human beings have come to think of themselves as
individualcentersofagencyandtobelievethatentitlementtosuch
aself-determininglifeisabsolutelyvaluable,raisingsuchaquestion
alsoraisesthequestionofthehistoricallocationofphilosophicalre-
flection itself. What might it mean, that is, to take seriously Hegel’s
claimthatphilosophicalreflectionmustalwaysbereflectiononthe
historical actuality of its own age? In discussions of Kant, Hegel,
Heidegger,Gadamer,Adorno,LeoStrauss,Arendt,ManfredFrank,
and John McDowell and in examinations of modern institutional
practicesandmodernistartandliterature,RobertPippinchallenges
anumberofprevalentviewsaboutboththenatureandthevalueof
“leadingone’sownlife.”
RobertB.PippinistheRaymondW.andMarthaHilpertGrunerDis-
tinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought,
theDepartmentofPhilosophy,andtheCollegeattheUniversityof
Chicago.HeistheauthorofseveralbooksonGermanidealism,in-
cludingKant’sTheoryofForm,Hegel’sIdealism:TheSatisfactionsofSelf-
Consciousness,ModernismasaPhilosophicalProblem,and,mostrecently,
HenryJamesandModernMoralLife.HeiswinneroftheMellonDistin-
guishedAchievementAwardintheHumanitiesandwasaFellowat
theWissenschaftskolleginBerlin.
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The Persistence of Subjectivity
On the Kantian Aftermath
ROBERT B. PIPPIN
UniversityofChicago
iii
  
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo
Cambridge University Press
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Contents
Acknowledgments pagevii
1 Introduction:“BourgeoisPhilosophy”andthe
ProblemoftheSubject 1
part i setting
2 TheKantianAftermath:ReactionandRevolutionin
ModernGermanPhilosophy 27
part ii theorists
3 NecessaryConditionsforthePossibilityofWhatIsn’t:
HeideggeronFailedMeaning 57
4 Gadamer’sHegel:SubjectivityandReflection 79
5 NegativeEthics:AdornoontheFalsenessof
BourgeoisLife 98
6 TheUnavailabilityoftheOrdinary:Straussonthe
PhilosophicalFateofModernity 121
7 HannahArendtandtheBourgeoisOriginsof
TotalitarianEvil 146
8 OnNotBeingaNeo-Structuralist:Remarkson
ManfredFrankandRomanticSubjectivity 168
9 LeavingNatureBehind,orTwoCheersfor
Subjectivism:OnJohnMcDowell 186
Postscript:OnMcDowell’sResponseto
“LeavingNatureBehind” 206
v
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vi Contents
part iii modern mores
10 TheEthicalStatusofCivility 223
11 MedicalPracticeandSocialAuthorityinModernity 239
part iv expression
12 “TheForceofFeltNecessity”:Literature,Ethical
Knowledge,andLaw 261
13 WhatWasAbstractArt?(FromthePointofViewofHegel) 279
14 On“BecomingWhoOneIs”(andFailing):Proust’s
ProblematicSelves 307
Bibliography 339
NameIndex 353
SubjectIndex 358
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Acknowledgments
Earlier versions of these chapters have appeared in the following pub-
lications and I am grateful for permission to reprint. In most cases the
revisionsforthisvolumehaveinvolvedbriefexpansionsorqualifications,
ormostoftenadditionstothefootnotes.Thepostscripttochapter9ap-
pearshereforthefirsttime.
Two are reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press:
“The Kantian Aftermath: Reaction and Revolution in Modern German
Philosophy”willappearsooninTheCambridgeHistoryofNineteenthCentury
Philosophy,editedbyAllenWood,and“Gadamer’sHegel:Subjectivityand
Reflection” appeared in The Cambridge Companion to Gadamer, edited by
Robert J. Dostal (2002). “Negative Ethics: Adorno on the Falseness of
Bourgeois Life” will appear in German in early 2005 in a collection of
conferencepaperseditedbyAxelHonnethandpublishedbySuhrkamp.
“The Unavailability of the Ordinary: Strauss on the Philosophical Fate
of Modernity” appeared in Political Theory 31, no. 3(June 2003), pub-
lished by Sage Publishing. “Hannah Arendt and the Bourgeois Origins
ofTotalitarianEvil”willappearinacollectionofessays,Modernityandthe
Problem of Evil, edited by Alan Schrift for Indiana University Press. “On
NotBeingaNeo-Structuralist:RemarksonManfredFrankandRomantic
Subjectivity”appearedinCommonKnowledge6,no.2(Fall1996).“Leav-
ingNatureBehind:OrTwoCheersforSubjectivism:OnJohnMcDowell”
appearedinReadingMcDowell:EssaysonMindandWorld,ed.NickSmith,
withresponsesbyMcDowell(NewYorkandLondon:Routledge,2002).
“TheEthicalStatusofCivility”appearedinCivility,ed.LeroyS.Rouner
(NotreDame:UniversityofNotreDamePress,2000).“MedicalPractice
and Social Authority in Modernity” appeared in the Journal of Medicine
vii
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viii Acknowledgments
andPhilosophy21(1996).“‘TheFeltNecessitiesoftheTime’:Literature,
Ethical Knowledge, and Law” first appeared in Italian as “‘Percepire le
necessita` del tempo’: Letteratura, conoscenza morale e diritto,” Ars In-
terpretandi7(2002).“WhatWasAbstractArt?(FromthePointofViewof
Hegel)” appeared in Critical Inquiry 29, no. 1 (Fall 2002). “On Becom-
ingWhoOneIs:Proust’sProblematicSelves”willappearinPhilosophical
Romanticism,ed.NikolasKompridis,tobepublishedbyRoutledgePress.
I am especially grateful to two institutions: the Wissenschaftskolleg zu
Berlin,whereIwasinresidencein2003–4andsocouldcompleteworkon
theintroduction,thepostscripttochapter9,andtherevisionstovarious
chapters; and the Andrew M. Mellon Foundation, whose Distinguished
AchievementAwardin2001supportedmuchofthefinaleditorialwork
on this volume. Special thanks to Thomas Bartscherer, Bo Earle,
Hugh Liebert, and Jonny Thakkar for their assistance in preparing the
manuscriptandindex.