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Hegel's Critique of Kantian Practical Reason

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Philip J. Kain
Philip J. Kain*
Affiliation:
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA95053, USA
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Extract

While many philosophers have found Hegel's critique of Kantian ethics to be interesting in certain respects, overall most tend to find it rather shallow and to think that Hegel either misunderstands Kant's thought or has a rather crude understanding of it. For example, in examining the last two sections of Chapter V of the Phenomenology— ‘Reason as Lawgiver’ and ‘Reason as Testing Laws’ (where we get an extended critique of the categorical imperative)- Lauer finds Hegel's treatment to be truncated and inadequate. The only trouble, though, is that like most other readers of the Phenomenology, Lauer does not recognize that Hegel had been examining and criticizing Kantian ethics throughout a much greater part of—indeed, more than half of—Chapter V. Once we do understand this, I think we must concede that Hegel's treatment is hardly truncated and that it cannot be described as shallow or inadequate. I will try to show that Hegel demonstrates a rather sophisticated understanding of, and gives a serious and thorough critique of, Kantian practical reason.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , September 1998 , pp. 367 - 412
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1998

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References

1 Lauer, Q. S.J., A Reading of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (New York: Fordham University Press 1976), 172.Google Scholar

2 Lauer, 42. See also, Pippin, R.B. Hegel's Idealism: The Satisfactions of Self-Consciousness (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 118. Also, Gram, M.S. ‘Moral and Literary Ideals in Hegel's Critique of “The Moral View of the World,”’ CLIO, 7 (1978), 376Google Scholar.

3 Phenomenology of Spirit (hereafter PhS), trans. Miller, A.V. (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1977), 214Google Scholar and, for the German, Gesammelte Werke (hereafter GW), ed. Rheinisch Westfalischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1968 ff.), IX, 195.

4 PhS, 211-13 and GW, IX, 193-94.

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6 PhS, 218 and GW, IX, 199.

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11 CPrR, 86 and KGS, V, 83-84. Metaphysical Principles of Virtue: Part II of the Metaphysics of Morals (hereafter MPV), trans. Ellington, J. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1964), 12Google Scholar and KGS, VI, 213-14. Also, see Allison, H.E. Kant's Theory of Freedom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990), 39–40,97,102,110-11CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also, Wood, A.W. Hegel's Ethical Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990), 146–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Westphal, K.R. ‘Hegel's Critique of Kant's Moral View of the World,’ Philosophical Topics, 19 (1991), 150Google Scholar. Herman, B. The Practice of Moral Judgment (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1993), 12.Google Scholar

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15 PhS, 218 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 199.

16 Here I prefer the Abbott translation, see Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, trans. Abbott, T.K. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1949), 50Google Scholar and KGS, IV, 433; for the Beck translation, see F, 51.

17 PhS, 218 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 199.

18 F, 15-16 and KGS, IV, 399. CPrR,86 and KGS, V, 83. MPV, 60-61,70, 113-14 and KGS, VI, 401-2, 410, 449-50. Indeed, Kant even counsels ‘moral apathy,’ a lack of emotion, which, however, is to be distinguished from indifference; MPV, 68 and KGS, VI, 408.

19 Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate, in On Christianity: Early Theological Writings, trans. Knox, T.M. (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith 1970), 205–24Google Scholar and, for the German, Hegels theologische Jugendschriften (hereafter HTJ), ed. Nohl, H. (Frankfurt am Main: Minerva 1966), 261–75.Google Scholar

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21 Spirit of Christianity, 219, also see 220 and HTJ, 272,273.

22 MPV, 12 and KGS, VI, 213.

23 Spirit of Christianity, 225 and HTJ, 277.

24 Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone (hereafter RWLRA), trans. Greene, T.M. and Hudson, H.H. (New York: Harper & Row 1960), 19Google Scholar (italics in the text; German terms added) and, for the German, KGS, VI, 23-24. Allison 39-40.

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26 PhS, 219 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 200.

27 Critique of Pure Reason (hereafter CPR), A447=B475; I have used the Smith, N. Kemp translation (New York: St. Martin's Press 1965)Google Scholar and KGS, ID-IV, but cite the standard A and B edition pagination so that any edition may be used. Allison, 20. Also CPrR, 100 and KGS, V, 97.

28 PhS, 221-22 and GW, IX, 202-3.

29 PhS, 221 and GW, IX, 202.

30 PhS, 222 and GW, IX, 203.

31 Here I prefer Abbott's translation; see F (Abbott trans.), 15-16 and KGS, IV, 398. For Beck's translation, see F, 14. Also, see MPV, 49-50 and KGS, VI, 391.

32 CPrR, 86 and KGS, V, 83.

33 Ibid.

34 CPrR, 126 and KGS, V, 122.

35 CPrR, 111-19, 128-33 and KGS, V, 107-15, 124-28. For a different but interesting treatment of the Law of the Heart, see Shklar, J.N. Freedom and Independence: A Study of the Political Ideas of Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1976) 102–9Google Scholar.

36 CPrR, 86 and KGS, V, 83. MPV, 151 and KGS, VI, 482.

37 PhS, 222-23 and GW, IX, 203-4.

38 RWLRA, 169 (first italics added; second in the text) and KGS, VI, 181.

39 F, 51 and KGS, IV, 432.

40 MPV, 47 (my italics) and KGS, VI, 389.

41 MPV, 38-39 and KGS, VI, 381.

42 MPV, 46, 43 and KGS, VI, 388, 385-86.

43 RWLRA, 90 (italics in text) and KGS, VI, 98-99.

44 RWLRA, 87 (brackets in text) and KGS, VI, 95-96.

45 PhS, 224 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 204.

46 PhS, 223-24 and GW, IX, 203-4.

47 Lauer, 158-59.

48 Spirit of Christianity, 219-20 (italics in text) and HTJ, 272.

49 PhS, 223 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 203.

50 PhS, 224-25 and GW, IX, 205.

51 Also, see Hegel's discussion of folk religion in the ‘Tübingen Essay’ of 1793, in Three Essays, 1793-1795, trans. Fuss, P. and Dobbins, J. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press 1984), 49 and GW, I, 103Google Scholar.

52 Positivity of the Christian Religion, in On Christianity: Early Theological Writings, 154 (italics and parentheses in the text) and GW, I, 367-68.

53 PhS, 226 and GW, IX, 206. Compare with Kant's RWLRA, 25, 32-33 and KGS, VI, 30, 37.

54 PhS, 227 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 207.

55 Kant writes, ‘Thus we can say that the real things of past time are given in the transcendental object of experience; but they are objects for me and real in past time only in so far as I represent to myself (either by the light of history or by the guiding-clues of causes and effects) that a regressive series of possible perceptions in accordance with empirical laws, in a word, that the course of the world [der Weltlauf), conducts us to a past time-series as condition of the present time — a series which, however, can be represented as actual not in itself but only in the connection of a possible experience'; CPR, A495; also A450=B478. Also, see MPV, 15 and KGS, VI, 216. Also see Luther's translation of the Bible, Ephesians 2:2.

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60 IUH, 15 and KGS, VIII, 20-21.

61 Ibid. PP, 106, 111 and KGS, VIII, 360-61,365.

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65 IUH, 18-19 and KGS, VIII, 24-25. PP, 111-13 and KGS, VIII, 365-67.

66 IUH, 17-18 and KGS, VIII, 23.

67 IUH, 22 and KGS, VIII, 27.

68 IUH, 25 and KGS, VIII, 30.

69 Hegel was also influenced by Adam Smith and James Steuart. For a fuller treatment of these matters, see my M&MPT, 123-30, 149-50 n.36.

70 PhS, 228-30 and GW, IX, 208-10.

71 MPV, 145 and KGS, VI, 477.

72 MPV, 152; see also 64-65, 67-68 and KGS, VI, 483, 405, 408.

73 PhS, 228-29, 235 and GW, IX, 208-9, 213.

74 PhS, 230-32 and GW, IX, 209-11.

75 PhS, 234 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 212-13.

76 PhS, 235 and GW, IX, 213.

77 PhS, 234 and GW, IX, 212.

78 PR, 3 (italics in text), 11-12 and SW, VII, 22,35-36.

79 Miller translates ‘die Sache selbst’ as the ‘matter in hand itself,’ or elsewhere as the ‘heart of the matter.’ I think a better translation is simply ‘the fact itself.’

80 PhS, 239-40 and GW, IX, 217-18. See also, L, 253 and SW, VII, 314. PR, 83 and SW, VII, 182. Also Wood, 137-39, 143, 151.

81 PhS, 191-92 and GW, IX, 176-77.

82 PhS, 193 and GW, IX, 178.

83 F, 23 and KGS, IV, 407.

84 f, 22-24 and KGS, IV, 406-8. Also, see CPR, A551=B579. For Kant, in the Critique of Judgment, the ideal of artistic beauty requires the visible expression in bodily form of the moral ideas that rule us inwardly; Critique of Judgment, trans. Bernard, J.H. (New York: Hafner 1966), 72 and KGS, V, 235Google Scholar.

85 As, for example, F, 63-81 and KGS, IV, 444-62.

86 PhS, 233-34 and GW, IX, 212.

87 PhS, 194, 191 and GW, IX, 178-79, 176-77.

88 PhS, 241-42 and GW, IX, 219-20.

89 F, 40-41 and KGS, IV, 422-23. See also Onora (formerly Nell) O'Neill, Acting on Principle: An Essay on Kantian Ethics (New York: Columbia University Press 1975), 84–89.Google Scholar

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91 Williams, B. Moral Luck: Philosophical Papers 1973-1980 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1981), 21–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

92 Allison, 90 (italics in the text). This may well lead to trouble. Later in the text, Allison discusses actions that are motivated both by duty and by inclination. He argues that it is a mistake to take Kant as holding that motives or incentives are psychic forces that operate either singly or in cooperation. For Kant, motives or incentives determine the will only if taken up into a maxim (Allison, 117). Let us imagine individuals who are trying to decide whether they were determined by duty or inclination and who did not formulate their maxim before acting. Recall that Kant himself claims that generally speaking we can never be certain whether we were motivated by duty or inclination. Can we simply and unproblematically accept what is discovered and articulated upon subsequent reflection concerning the maxims on which such individuals acted? Can we know what was taken up into a maxim if no maxim was explicitly formulated?

93 MPV, 50-51 and KGS, VI, 392.

94 F, 47 and KGS, IV, 429.

95 MPV, 50-51 and KGS, VI, 392.

96 IUH, 15-16 and KGS, VIII, 20-21.

97 PhS, 240 and GW, IX, 218.

98 PhS, 111 and GW, IX, 109. It is certainly possible for real talent to go unrecognized, for artists, say, to be ahead of their time, but to hold that a talent that will never be able to gain recognition is still a talent, is simply self-delusion. 99 PhS, 245-46 and GW, IX, 223.

100 Baillie's translation is clearer here: Phenomenology of Mind (hereafter PhM), trans. Baillie, J.B. (New York: Harper & Row 1967), 431Google Scholar and GW, IX, 223; for Miller's translation, see PhS, 246. Hyppolite, 309.

101 PhS, 247-48 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 224-25.

102 F, 10 and KGS, IV, 394.

103 PhS, 250 and GW, IX, 226-27; however, I prefer Baillie's translation, PhM, 435-36.

104 F, 50-51 and KGS, IV, 432-33.

105 Positivity of the Christian Religion, 164 and GW, I, 376.

106 This is not to say that significant work never goes unrecognized. A work that is significant and deserving of recognition can fail to gain that recognition. But from this we cannot conclude that public recognition should be dismissed altogether and that all an Honest Consciousness need be concerned with is its own work. Its work amounts to nothing unless it deserves recognition. Recognition is essential here.

107 Pippin, 206-7.

108 Westphal, K.R. Hegel's Epistemological Realism: A Study of the Aim and Method of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Dordrecht: Kluwer 1989), 176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

109 PhS, 252-53 and GW, IX, 228-29. 110 PhS, 259 and GW, IX, 234.

111 MPV, 21-22 and KGS, VI, 222.

112 PhS, 254 and GW, IX, 229.

113 PhS, 254 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 230. Also, MPV, 90-92 and KGS, VI, 429-30.

114 PhS, 255 and GW, IX, 230.MPV,60-61, 113-23, 149 and KGS, VI,401-2,448-58,480-81.

115 F, 16 and KGS, IV, 399-400. Also, MPV, 119 and KGS, VI, 455.

116 PhS, 247 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 224.

117 PhS, 256 and GW, IX, 231.

118 F, 50-51 and KGS, IV, 432-33.

119 F, 16 and KGS, IV, 399.

120 PhS, 257-58 and GW, IX, 233-34. PR, 89-90 and SW, VII, 193-94.

121 Singer, M.G. Generalization in Ethics (New York: Knopf 1961), 251–52.Google Scholar

122 Singer, 252. Westphal, K. ‘The basic context and structure of Hegel's Philosophy of Right,’ in The Cambridge Companion to Hegel, ed. Beiser, F.C. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1993), 252–53Google Scholar.

123 PhS, 256 and GW, IX, 232. In PR, 90 and SW, VII, 194, Hegel speaks of bringing a particular content for acting under consideration.

124 PR, 254 and SW, VII, 195.

125 PR, 90 and SW, VII, 194.

126 PhS, 257 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 232-33. Hoy makes an argument similar to mine; see Hoy, D.C. ‘Hegel's Critique of Kantian Morality,’ History of Philosophy Quarterly, 6 (1989), 216 ff.Google Scholar

127 Natural Law, trans. Knox, T.M. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1975), 76–77 and, for the German, GW, IV, 436.Google Scholar

128 PhS, 262 and GW, IX, 236.

129 PhS, 260 and GW, IX, 234-35.

130 PhS, 261 (italics in text) and GW, IX, 235.

131 Ibid.

132 Of course, to decide whether a particular act is an act of murder or whether it is first or second degree murder might require a great deal of analysis and deduction. That murder itself is wrong, however, does not and should not.