Critique Hegel's Critique of Kant's Subjective Ethics through ‎the Dialectical Relationship of Subjective Reason with Nature

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.‎

Abstract

The concept of ethics in subjective idealism is determined based on the free inner subjectivity (agency). In this conception, morality emerges centered on autonomous reason and, due to the opposition that Kant considers between reason and inclination (desire), creates a rift between the ethical subject and the object. The main question of the present article is: Upon which philosophical elements does Hegel base his critique of Kantian ethics, and how does he examine the problems of subjective ethics? The answer to this question is that Hegel, by creating a dialectic between reason and nature/inclination (desire), seeks to remove the opposition between morality and individual will and motive. Furthermore, by inverting the relationship between the universal will and the individual will that exists in Kant's thought, he seeks a way to address the alienation of the ethical subject from social and political institutions. He also intends to severely criticize the terror and dread that were justified in ethical relations in the shadow of the destruction of political institutions.

Keywords

References

Cassirer, E. (2018). Rousseau, Kant and Goethe (H, Shamsavari & K, Firoozmand, Trans). Tehran: Nashr-e Markaz. [In Persian]
Comay, R. (2016). Mourning Sickness: Hegel and the French Revolution (M, Farhadpour, Trans.). Tehran: Lahita. [In Persian]
Findlay, J. N.; Kojève, Alexandre (2014). Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (B, Eslahpazir, Trans.). Tehran: Roozamad. [In Persian]
Hegel, G. W. F. (1975). Lectures on the History of philosophy: Introduction (H. B. Nisbet, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hegel, G. W. F. (2017). Elements of the Philosophy of Right (M. Iranitalab, Trans.). Tehran: Qatreh. [In Persian]
Hegel, G. W. F. (2020). The Phenomenology of Spirit (M. Hosseini & M. Ardabili, Trans.). Tehran: Ney. [In Persian]
Houlgate, S. (2013). Hegel's philosophy of spirit. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Hyppolite, J. (1974). Genesis and Structure of Hegel's phenomenology (S. Cherniak, & J. Heckman, Trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
James, D. (2020). Hegel (M, Haji Beiglou, Trans.). Tehran: Elmi va Farhangi Publications. [In Persian]
Kain, P. J. (2005). Hegel and the Other: A Study of the Phenomenology of Spirit. New York: State University of New York Press.
Kant, I. (2013). Critique of Judgment (A. Rashidian, Trans.). Tehran: Ney.
Kant, I. (2015). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (H. Enayat, Trans.). Tehran: Kharazmi. [In Persian]
Knowles, D. (2002). Hegel and Philosophy of Right. London: Routledge.
Marcuse, H. (2018). Reason and Revolution (M. Salasi, Trans.). Tehran: Noqreh. [In Persian]
Muller, J. (2020). The Mind and the Market (M. Nasrallahzadeh, Trans., 4th ed.). Tehran: Bidgol. [In Persian]
Pinkard, T. (2016). German Philosophy, 1760–1860: The Legacy of Idealism (N. Qatrouyi, Trans.). Tehran: Qoqnoos. [In Persian]
Ritter, J. (1984). Hegel and The French Revolution: Assays on The philosophy of right (R. D. Winfield, Trans.). London: The MIT Press.
Sedgwick, S. (2008). Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stern, R. (2014). Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit (M. Mahdi Ardabili &  J. Seyyedi, Trans.). Tehran: Qoqnoos. [In Persian]
Strauss, L. (2008). What Is Political Philosophy? (F. Rajaei, Trans.). Tehran: Elmi va Farhangi Publications. [In Persian]
Taylor, C. (1979). Hegel and Modern Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wood, A. (1990). Hegel's ethical thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zanoui, M. (2003). The Young Hegel in Pursuit of Theoretical Dialectics (M. Ebadian, Trans.). Tehran: Agah. [In Persian]
Theosophia Islamica
Volume 5, Issue 2 - Serial Number 10
November 2025
Pages 317-345

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics