Understanding Hegel's Mature Critique of Kant

233 Pages·2014·1.638 MB·English

by  John McCumber

UNDERSTANDING HEGEL’S
MATURE CRITIQUE OF KANT

UNDERSTANDING
H E G E L’ S
MATURE CRITIQUE OF
K A N T
JOHN McCUMBER
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCumber, John, author.
Understanding Hegel’s mature critique of Kant / John McCumber.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-8545-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831. 2. Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804. 3. Ethics, Modern.
4. Analysis (Philosophy) 5. Philosophy, German--19th century. I. Title.
B2948.M317 2013
193--dc23
2013026230
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10/14 Minion Pro
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
ABBREVIATIONS ix
A NOTE ON THE TEXTS xi
A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO AN ENDLESS TASK 1
1 HEGEL AND HIS PROJECT 15
2 HEGEL CONTRA KANT ON PHILOSOPHICAL CRITIQUE
AND THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE 43
3 TRANSCENDENTAL VERSUS LINGUISTIC IDEALISM 77
4 THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF WILL 111
5 HEGEL’S CRITIQUE OF KANT’S MORAL THEORY 147
NOTES 173
REFERENCES 195
INDEX 205

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful once again to Emma Harper of Stanford University Press and es-
pecially to Emily-Jane Cohen, who has guided my efforts here. I am also grate-
ful to a reader for the press; to James Kreines, who carefully read a section of
the manuscript; and to Peter Thielke for his incisive comments on the whole
of it. Chapter 3 grew from a paper given at the University of Michigan Depart-
ment of Germanic Languages conference on German Idealism, and I am grate-
ful to my hosts there. My debt to Emil Fackenheim, who taught me Hegel, is
immeasurable and lifelong, as are those to H. S. Harris, Kenneth Schmitz, and
the great scholars—and wonderful people—of the Hegel Society of America.
Finally, I teeter on the shoulders of a score of giants; a ruinously incomplete list
would include Karl Ameriks, Fred Beiser, Robert Brandom, William J. B ristow,
Ardis Collins, Will Dudley, Eckart Förster, Michael Forster, Barbara Herman,
David Kolb, James Kreines, Terry Pinkard, Robert Pippin, Sally Sedgwick,
Robert Williams, and Allen W. Wood. I have taken issue with them all, on
many points; but without them there would have been no issues to take.

ABBREVIATIONS
AA Immanuel Kant, Gesammelte Schriften (Akademie-Ausgabe)
CPR A, B Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, “A” (1781) and “B”
(1787) editions
CPrR Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
CW John McCumber, The Company of Words
Enz. G. W. F. Hegel, Enzyklopädie der philosophischen
Wissenschaften im Grundriss, cited by section number
N Immanuel Kant, Reflexionen
PhR G. W. F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, cited by section number
RPh1817/19 G. W. F. Hegel, Die Philosophie des Rechts: Die Mitschriften
Wannemann (Heidelberg 1817/18) und Homeyer (Berlin 1818/19)
RPh1819/20 G. W. F. Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts: Die Vorlesung von
1819/20 in einer Nachschrift