2013
THE SOCIETY FOR GERMAN IDEALISM
The SGI had two sessions at the 27-31 March 2013 Pacific APA at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
There was be an author-meets-critics session on Katrin Pahl's book, Tropes of Transport: Hegel and Emotion (Northwestern University Press, 2012), as well as a paper session.
Wednesday evening, March 27, 6:00-9:00
Author-meets-critics session
Tropes of Transport: Hegel and Emotion, (Northwestern University Press, 2012)
Author: Katrin Pahl (John Hopkins University)
Critic: Jason J. Howard (Viterbo University)
Critic: John McCumber (University of California, Los Angeles)
Critic: Donald J. Morse (Webster University)
Chair: Daniel Kirchner (Centre College)
Saturday evening, March 30, 6:00-9:00
Paper session
Gabriel Gottlieb (Xavier University)
Fichte's Deduction of the External World
I argue that Fichte's deduction of the external world is not an argument motivated by external world skepticism, but rather an argument that aims to establish the necessary conditions of free self-consciousness. I show that there are three concepts of "world" involved in his deduction, and that only one concept is suited for a deduction that attempts to establish the possibility of freedom. I conclude by arguing that sociality is a necessary condition of an objective world for Fichte.
Commentator: Nicholas Mowad (Independent Scholar)
Rafeeq Hasan (The University of Chicago)
Politics, Property, Personhood: Kant's Rousseauian Return
I contrast two ways of interpreting Kant's argument in the Doctrine of Right for the provisionality of the state of nature. Weak provisionality holds that in the state of nature the norms of justice are in place. However, agents lack appropriate motivations to obey these norms. By contrast, strong provisionality holds that in the absence of a legitimate political order the content of property rights, a crucial class of moral norms, remains indeterminate. I argue that Kant holds a version of the strong provisionality thesis according to which making claims to justice absent a state is a practical self-contradiction.
Commentator: Andreja Novakovic (The College of William and Mary)
Lydia Moland (Colby College)
Taking Hegel's Humor Seriously
Although Hegel’s early lectures on the philosophy of art suggest that art had run aground on the excesses of "subjective humor," I argue that we should take his description of "objective humor" seriously. In its "tarrying with" the object, objective humor embodies Hegel's idealist project; in its ability to help us withstand hardship, it allows us to be at home in the world. Objective humor also illustrates the attitude Hegel thinks modern agents should have towards the norms of ethical life: norms that are neither relative nor immutable but the product of intersubjective recognition and so very much our responsibility.
Commentator: Marcos Bisticas-Cocoves(Morgan State University)
Chair: Karen Ng (Siena College)
The Society for German Idealism
Updated on 25 May 2013