The Very Idea of Organization: Social Ontology Today: Kantian and Hegelian Reconsiderations

237 Pages·2015·0.961 MB·English

by  Christian Krijnen

The Very Idea of Organization
Critical Studies in German
Idealism
Series Editor
Paul G. Cobben
Advisory Board
Simon Critchley – Paul Cruysberghs – Rózsa Erzsébet – Garth Green
Vittorio Hösle – Francesca Menegoni – Martin Moors – Michael Quante
Ludwig Siep – Timo Slootweg – Klaus Vieweg
Volume 16
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/csgi
The Very Idea of Organization
Social Ontology Today:
Kantian and Hegelian Reconsiderations
By
Christian Krijnen
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krijnen, Christian, author.
 The very idea of organization : social ontology today : Kantian and Hegelian reconsiderations /
by Christian Krijnen.
  pages cm. — (Critical studies in German idealism, ISSN 1878-9986 ; Volume 16)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-30290-7 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-30291-4 (e-book) 1. Organizational
sociology—Philosophy. 2. Ontology. 3. Kant, Immanuel, 1724–1804. 4. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich,
1770–1831. I. Title.
 HM786.K75 2015
 302.3’501—dc23
2015023024
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1878-9986
isbn 978-90-04-30290-7 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-30291-4 (e-book)
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and
Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Es ist aber ein gewöhnliches Schicksal der menschlichen Vernunft in der
Speculation ihr Gebäude so früh wie möglich fertig zu machen und
hintennach allererst zu untersuchen, ob auch der Grund dazu gut
gelegt sei.
It is, however, a common fate of human reason in speculation to
finish its edifice as early as possible and only afterwards to inquire
whether the ground has been well prepared for it.
Immanuel Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason), B 9
∵

Contents
Abbreviations of Works Cited x
Introduction 1
1 What is Organization? From Organization Theory to Organizational
Ontology 9
1 Thinking about Organization 9
2 Organization within the Perspective of Organization Studies 11
2.1 Scott’s Definitions 11
2.2 Hatch and Cunliffe’s Perspectives 13
2.3 History and Classification of Organization Theory 16
3 Let’s Go Ontological: The Meta-Theoretical Debate 17
3.1 The Challenge of Ontological Presuppositions 17
3.2 The Meta-Theoretical Positions 19
3.3 The Uncritical Foundation of Critical Realism 23
4 Conclusion: Towards a New Meta-Perspective for
Organization Studies 30
2 Towards an Idealist Social Ontology—Criticisms and Challenges 35
1 Beyond Naturalism, Collective Intentionality, and Phenomenology 35
2 Beyond Contemporary Philosophy of Recognition 38
3 Speculative Idealism, Not Metaphysics 42
3.1 Metaphysics, Logic, and the System of Philosophy 42
3.2 The Phänomenologie in Hegel’s Philosophical System 49
4 Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit is Not Practical Philosophy 52
5 Updating Idealism: A Methodological Guideline for Approaching
Social Ontology 56
6 Sociality as a Phantom in German Idealism 59
6.1 The Rise of the Social in the Nineteenth Century 59
6.2 Sociality and Practical Philosophy 60
6.3 Hegel’s Social Philosophy? 62
6.4 Constructing the Social from Hegel’s Philosophy 64
7 Post-Hegelian History as a Resource 66
viii contents
3 Constructing Social Reality—From Kantian Transcendental Philosophy
to a Hegelian Concept of the Social 68
1 Neo-Kantianism 68
2 Rickert’s Axiological Foundations of Sociality 71
2.1 Social Ontology 71
2.2 The Social 76
3 Contemporary Kantian Transcendental Philosophy 82
3.1 On Transcendental Philosophy after 1945 82
3.2 Hans Wagner’s Concept of Sociality 86
3.3 Werner Flach’s Concept of Sociality 89
4 Conclusion: The Social in Hegel’s Philosophy 91
4.1 Objective Spirit 91
4.2 Natural Determinacy and Spirit 93
4.3 Self-Formation versus Self-Knowledge 94
4 Social Reality as Existence of Freedom—Hegelian versus Kantian
Idealism on Actualizing Validity 95
1 What Makes Up Actualizing Freedom? 95
2 Cultural Realms as ‘Facts at Hand’? 99
3 Practical Philosophy and Realizing Validity 104
4 An Equivocal Concept of Realization 110
5 Realizing Validity as a Complex Issue: Contested Utility 112
5.1 Realization of Validity: From the Conditional to the Unconditional
Realm 113
5.2 Realization as Manifestation of the Idea 127
6 Conclusion 135
5 The Very Idea of Organization—Phenomenology Revisited 141
1 ‘Exposition’ 141
2 Unity and Diversity in Organization Theory 144
2.1 Organization 144
2.2 Organization Theory 145
2.3 History of the Concept of Organization 148
2.4 General Concept of Organization 150
2.5 Perspectives on Organization 153
2.6 Organization and Freedom 155
2.7 Organization: Further Basic Features 161
Contents ix
6 The Very Idea of Organization—A Hegelian Account 165
1 Organization in Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit, Topologically 165
1.1 Thematic Affinity 165
1.2 The Place of Organization as a Figure of Spirit 169
1.3 Organization versus Figures of Objective Spirit 170
1.4 The Place of Organization within Objective Spirit 173
1.5 The Place of Organization within Civil Society 176
1.6 Organization in the State? 182
2 Organization in Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit, Speculatively 188
2.1 The Material Foundation of Organization 188
2.2 Speculative Articulation of Organization 190
Epilog 195
References 201
Index of Names 215
Index of Terms 219