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Political Philosophy 2

The System of Philosophies of History

Translated by Franklin Philip
Because contemporary political philosophy owes a significant debt to the great nineteenth-century German philosophies of history, a sound knowledge of German Idealist philosophy is crucial to an understanding of our own time. In Political Philosophy 2, Luc Ferry provides not only a thorough introduction to German Idealism and its critics, but also an insightful look at contemporary political philosophy.

Ferry begins this second volume of his ambitious three-volume Political Philosophy by considering both the structure and the potential political effects of the various philosophies of history born of German Idealism. He focuses on the key question of whether, and to what extent, the principle of reason may be said to govern the totality of the historically real. This leads to an examination of Hegel’s criticism of the moral view of the world and to an assessment of the phenomenological criticism of Hegel put forth by Heidegger and Arendt.

210 pages | 3 line drawings | 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 | © 1992

Philosophy: Philosophy of Society

Political Science: Political and Social Theory

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Introduction: Politics and the Philosophy of History
Part One - The Antinomy of Rationalism and Irrationalism: From Hegel to Heidegger and from Heidegger to Kant
Preamble: For Hegelian Readers
1. The Hegelian Philosophy of History and the Rationalist Negation of the Idea of Praxis
2. Heidegger’s Phenomenology and the Irrationalist Negation of Praxis
3. Toward a Critical Solution of the Antinomy of Historical Reason: Kant’s Deconstruction of Metaphysics and the Critique of Historical Reason
Part Two - The Ethical View of History and the Foundation of the Idea of Praxis in the Thought of the Young Fichte
Preamble: The French Revolution and the Copernican Revolution
4. The Criticisms of Kant and Rousseau: Fichte’s Development from 1793 to 1794
5. The Foundation of the Practical Philosophy of History in the Science of Knowledge
6. An "Esthetic" Interpretation of the Moral Views of the World: Toward a "Critical" Synthesis of the Philosophies of History
Conclusion: The System of Philosophies in History
Notes
Index

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