The Expansion of Autonomy: Hegel's Pluralistic Philosophy of Action

Synopsis

In One Of His Pieces Of Literary Criticism Georg Lukács Wrote That 'there Is Autonomy And 'autonomy.' The One Is A Moment Of Life Itself, The Elevation Of Its Richness And Contradictory Unity; The Other Is A Rigidification, A Barren Self-seclusion, A Self-imposed Banishment From The Dynamic Overall Connection.' But It Has Always Been Difficult To See How Rigidification Can Be Avoided Without Making The Boundaries Of The Self So Malleable That Its Autonomy Looks Like A Sham. Yeomans Explores Hegel's Own Attempts To Grapple With This Problem Against The Background Of Kant's Attempts, In His Theory Of Virtue, To Understand The Way That Morally Autonomous Agents Can Be Robust Individuals With Qualitatively Different Projects, Personal Relations And Commitments That Are Nonetheless Infused With A Value That Demands Respect. Virtue And Individuality -- The Empty Formalism Objection In The Context Of Individualized Virtue -- Fichte And The Problem Of Individual Effectiveness -- A Moral Psychology Of Talents And Interests -- The Changing Nature Of Objective Content -- Talents And The Shaping Of Action -- The Concreteness Of The Good -- Hegelian Self-determination. Christopher Yeomans. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.