Popular in Arts and Humanities

Arts and Humanities

Freedom’s Dominion

Vanderbilt University Jefferson Cowie

Arts and Humanities

Titus Quinctius Flamininus’ “Italian triumph”

McGill University Michael Fronda

Arts and Humanities

Amputations and Convalescence

University of Western Australia Emily Brink

Art

Drawing on the past: Palladio, his precursors and knowledge of ancient architecture

University of Birmingham David Hemsoll

Art

Language, Sound, and Image in Wallace Berman’s Aleph, 1956–1966

University of San Diego Chelsea Behle Fralick

Arts and Humanities

Early Modern Natural Law Theories

University of Copenhagen Knud Haakonssen

Post-Kantian perfectionism

View more insights in Arts and Humanities - Philosophy

View more figures from University of Ottawa

View the page of Douglas Moggach

Read the Study

Next in Arts and Humanities

Election Integrity in a One-Party Dictatorship

David Brandenberger | University of Richmond

The Poverty of Disaster: Debt and Insecurity in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Tawny Paul | University of California Los Angeles

The historical context of early post-Kantian debates on politics reveals the emergence of a new type of perfectionist ethics no longer based on the state-sponsored promotion of happiness, as the dominant German tendency in the eighteenth century had been, but on individual freedom. Douglas Moggach suggests Kantian negative freedom enabled a new conception of social interaction based on the idea of right and the progressive extension of rightful relations.

Image courtesy of interviewee. July 18, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video discusses the evolution of German idealism, particularly focusing on the contribution of G.W.F. Hegel and the implications of his ideas for political philosophy. The speaker has been researching German idealism, proposing a new perspective that emphasizes the importance of alternative figures like Gottlieb Lessing (Leitz) rather than traditionally starting with Immanuel Kant.

The speaker examines the political dimensions of German idealism and how concepts evolved from 1650 to the late 19th century, tracing connections to Karl Marx. The speaker argues that the notion of spontaneity, which refers to action arising from within individuals as opposed to responding mechanically to external stimuli, is central to understanding later German thought.

Kant's work is highlighted, particularly his revolutionary ideas about negative freedom, which suggest that individuals are capable of independent thought and moral consideration beyond mere desire for happiness. The speaker emphasizes the difference between earlier perfectionist theories—which aimed at promoting happiness—and Kantian self-determination and political theories that prioritize autonomy and freedom.

The discussion expands to compare different thinkers' visions of the state, illustrating a division between minimalist and interventionist approaches, with figures like Wilhelm von Humboldt advocating for a state that protects individual freedoms without imposing paternalistic measures, contrasting with thinkers who support a more interventionist role for the state in ensuring conditions for freedom.

Incorporating Marx, the speaker argues that his notion of labor represents a form of spontaneity but also shows a tension between individual rights and a collective good. This video duality highlights Marx's synthesis of pre-Kantian ideals and post-Kantian thought.

Finally, the text suggests that this philosophical development has implications for how we perceive citizenship and the welfare state, advocating for a vision of the state that empowers individuals rather than merely providing for them, calling for an enabling state over a traditional welfare model. Overall, the speaker intends to publish a book that will trace these developments in German political thought, highlighting debates and distinctions between idealism and romanticism.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.195 --> 00:02.725
I've been working on a history of German idealism

00:02.825 --> 00:03.845
for a long time,

00:04.905 --> 00:08.115
and, it, it struck me that

00:09.055 --> 00:12.635
one could tell another kind of, give another kind of account

00:12.655 --> 00:17.315
of, of its development if we took l Its rather than

00:17.495 --> 00:20.835
as typically done Kant, as the starting point.

00:21.775 --> 00:23.395
Uh, now the other people have done that

00:23.395 --> 00:25.715
before, notably figures in the 19th century,

00:25.715 --> 00:27.515
writing on the history of German philosophy,

00:28.335 --> 00:30.195
and perhaps most notably at the beginning

00:30.195 --> 00:34.995
of the 20th century, el ca ca in his great book,

00:35.345 --> 00:36.355
Faha Freedom

00:36.455 --> 00:41.245
and Form of 1917, who made a very compelling case

00:41.245 --> 00:45.505
that Leitz is the real father of,

00:45.525 --> 00:46.745
of German idealism.

00:47.365 --> 00:51.105
So I thought I would, in light of new research, go back

00:51.125 --> 00:52.305
to CAI's thesis

00:53.205 --> 00:55.025
and see whether it could be sustained,

00:55.025 --> 00:56.345
perhaps develop differently.

00:57.125 --> 00:59.385
And that's what I tried to do, to give a different reading

01:00.155 --> 01:03.505
based large, much more largely on the political philosophy

01:04.045 --> 01:05.265
and its development, and

01:05.265 --> 01:08.665
therefore to trace the connections roughly between WNET

01:08.805 --> 01:10.265
and Karl Marx.

01:10.845 --> 01:14.945
So 1650 to 18 50, 18 70, 18 80,

01:15.335 --> 01:17.305
that is my trajectory.

01:18.045 --> 01:23.005
And I look at how various La Nian concepts were developed,

01:23.645 --> 01:25.605
reinterpreted, resituated,

01:26.305 --> 01:30.355
and how that that gives us a, I think, a more, more

01:30.875 --> 01:33.835
complete view of the development of this body of thought,

01:34.375 --> 01:38.035
as well as its political significance, that I think is,

01:38.135 --> 01:41.155
is noteworthy and needs to be developed more.

01:41.655 --> 01:43.595
So, again, we have to go back to LeMans here

01:43.775 --> 01:47.835
and his relation to the emergent materialism of his time.

01:48.415 --> 01:49.755
So LeMans is very,

01:49.755 --> 01:53.275
very early thought when he was still a student at,

01:53.335 --> 01:57.235
the University of Leip had an extensive correspondence

01:57.235 --> 01:59.515
with one of his professors, Jacque CIOs.

02:00.295 --> 02:05.075
And in this correspondence he looks at,

02:05.075 --> 02:06.755
particularly at the work of Thomas Hobbes

02:07.375 --> 02:09.835
and tries to see what can be made of it

02:09.855 --> 02:11.235
and how it can be reinterpreted

02:11.455 --> 02:13.075
or utilize in a different way.

02:13.935 --> 02:16.955
So, Hobbes, of course, had tried to develop a,

02:17.035 --> 02:19.275
a mechanistic theory of human action

02:19.895 --> 02:24.355
in which action is simply a response to external causes

02:24.355 --> 02:27.235
and pushes and pulls which objects exert on us.

02:27.935 --> 02:32.915
So, freedom is simply in Hobbs' account, being able

02:32.915 --> 02:34.195
to get the things that you want

02:34.655 --> 02:36.395
and avoid the things that you don't want.

02:37.135 --> 02:40.755
Um, and Leitz thinks that, that there's several problems

02:40.755 --> 02:42.515
with this account, and he tries

02:42.515 --> 02:43.595
to give an alternative reading.

02:43.855 --> 02:45.515
So the first thing he does is to say that

02:46.615 --> 02:50.195
hos is correct about a certain level of being or,

02:50.255 --> 02:54.515
or of existence, namely forces in the world.

02:54.585 --> 02:57.755
Once we act and we put something in the world, then

02:57.865 --> 03:01.085
that object will indeed respond to pushes

03:01.225 --> 03:03.925
and pulls in the mechanistic manner that Hobbes

03:03.925 --> 03:06.925
and other philosophers had had, described.

03:07.805 --> 03:10.325
Hobbes's problem, however, is to over generalize

03:10.325 --> 03:14.685
that account and to make it, account

03:14.745 --> 03:17.645
for the origins of human action in a way that

03:18.365 --> 03:19.765
Lyness thinks is, is not appropriate.

03:20.385 --> 03:24.005
So instead, Lys goes back to a version of Aristotle,

03:24.005 --> 03:25.005
the idea of teleology.

03:25.585 --> 03:29.885
So ly essentially wants to maintain that there is a level

03:30.025 --> 03:33.685
of interaction among physical objects, which are governed

03:33.685 --> 03:35.405
by mechanical laws,

03:36.145 --> 03:38.365
but that the initiation of the action,

03:38.365 --> 03:40.445
whereby those objects come to be,

03:40.865 --> 03:42.365
cannot be explained in that way.

03:42.365 --> 03:43.885
So Hobbes is over generalized.

03:44.425 --> 03:47.125
So Ness wants to distinguish intentional

03:47.125 --> 03:51.365
or theological action from mechanical forces at work in the

03:51.365 --> 03:55.005
world, and to, to explain the idea of

03:56.675 --> 03:59.385
initiation of action through teleology.

03:59.965 --> 04:01.785
He develops the concept that is central

04:01.845 --> 04:04.705
to later German thinking, namely, spontaneity.

04:05.565 --> 04:09.375
So spontaneity doesn't mean as it typically means in,

04:09.395 --> 04:11.175
in contemporary usage,

04:13.455 --> 04:14.655
unreflective action.

04:14.835 --> 04:17.655
It means rather action that originates from within

04:18.045 --> 04:20.495
that subjects actually intentionally

04:21.115 --> 04:23.535
or purposefully cause and bring about.

04:24.555 --> 04:27.215
And so this idea then becomes central

04:27.275 --> 04:28.335
to later German thought.

04:28.635 --> 04:31.495
And in Ks particular rendition of this idea

04:31.495 --> 04:34.215
of spontaneity in the, in the critique of

04:34.395 --> 04:38.335
of practical reason of 1787, he def he,

04:38.435 --> 04:42.455
he redefines it as negative freedom, namely the ability

04:42.475 --> 04:45.695
of the will to abs abstract from external causes

04:46.075 --> 04:48.935
or to admit them selectively according to a rational rule.

04:49.595 --> 04:51.655
In other words, we're not simply governed by

04:52.425 --> 04:53.765
the forces that work on us.

04:53.865 --> 04:57.085
We have an ability to abstract from them, to evaluate them,

04:57.585 --> 04:59.485
and then to say yes or no to them.

05:00.025 --> 05:02.605
So we're not simply reacting automatically, we're acting

05:03.605 --> 05:06.965
spontaneously, namely through this evaluative process

05:07.585 --> 05:12.165
and determining what we may do, what we ought to do.

05:12.905 --> 05:16.325
Um, and, and he works out different implications of that,

05:16.985 --> 05:20.045
through what he calls the, practical reason.

05:20.705 --> 05:22.845
And he distinguishes two levels.

05:22.875 --> 05:26.005
There's empirical, practical reason, which is action.

05:26.005 --> 05:29.805
We undertake in pursuit of happiness, of need, satisfaction,

05:30.545 --> 05:33.365
and there's pure practical reason, which is action,

05:33.365 --> 05:35.845
which aims not at happiness, but at freedom.

05:36.705 --> 05:40.885
And he distinguishes further among those latter actions,

05:41.555 --> 05:44.085
juridical, interactions, relations of right,

05:44.665 --> 05:47.045
and relations of virtue or,

05:47.185 --> 05:51.365
or acts of virtue, which, unlike relations right,

05:51.365 --> 05:52.765
are not subject to coercion.

05:52.945 --> 05:54.965
But all of these are governed by spontaneity,

05:54.965 --> 05:56.765
just spontaneity, working in different ways,

05:56.915 --> 05:58.045
Different ways through the different

05:58.045 --> 05:59.205
fields of practical reason.

05:59.545 --> 06:02.525
The, the claim I wanna make further is the following

06:03.035 --> 06:05.605
that prior, even prior to the critique of,

06:05.625 --> 06:10.445
of practical reason, 1787 Kant in 1785 wrote the

06:10.445 --> 06:12.285
groundwork of the metaphysics of morals.

06:12.985 --> 06:16.125
And this was a revolutionary text evolution.

06:16.185 --> 06:18.685
It was revolutionary because it's,

06:18.715 --> 06:22.725
it's frequently read in anglophone circles as critical of

06:23.075 --> 06:25.565
what one might almost call proto utilitarianism

06:25.745 --> 06:28.525
or what K calls empirical romy,

06:28.525 --> 06:32.765
namely the the will is dominated by external desires for,

06:32.985 --> 06:35.645
for things, for objects, for happiness.

06:36.465 --> 06:40.365
But kt wants to say that again, anticipating the idea

06:40.365 --> 06:42.925
of negative freedom that he works out in the critique of,

06:42.945 --> 06:46.485
of practical reason two years later, that,

06:47.935 --> 06:50.675
the will is auto is potentially autonomous or,

06:50.695 --> 06:53.035
or gives itself its own law and

06:53.035 --> 06:56.475
therefore indulges in these processes of discrimination

06:56.565 --> 06:59.635
among different kinds of possible acts in

06:59.635 --> 07:00.835
light of rational criteria.

07:01.775 --> 07:05.235
Now, this text was read by K foes

07:05.235 --> 07:09.355
who already numerous in Germany as announcing a new kind

07:09.355 --> 07:12.045
of political theory, a theory which

07:12.555 --> 07:15.925
will aim at essentially the promotion of freedom

07:16.915 --> 07:21.215
and not as other the theorists had done in Germany prior to,

07:21.755 --> 07:25.135
to K's work, namely attempting to promote happiness.

07:25.135 --> 07:26.255
So this is an important distinction.

07:27.135 --> 07:29.855
I I I'm arguing that with the metaphysics

07:29.855 --> 07:32.415
and morals, a new kind of political theory is born,

07:32.825 --> 07:37.715
which distinguishes political actions based upon

07:37.975 --> 07:41.075
the pursuit of, or the imposition of an idea

07:41.075 --> 07:44.355
of the good life or of happiness promoted by the state,

07:44.695 --> 07:47.075
the kind of paternalism versus the idea

07:47.075 --> 07:48.195
of self-determination.

07:49.305 --> 07:50.925
And, and they're

07:50.925 --> 07:53.285
and republican, essentially Republican freedom.

07:54.185 --> 07:57.285
So there's a, a clash between the old perfectionism,

07:57.825 --> 08:01.765
the outcome of which was a kind of enlightened absolutism,

08:01.885 --> 08:03.925
particularly in the works of Christian Wolf,

08:04.345 --> 08:05.885
who is also a follower of liveness,

08:05.885 --> 08:07.085
but takes on different aspects

08:07.085 --> 08:09.525
of W than K does on the one hand.

08:10.025 --> 08:12.965
And then these new continent thinkers who reject

08:12.965 --> 08:16.805
that paternalism as K himself will do theory

08:16.805 --> 08:19.005
and practice of something 9 93.

08:19.785 --> 08:20.805
Um, but already

08:20.825 --> 08:24.365
before that people like, the young, very young,

08:25.125 --> 08:27.885
Humboldt are working out what it would mean

08:28.345 --> 08:33.005
to have a t political theory based on this idea of,

08:33.005 --> 08:37.485
of self-determination, of free choice of, of ends.

08:38.185 --> 08:42.935
So Humboldt basically argues that

08:43.875 --> 08:47.735
the state ought not to be highly interventionist,

08:48.205 --> 08:52.295
that it ought to simply defend the borders of the security

08:52.555 --> 08:55.445
of the subjects, but not promote their happiness,

08:55.775 --> 08:59.565
their perfection in the, the older sense of, of thriving.

09:00.185 --> 09:03.045
But simply is the state is an agency of freno

09:03.345 --> 09:06.565
and not primarily of welfare or happiness.

09:07.265 --> 09:09.165
Um, and Humboldt went on, he,

09:09.185 --> 09:10.805
he changed his mind in later life,

09:11.305 --> 09:14.485
but in this early text, he argued for a,

09:14.485 --> 09:17.005
essentially a minimalist state as

09:17.595 --> 09:19.565
what he thought was the necessary outcome

09:19.565 --> 09:21.485
of Khan's political philosophy.

09:22.265 --> 09:23.565
Now, the interesting thing, one

09:23.565 --> 09:27.295
of the many interesting things is that this view

09:27.395 --> 09:30.375
of Humbolt combines a lag Mitzi idea of the person

09:31.775 --> 09:33.415
spontaneously following his

09:33.415 --> 09:37.295
or her own life path with the content restriction on

09:38.245 --> 09:40.335
paternalism or rejection of paternalism

09:40.595 --> 09:42.695
and imposition by the state.

09:43.515 --> 09:45.415
Um, so that's one interesting thing.

09:45.595 --> 09:47.375
The other interesting thing is that the conclusion

09:47.375 --> 09:50.015
that Humboldt draws is that the state ought to be minimal,

09:50.125 --> 09:53.135
that it ought to do very little no, for example,

09:53.135 --> 09:56.175
public education because that's indoctrinating,

09:56.325 --> 09:59.615
it's homogenizing,

10:00.155 --> 10:03.335
no economic interventions beyond what is simply necessary

10:03.335 --> 10:07.975
to secure, military stability, and,

10:07.975 --> 10:10.255
and civil, civil peace and so on.

10:10.955 --> 10:14.415
Now, it, a few years later, fta,

10:14.715 --> 10:18.455
who is also a a t develops a political theory on the,

10:19.055 --> 10:21.115
on the same conceptual basis,

10:21.735 --> 10:24.155
but with completely different institutional results

10:24.425 --> 10:27.395
because FTA argues for a highly interventionist state,

10:27.605 --> 10:30.995
which looks very much on the surface, like,

10:31.225 --> 10:33.675
Christian vol, enlightened tism,

10:34.095 --> 10:36.875
but it's based on the new continent premises.

10:37.255 --> 10:38.955
And how does this work? It's

10:38.955 --> 10:40.555
because FTA understands that

10:42.045 --> 10:44.575
freedom requires certain objective conditions,

10:45.685 --> 10:48.585
and it is just the, the, the business of the state

10:48.975 --> 10:50.545
through economic intervention

10:50.605 --> 10:54.025
and planning to provide those conditions whereby then

10:54.495 --> 10:56.945
individuals can freely define themselves

10:57.005 --> 10:59.225
and pursue their own self given goals.

10:59.605 --> 11:00.945
So he has the same objective

11:00.945 --> 11:02.985
and the same conceptual base as Al

11:03.565 --> 11:05.625
but on on the same premises.

11:05.765 --> 11:07.785
He draws entirely different conclusions.

11:08.585 --> 11:11.545
Humboldt a minimal state fta, highly interventionist state.

11:12.205 --> 11:15.105
So this state could look like FTA is reverting

11:15.105 --> 11:18.465
to Christian Wolf and the older and my deist theory,

11:18.805 --> 11:20.825
but in fact, he's not, he's developing a new kind

11:20.825 --> 11:25.465
of theory which promotes freedom rather than happiness.

11:26.165 --> 11:29.705
So these are examples of what I call in one essay

11:30.425 --> 11:33.865
I call left Consci following Bernard Jack's account,

11:34.565 --> 11:38.505
but which elsewhere I call, post T perfectionism.

11:38.885 --> 11:42.545
And it's characterized by the shift from,

11:42.715 --> 11:44.825
focus on happiness or thriving

11:45.005 --> 11:49.385
or nia in the sense to freedom

11:49.805 --> 11:53.365
to self-determination to spontaneity first shift.

11:53.825 --> 11:55.965
The second, it, it's a shift from the idea

11:55.965 --> 11:57.925
of a largely homogeneous society

11:58.145 --> 12:00.725
or a society of little differentiation

12:01.185 --> 12:04.805
as we still find interest on both to the beginnings

12:04.805 --> 12:06.805
of the understanding of the modern differentiation

12:07.025 --> 12:09.245
of interest based on the division of labor.

12:09.345 --> 12:11.925
So you get from homogeneity to diversity

12:12.745 --> 12:14.815
and then you get a move.

12:14.935 --> 12:17.175
A third move is from the idea

12:17.175 --> 12:19.935
that interests are intrinsically compatible with each other

12:20.555 --> 12:23.975
to the idea that there is a potential conflict of interest.

12:24.035 --> 12:28.135
And, and so the task of post t perfectionism is to reconcile

12:28.135 --> 12:31.815
that conflict of interest while respecting the spontaneity

12:31.875 --> 12:35.655
and, and independence of each member of the social unit.

12:36.435 --> 12:39.775
So that's the way I, I set up the bol FTA debate,

12:39.915 --> 12:41.455
and it is a debate this fta

12:41.455 --> 12:43.895
and the preface says there have been many theories about

12:44.835 --> 12:46.695
the role of the state, and they're all wrong.

12:47.195 --> 12:49.855
And here's the right one. He's, he's talking about Humboldt

12:49.855 --> 12:52.055
and various other contemporaries that

12:52.275 --> 12:55.535
who he thinks have got the, the, the message wrong,

12:55.875 --> 12:57.615
and he thinks he's being faithful to K

12:57.615 --> 13:00.415
and working out his own highly interventionist theory.

13:01.155 --> 13:03.415
Now, in this question, you also mentioned Karl Marx.

13:04.235 --> 13:06.135
So Marx is a fascinating figure

13:06.135 --> 13:09.725
because on the one hand, he has

13:10.925 --> 13:13.065
in his early theory look looking primarily at

13:13.065 --> 13:14.145
his works of 1840s.

13:14.325 --> 13:16.705
So it also, I think the same logic

13:16.725 --> 13:17.865
of last years later works.

13:18.845 --> 13:22.225
Um, he has elements of poston perfectionism in his work

13:22.965 --> 13:25.795
in it through his idea of the emancipation of labor,

13:25.895 --> 13:27.115
and I'll talk about that in a minute.

13:27.735 --> 13:31.035
But he also has elements of pre-con perfectionism.

13:31.695 --> 13:35.275
Uh, and this is largely to be seen in the absence

13:35.335 --> 13:37.715
of the notion of right, which is fundamental

13:37.855 --> 13:41.315
to many other post t perfectionists, an idea of a kind

13:41.315 --> 13:45.155
of collective good, which is not sufficiently individuated

13:45.345 --> 13:46.995
through ideas of rights.

13:47.695 --> 13:51.395
So the first part is the, the content heritage

13:51.535 --> 13:54.435
and the ultimately by nian heritage in Marx.

13:55.135 --> 13:58.435
So I contend that the idea

13:58.435 --> 14:01.475
of labor in Marx is essentially his translation

14:01.535 --> 14:02.875
of spontaneity.

14:03.265 --> 14:05.995
It's, it's this self-initiation of, of action.

14:06.545 --> 14:08.235
It's the ability of subjects to,

14:08.695 --> 14:11.195
to change objectivity in light of their own purposes.

14:11.695 --> 14:15.915
And that's clear in the 1844 manuscripts in his description

14:15.915 --> 14:19.435
of the labor process as essentially teleological in the

14:19.605 --> 14:22.715
sense of transforming nature in light of our ends,

14:23.375 --> 14:26.635
but also through his ideas of the alienation of labor

14:27.135 --> 14:29.075
and the potential emancipation of labor.

14:30.095 --> 14:34.435
The alienation of labor is not primarily in marks an account

14:34.615 --> 14:36.995
of the aeration or poverty

14:37.415 --> 14:40.625
or victimization of the workers as one, as

14:40.685 --> 14:42.945
of many other socialists of this day were arguing

14:43.805 --> 14:48.465
is rather an account of the emancipatory capacity of labor

14:49.415 --> 14:50.865
that could potentially

14:50.865 --> 14:54.555
Be a source of, of, of freedom for,

14:54.695 --> 14:56.315
for individual workers.

14:56.535 --> 14:59.235
But in fact, it has turned into its opposite

14:59.235 --> 15:02.275
because they are dominated by another will.

15:02.465 --> 15:05.715
They're literally heteronomous in common sense in the labor

15:05.715 --> 15:07.595
process that is the purposes

15:07.695 --> 15:09.915
of their action are not their own,

15:09.915 --> 15:13.275
but they're imposed by the owners of productive apparatus.

15:13.975 --> 15:18.035
Um, the product, the, the instruments of work do not belong

15:18.035 --> 15:19.075
to them, but to somebody else.

15:19.135 --> 15:20.955
So they're just instruments themselves

15:21.815 --> 15:23.755
and the product does not belong to them either.

15:23.785 --> 15:24.915
It's, it's taken away from,

15:25.055 --> 15:27.715
but it's not primarily about the product, it's about

15:28.335 --> 15:29.435
the conditions of work.

15:30.175 --> 15:31.515
Um, otherwise,

15:31.675 --> 15:34.435
a a a merely distributed socialism would be adequate

15:34.435 --> 15:35.515
in Marx, and it never is.

15:35.865 --> 15:39.115
He's always very critical of sentimental socialists who

15:40.295 --> 15:41.915
bewail the, the poverty of the workers,

15:42.015 --> 15:45.275
but don't see the workers as this transformative force.

15:45.575 --> 15:47.435
And that's what he wants to pick up,

15:47.695 --> 15:50.115
and that I think is his idealist heritage.

15:51.175 --> 15:55.035
But I said there was also a side of Marx that is not,

15:56.085 --> 15:58.375
attuned to this post content perfectionism.

15:58.955 --> 16:00.655
And that's primarily the, the other idea

16:00.655 --> 16:03.695
that is developed in 1844 gave me the idea

16:03.795 --> 16:06.015
of generics generic being

16:06.015 --> 16:10.535
or species being, which Marx derives from Feuerbach

16:10.535 --> 16:12.935
among other sources as one of his older contemporaries.

16:13.675 --> 16:16.855
Um, and this is largely about shared values

16:17.395 --> 16:20.615
rather than about the individual positing

16:20.615 --> 16:24.015
or taking up the values, which is what Shikta had stressed

16:24.195 --> 16:26.855
and, and other, and alt and other posts.

16:27.355 --> 16:29.815
So with that notion of, of generic being

16:29.995 --> 16:33.375
or general good, which is an important idea,

16:34.035 --> 16:37.135
but in Marxist thought, it, it eclipses the idea of,

16:37.155 --> 16:38.855
of individuals as right bearing

16:39.395 --> 16:42.015
and as FTA points out, rights don't mean simply.

16:42.965 --> 16:45.015
It's not just a justification of private property,

16:45.445 --> 16:49.335
it's rather the recognition of the individual as the source

16:49.515 --> 16:53.895
of, of validation of, of giving as scent

16:54.395 --> 16:56.735
to whatever values are, are

16:56.915 --> 16:58.495
to be accepted or to be practiced.

16:59.155 --> 17:02.655
And that's the sense that FTA develops and,

17:02.675 --> 17:03.855
and I think Hagel as well.

17:04.675 --> 17:08.095
Um, but in Marx, this is eclipsed by the idea of

17:08.475 --> 17:11.735
of a generic good, of a collective good, which sounds

17:11.835 --> 17:15.735
to me much like Christian vols idea of, of happiness

17:15.735 --> 17:19.135
or thriving, which is the, the post const

17:19.275 --> 17:23.095
or rather the pre-con aspect that I think we find with Marx.

17:23.195 --> 17:25.775
So Marx is kind of synthesis or,

17:25.795 --> 17:28.455
or a combination of two incompatible

17:28.455 --> 17:29.615
theories in that regard.

17:30.335 --> 17:33.055
I just completed a book for, it's been accepted

17:33.075 --> 17:34.815
for publication by Cambridge University Press.

17:34.835 --> 17:37.735
It will be out next year. It's called, freedom

17:37.995 --> 17:40.095
and Perfection, German Political Thought

17:40.205 --> 17:42.395
from LeMans to Marx.

17:42.975 --> 17:46.795
And there I trace out the history of this,

17:47.775 --> 17:51.085
school of thought, and I show its its internal

17:51.185 --> 17:54.325
differentiations and also some of its the polemics

17:54.325 --> 17:55.525
with other currents that it,

17:55.555 --> 17:57.485
that are not compatible with it.

17:58.185 --> 18:01.125
One interesting comparison that, that emerges

18:01.945 --> 18:05.005
is the difference between German idealism on the one hand

18:05.105 --> 18:08.205
and different types of romanticism on the other.

18:09.025 --> 18:13.725
So I argue that that romanticism in, for example, herder

18:14.305 --> 18:17.765
and schlagel and Novartis, schleiermacher

18:18.535 --> 18:20.125
originates from the same ground

18:20.385 --> 18:22.645
as this German post continent perfectionism.

18:23.065 --> 18:24.405
But it takes a different stance

18:24.875 --> 18:28.005
because the post content perfection stance is the following,

18:28.005 --> 18:32.765
that to the extent that objectivity does not conform to

18:33.425 --> 18:35.805
the freedom or, or the insights

18:35.825 --> 18:39.325
or the ends of subjects of the actors who produce

18:39.325 --> 18:42.165
that objectivity, then objectivity ought to be

18:42.425 --> 18:44.605
and can be changed, can be modified.

18:45.065 --> 18:48.845
So idealism is an imperative to perfect the world,

18:48.905 --> 18:51.925
to make it a better place in order to be free.

18:52.385 --> 18:54.765
Not a better place necessarily to be happy

18:54.765 --> 18:57.605
because happiness is not the primary consideration,

18:57.945 --> 19:00.405
but it's the, the, the quest for happening, the ability to

19:00.945 --> 19:01.965
set one's own goals

19:02.065 --> 19:05.365
and pursue them, that that's the fundamental thing.

19:05.665 --> 19:08.085
And the task of perfectionism is to try

19:08.085 --> 19:09.605
to bring about the social

19:09.705 --> 19:11.445
and political institutions in which

19:11.515 --> 19:13.245
this quest can be furthered.

19:13.955 --> 19:16.365
Well, idealists, romantics on the other hand,

19:16.365 --> 19:20.205
particularly the, the ironic romantics hold that there's,

19:20.305 --> 19:23.365
an unbridgeable gap between subjects and objects,

19:23.365 --> 19:26.405
but namely subjects are the, the source

19:26.425 --> 19:27.845
of infinite creativity.

19:28.305 --> 19:30.005
And anything they do, any object

19:30.005 --> 19:33.205
that they could put in the world is merely a fragmented, it,

19:33.235 --> 19:35.405
it's a distortion of their own creativity.

19:35.405 --> 19:38.405
It's not, it's not, it, it, the world cannot affirm me

19:39.215 --> 19:42.305
because I am infinite in my capacity

19:42.365 --> 19:44.425
and all my products are finite.

19:44.565 --> 19:46.545
And that's precisely what romantic irony is.

19:46.575 --> 19:50.025
It's this divorce between unbridgeable gap

19:50.255 --> 19:51.785
between subjects and their world.

19:52.045 --> 19:54.305
And irony is the recognition of that gap

19:55.045 --> 19:59.945
and the ability to, revel in

19:59.945 --> 20:03.465
that diam that separation as the essence of freedom.

20:03.965 --> 20:06.625
So romantics think withdrawal from the world or,

20:07.205 --> 20:10.785
or toying with the world is the way to be free

20:11.245 --> 20:12.465
and idealists think that

20:13.095 --> 20:14.905
reforming the world is the way to be free.

20:15.325 --> 20:20.065
So that's one thing. The other thing is that I think

20:20.065 --> 20:21.785
through this, this body of thought,

20:21.785 --> 20:23.945
we get new ideas about citizenship

20:24.125 --> 20:27.785
and about the state citizenship on the one hand,

20:27.785 --> 20:31.575
because it's al never a matter of simply

20:31.645 --> 20:35.295
what individuals happen to want, it's always their ability

20:35.295 --> 20:40.055
to rationally evaluate whether what they want is indeed,

20:40.565 --> 20:42.855
conducive to the freedom of others or not.

20:42.955 --> 20:46.775
And therefore the ability to self limit that, not to pursue

20:47.635 --> 20:51.925
litigiously one's own narrow ends when there's a a means

20:51.925 --> 20:54.605
of perhaps bridging bridging differences

20:54.785 --> 20:58.245
or overcoming the separation of interest through,

20:58.945 --> 21:00.565
through discussion.

21:00.565 --> 21:02.205
So it's not the validation of

21:03.415 --> 21:07.625
like Hobbes has any individual good, it's rather a, a,

21:07.745 --> 21:12.385
a ability to stand back to exert negative freedom, to, to,

21:12.405 --> 21:16.065
to ask whether this end that I have is one that I ought

21:16.065 --> 21:19.545
to have and what its implications are for the freedom

21:19.565 --> 21:22.065
of others that's citizenship, the state.

21:22.855 --> 21:24.985
There's also a way of rethinking the,

21:24.985 --> 21:26.425
what's called the welfare state,

21:26.735 --> 21:28.705
because the welfare state sounds like

21:29.295 --> 21:32.345
post sounds like pre-con perfectionism, where the state

21:32.895 --> 21:35.385
paternalistic doles out benefits to people

21:35.445 --> 21:38.505
who become passive recipients of, of goods

21:38.885 --> 21:40.105
and quest of happiness.

21:40.845 --> 21:45.275
And, but the, the post T model is akin to the thought

21:45.275 --> 21:48.275
of people like Ammar Asan who talks about the enabling state

21:48.275 --> 21:49.315
or Martha sba.

21:49.895 --> 21:52.555
Um, so you get the kind of facilitating

21:52.555 --> 21:55.195
or enabling state out of this rather than a welfare state

21:55.195 --> 21:58.555
because the idea is to provide people with the means,

21:59.015 --> 22:01.835
as Victor said, to secure their own freedom.

22:02.295 --> 22:05.595
That's the objective. Not to make them happy, not to, not

22:05.595 --> 22:08.845
to look after their their needs paternalistic,

22:09.025 --> 22:11.365
but to further emancipate them.

22:11.665 --> 22:15.045
The difference is that, San is largely coming out

22:15.045 --> 22:16.685
of the utilitarian tradition in bu,

22:16.685 --> 22:18.045
largely out of the Aristotelian.

22:18.505 --> 22:20.325
So you get an interesting convergence

22:20.325 --> 22:23.165
of perspective from very different theoretical basis.

"Reimagining German Idealism: From Kant to Marx and the Evolution of Political Philosophy"

00:00:00 - I've been working on a history of German idealism for a long time, and, it, it struck me that one could tell another kind of, give another kind of account of, of its development if we took l Its rather than as typically done Kant, as the starting point. now the other people have done that before, notably figures in the 19th century, writing on the history of German philosophy, and perhaps most notably at the beginning of the 20th century, el ca ca in his great book, Faha Freedom and Form of 1917, who made a very compelling case
00:00:45 - of German idealism. So I thought I would, in light of new research, go back to CAI's thesis and see whether it could be sustained, perhaps develop differently. And that's what I tried to do, to give a different reading based large, much more largely on the political philosophy and its development, and therefore to trace the connections roughly between WNET and Karl Marx. So 1650 to 18 50, 18 70, 18 80, that is my trajectory. And I look at how various La Nian concepts were developed,
00:01:26 - and how that that gives us a, I think, a more, more complete view of the development of this body of thought, as well as its political significance, that I think is, is noteworthy and needs to be developed more. So, again, we have to go back to LeMans here and his relation to the emergent materialism of his time. So LeMans is very, very early thought when he was still a student at, the University of Leip had an extensive correspondence with one of his professors, Jacque CIOs. And in this correspondence he looks at,
00:02:07 - and tries to see what can be made of it and how it can be reinterpreted or utilize in a different way. So, Hobbes, of course, had tried to develop a, a mechanistic theory of human action in which action is simply a response to external causes and pushes and pulls which objects exert on us. So, freedom is simply in Hobbs' account, being able to get the things that you want and avoid the things that you don't want. and Leitz thinks that, that there's several problems with this account, and he tries to give an alternative reading. So the first thing he does is to say that
00:02:50 - or of existence, namely forces in the world. Once we act and we put something in the world, then that object will indeed respond to pushes and pulls in the mechanistic manner that Hobbes and other philosophers had had, described. Hobbes's problem, however, is to over generalize that account and to make it, account for the origins of human action in a way that Lyness thinks is, is not appropriate. So instead, Lys goes back to a version of Aristotle, the idea of teleology. So ly essentially wants to maintain that there is a level
00:03:33 - by mechanical laws, but that the initiation of the action, whereby those objects come to be, cannot be explained in that way. So Hobbes is over generalized. So Ness wants to distinguish intentional or theological action from mechanical forces at work in the world, and to, to explain the idea of initiation of action through teleology. He develops the concept that is central to later German thinking, namely, spontaneity. So spontaneity doesn't mean as it typically means in, in contemporary usage,

"Spontaneity and Freedom: Kant's Conflicted Political Philosophy"

00:04:14 - It means rather action that originates from within that subjects actually intentionally or purposefully cause and bring about. And so this idea then becomes central to later German thought. And in Ks particular rendition of this idea of spontaneity in the, in the critique of of practical reason of 1787, he def he, he redefines it as negative freedom, namely the ability of the will to abs abstract from external causes or to admit them selectively according to a rational rule. In other words, we're not simply governed by the forces that work on us.
00:04:57 - and then to say yes or no to them. So we're not simply reacting automatically, we're acting spontaneously, namely through this evaluative process and determining what we may do, what we ought to do. and, and he works out different implications of that, through what he calls the, practical reason. And he distinguishes two levels. There's empirical, practical reason, which is action. We undertake in pursuit of happiness, of need, satisfaction, and there's pure practical reason, which is action, which aims not at happiness, but at freedom.
00:05:41 - juridical, interactions, relations of right, and relations of virtue or, or acts of virtue, which, unlike relations right, are not subject to coercion. But all of these are governed by spontaneity, just spontaneity, working in different ways, Different ways through the different fields of practical reason. The, the claim I wanna make further is the following that prior, even prior to the critique of, of practical reason, 1787 Kant in 1785 wrote the groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. And this was a revolutionary text evolution. It was revolutionary because it's,
00:06:23 - what one might almost call proto utilitarianism or what K calls empirical romy, namely the the will is dominated by external desires for, for things, for objects, for happiness. But kt wants to say that again, anticipating the idea of negative freedom that he works out in the critique of, of practical reason two years later, that, the will is auto is potentially autonomous or, or gives itself its own law and therefore indulges in these processes of discrimination among different kinds of possible acts in
00:07:01 - Now, this text was read by K foes who already numerous in Germany as announcing a new kind of political theory, a theory which will aim at essentially the promotion of freedom and not as other the theorists had done in Germany prior to, to K's work, namely attempting to promote happiness. So this is an important distinction. I I I'm arguing that with the metaphysics and morals, a new kind of political theory is born, which distinguishes political actions based upon the pursuit of, or the imposition of an idea
00:07:44 - the kind of paternalism versus the idea of self-determination. And, and they're and republican, essentially Republican freedom. So there's a, a clash between the old perfectionism, the outcome of which was a kind of enlightened absolutism, particularly in the works of Christian Wolf, who is also a follower of liveness, but takes on different aspects of W than K does on the one hand. And then these new continent thinkers who reject that paternalism as K himself will do theory and practice of something 9 93. but already before that people like, the young, very young,

"Shifting Concepts of State Intervention: From Minimalism to Post-T Perfectionism"

00:08:28 - to have a t political theory based on this idea of, of self-determination, of free choice of, of ends. So Humboldt basically argues that the state ought not to be highly interventionist, that it ought to simply defend the borders of the security of the subjects, but not promote their happiness, their perfection in the, the older sense of, of thriving. But simply is the state is an agency of freno and not primarily of welfare or happiness.
00:09:09 - he changed his mind in later life, but in this early text, he argued for a, essentially a minimalist state as what he thought was the necessary outcome of Khan's political philosophy. Now, the interesting thing, one of the many interesting things is that this view of Humbolt combines a lag Mitzi idea of the person spontaneously following his or her own life path with the content restriction on paternalism or rejection of paternalism and imposition by the state. so that's one interesting thing. The other interesting thing is that the conclusion
00:09:50 - that it ought to do very little no, for example, public education because that's indoctrinating, it's homogenizing, no economic interventions beyond what is simply necessary to secure, military stability, and, and civil, civil peace and so on. Now, it, a few years later, fta, who is also a a t develops a political theory on the, on the same conceptual basis, but with completely different institutional results because FTA argues for a highly interventionist state,
00:10:31 - Christian vol, enlightened tism, but it's based on the new continent premises. And how does this work? It's because FTA understands that freedom requires certain objective conditions, and it is just the, the, the business of the state through economic intervention and planning to provide those conditions whereby then individuals can freely define themselves and pursue their own self given goals. So he has the same objective and the same conceptual base as Al but on on the same premises. He draws entirely different conclusions.
00:11:12 - So this state could look like FTA is reverting to Christian Wolf and the older and my deist theory, but in fact, he's not, he's developing a new kind of theory which promotes freedom rather than happiness. So these are examples of what I call in one essay I call left Consci following Bernard Jack's account, but which elsewhere I call, post T perfectionism. And it's characterized by the shift from, focus on happiness or thriving or nia in the sense to freedom
00:11:53 - The second, it, it's a shift from the idea of a largely homogeneous society or a society of little differentiation as we still find interest on both to the beginnings of the understanding of the modern differentiation of interest based on the division of labor. So you get from homogeneity to diversity and then you get a move. A third move is from the idea that interests are intrinsically compatible with each other to the idea that there is a potential conflict of interest. And, and so the task of post t perfectionism is to reconcile that conflict of interest while respecting the spontaneity

"Reevaluating the Role of the State: The Intersection of FTA, Marx, and the Evolution of Political Responsibility"

00:12:36 - So that's the way I, I set up the bol FTA debate, and it is a debate this fta and the preface says there have been many theories about the role of the state, and they're all wrong. And here's the right one. He's, he's talking about Humboldt and various other contemporaries that who he thinks have got the, the, the message wrong, and he thinks he's being faithful to K and working out his own highly interventionist theory. Now, in this question, you also mentioned Karl Marx. So Marx is a fascinating figure because on the one hand, he has in his early theory look looking primarily at
00:13:14 - So it also, I think the same logic of last years later works. he has elements of poston perfectionism in his work in it through his idea of the emancipation of labor, and I'll talk about that in a minute. But he also has elements of pre-con perfectionism. and this is largely to be seen in the absence of the notion of right, which is fundamental to many other post t perfectionists, an idea of a kind of collective good, which is not sufficiently individuated through ideas of rights. So the first part is the, the content heritage and the ultimately by nian heritage in Marx.
00:13:58 - of labor in Marx is essentially his translation of spontaneity. It's, it's this self-initiation of, of action. It's the ability of subjects to, to change objectivity in light of their own purposes. And that's clear in the 1844 manuscripts in his description of the labor process as essentially teleological in the sense of transforming nature in light of our ends, but also through his ideas of the alienation of labor and the potential emancipation of labor. The alienation of labor is not primarily in marks an account of the aeration or poverty
00:14:40 - of many other socialists of this day were arguing is rather an account of the emancipatory capacity of labor that could potentially Be a source of, of, of freedom for, for individual workers. But in fact, it has turned into its opposite because they are dominated by another will. They're literally heteronomous in common sense in the labor process that is the purposes of their action are not their own, but they're imposed by the owners of productive apparatus. the product, the, the instruments of work do not belong
00:15:19 - So they're just instruments themselves and the product does not belong to them either. It's, it's taken away from, but it's not primarily about the product, it's about the conditions of work. otherwise, a a a merely distributed socialism would be adequate in Marx, and it never is. He's always very critical of sentimental socialists who bewail the, the poverty of the workers, but don't see the workers as this transformative force. And that's what he wants to pick up, and that I think is his idealist heritage. But I said there was also a side of Marx that is not, attuned to this post content perfectionism.
00:16:00 - that is developed in 1844 gave me the idea of generics generic being or species being, which Marx derives from Feuerbach among other sources as one of his older contemporaries. and this is largely about shared values rather than about the individual positing or taking up the values, which is what Shikta had stressed and, and other, and alt and other posts. So with that notion of, of generic being or general good, which is an important idea, but in Marxist thought, it, it eclipses the idea of, of individuals as right bearing

"Exploring Individual Validation and Collective Good in German Political Thought: From Hegel to Marx"

00:16:42 - It's not just a justification of private property, it's rather the recognition of the individual as the source of, of validation of, of giving as scent to whatever values are, are to be accepted or to be practiced. And that's the sense that FTA develops and, and I think Hagel as well. but in Marx, this is eclipsed by the idea of of a generic good, of a collective good, which sounds to me much like Christian vols idea of, of happiness or thriving, which is the, the post const or rather the pre-con aspect that I think we find with Marx.
00:17:25 - or a combination of two incompatible theories in that regard. I just completed a book for, it's been accepted for publication by Cambridge University Press. It will be out next year. It's called, freedom and Perfection, German Political Thought from LeMans to Marx. And there I trace out the history of this, school of thought, and I show its its internal differentiations and also some of its the polemics with other currents that it, that are not compatible with it. One interesting comparison that, that emerges is the difference between German idealism on the one hand
00:18:09 - So I argue that that romanticism in, for example, herder and schlagel and Novartis, schleiermacher originates from the same ground as this German post continent perfectionism. But it takes a different stance because the post content perfection stance is the following, that to the extent that objectivity does not conform to the freedom or, or the insights or the ends of subjects of the actors who produce that objectivity, then objectivity ought to be and can be changed, can be modified. So idealism is an imperative to perfect the world,
00:18:52 - Not a better place necessarily to be happy because happiness is not the primary consideration, but it's the, the, the quest for happening, the ability to set one's own goals and pursue them, that that's the fundamental thing. And the task of perfectionism is to try to bring about the social and political institutions in which this quest can be furthered. Well, idealists, romantics on the other hand, particularly the, the ironic romantics hold that there's, an unbridgeable gap between subjects and objects, but namely subjects are the, the source of infinite creativity. And anything they do, any object
00:19:33 - it's a distortion of their own creativity. It's not, it's not, it, it, the world cannot affirm me because I am infinite in my capacity and all my products are finite. And that's precisely what romantic irony is. It's this divorce between unbridgeable gap between subjects and their world. And irony is the recognition of that gap and the ability to, revel in that diam that separation as the essence of freedom. So romantics think withdrawal from the world or, or toying with the world is the way to be free
00:20:13 - reforming the world is the way to be free. So that's one thing. The other thing is that I think through this, this body of thought, we get new ideas about citizenship and about the state citizenship on the one hand, because it's al never a matter of simply what individuals happen to want, it's always their ability to rationally evaluate whether what they want is indeed, conducive to the freedom of others or not. And therefore the ability to self limit that, not to pursue litigiously one's own narrow ends when there's a a means

"Rethinking Citizenship and the Role of the State: From Welfare to Empowerment"

00:20:54 - or overcoming the separation of interest through, through discussion. So it's not the validation of like Hobbes has any individual good, it's rather a, a, a ability to stand back to exert negative freedom, to, to, to ask whether this end that I have is one that I ought to have and what its implications are for the freedom of others that's citizenship, the state. There's also a way of rethinking the, what's called the welfare state, because the welfare state sounds like post sounds like pre-con perfectionism, where the state
00:21:35 - who become passive recipients of, of goods and quest of happiness. And, but the, the post T model is akin to the thought of people like Ammar Asan who talks about the enabling state or Martha sba. so you get the kind of facilitating or enabling state out of this rather than a welfare state because the idea is to provide people with the means, as Victor said, to secure their own freedom. That's the objective. Not to make them happy, not to, not to look after their their needs paternalistic, but to further emancipate them. The difference is that, San is largely coming out
00:22:20 - largely out of the Aristotelian. So you get an interesting convergence of perspective from very different theoretical basis.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis