“I that is We, We that is I.” Perspectives on Contemporary Hegel Critical Studies in German Idealism Series Editor Paul G. Cobben Advisory Board Simon Critchley – Paul Cruysberghs – Rózsa Erzsébet – Garth Green Vittorio Hösle – Francesca Menegoni – Martin Moors – Michael Quante Ludwig Siep – Timo Slootweg – Klaus Vieweg VOLUME 17 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/csgi “I that is We, We that is I.” Perspectives on Contemporary Hegel Social Ontology, Recognition, Naturalism, and the Critique of Kantian Constructivism Edited by Italo Testa and Luigi Ruggiu LEIDEN | BOSTON Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Testa, Italo, editor. Title: “I that is we, we that is I,” perspectives on contemporary Hegel :  social ontology, recognition, naturalism, and the critique of Kantian  constructivism / edited by Italo Testa, Luigi Ruggiu, and Lucio Cortella. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Critical studies in  German idealism, ISSN 1878-9986 ; VOLUME 17 | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016017472 (print) | LCCN 2016020782 (ebook) | ISBN  9789004322950 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004322967 (E-book) Subjects: LCSH: Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. | Kant, Immanuel,  1724–1804. Classification: LCC B2948 .I224 2016 (print) | LCC B2948 (ebook) | DDC  193—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017472 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1878-9986 isbn 978-90-04-32295-0 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-32296-7 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. Contents Preface and Acknowledgements vii List of Abbreviations ix List of Contributors xi 1 Hegelian Resources for Contemporary Thought: Introductory Essay 1 Italo Testa Part 1 Hegelian Social Ontology 2 Hegel on Social Ontology and the Possibility of Pathology 31 Frederick Neuhouser 3 Ethical Perfectionism in Social Ontology—A Hegelian Alternative 49 Heikki Ikäheimo 4 Towards an Institutional Theory of Rights 68 Jean-François Kervégan 5 Reason and Social Ontology 86 Luigi Ruggiu Part 2 Social Action, Ethical Life, and the Critique of Constructivism 6 Does Hegelian Ethics Rest on a Mistake? 109 Robert Stern 7 Hegelian Constructivism in Ethical Theory? 127 Arto Laitinen 8 Hegel’s Theory of Action: Between Conviction and Recognition 147 Francesca Menegoni 9 The Normativity of Ethical Life 157 Axel Honneth vi contents 10 Freedom and Nature: The Point of View of a Theory of Recognition 169 Lucio Cortella Part 3 Naturalism, Work and Power 11 Nature, Subjectivity and Freedom: Moving from Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature 183 Luca Illetterati 12 Social Self and Work in The Phenomenology of Spirit 202 Emmanuel Renault 13 The Form of Labor: Individuation and Socialization 220 Paolo Vinci 14 Attractors of Recognition 230 Italo Testa Part 4 The Logic of Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity 15 Hegel on Recognition: Self-Consciousness, Individuality and Intersubjectivity 253 Alfredo Ferrarin 16 “I that is We and We that is I.” The Phenomenological Significance and the Logical Foundation of Intersubjectivity in Hegel 271 Franco Chiereghin 17 The Community of the Self 286 Leonardo Samonà 18 The Political Surplus Value of Subjectivity in Hegel 299 Geminello Preterossi Index of Names 311 Index of Subjects 315 Preface and Acknowledgements Can Hegel’s thinking provide us with a common thread for the critical reassess- ment of the constellation of contemporary thought? Could we find within it conceptual resources in order to gain a better understanding of a number of questions of crucial relevance to modern philosophy, concerning the intersub- jective nature of rationality, the social structure of intentional action, the onto- logical form of institutional reality, and the varieties of naturalism? About twenty years ago in Venice, the editors of this book, at that time respectively a Ph.D student and his supervisor, (who since the eighties had been teaching at Ca’ Foscari University the sociality of reason as a key to understanding Hegel), realized that an epochal shift was taking place and that both in the European and in the Anglo-American tradition Hegel’s image was undergoing a deep transformation. This realization led to a research project and to the organiza- tion of a series of conferences, named Contemporary Hegel, designed to pro- mote a renewed international dialogue, and which have been held in Venice in 2001, 2006, and 2013. This book brings together a selection of the papers presented at the latest Contemporary Hegel conference. This series of conferences has been made possible by the support of the Italian ministry of Education’s PRIN research program of national interest, led in Venice for many years by Luigi Ruggiu. Without the generous help of many students and colleagues it wouldn’t have been possible to organize these events. Here we would like to say a special thank you to Lucio Cortella for his participation in the scientific committee. We also acknowledge, for their work as commentators of the papers, Niccolò Cristante, Federica Gregoratto, Filippo Ranchio, Arvi Särkelä, Sabrina Tortorella, Diego Zucca. We cannot thank the contributors of this book enough for their wonderful work, suggestions, and for agreeing to come on board in the first place. In addi- tion, we would like to thank Sage, the journal’s editor David Rasmussen, as well as the translator Felix Koch, for permission to reprint Axel Honneth’s paper “The Normativity of Ethical Life”, previously published in Philosophy & Social Criticism, Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 115–124. We would like also to thank Brill, and the “Critical Studies in German Idealism” book series’ editor Paul Cobben, for fully supporting the project from the very outset. For their assistance, we thank Meghan Connolly, Michael Mozina, and Karen Cullen. Thanks also to Niccolò Cristante and Valentina Simeoni for their valuable assistance in preparing a first draft of the m anuscript. viii preface and acknowledgements Finally, we would like to acknowledge Ca’ Foscari University and Parma University for their institutional and financial support. Italo Testa and Luigi Ruggiu Parma and Venice, June 2016 List of Abbreviations GW Gesammelte Werke, 21 vols. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, with the Hegel-Kommission der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Hegel-Archiv der Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Hamburg: Meiner, 1968–). Cited by volume and page number. Werke Hegel: Werke: Theorie Werkausgabe, eds. Eva Moldenhauer and Karl Markus Michel (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1970). Cited by volume and page number. PR Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. GW 14. Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, trans. H.B. Nisbet, ed. Allen W. Wood (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Cited by paragraph (§) number sometimes followed by page number. Hegel’s remarks (Anmerkung) are indicated by an “R,” additions (Zusatz) from student lecture notes by an “A”. PS Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807). GW 9. Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A.V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977). Cited by paragraph of Miller’s translation, and page number, followed by pagination from GW. Enc. Encyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften (3rd ed.: 1830), GW 20. Cited by paragraph number, sometimes followed by page number of the English translation. Hegel’s remarks (Anmerkung) are indicated by an “R,” additions (Zusatz) from student lecture notes by an “A”. References to different English translations used by the authors are provided using the following abbreviations (followed by the paragraph number of the original edition): Enc. I Hegel’s Encyclopedia Logic, trans. Théodore Geraets, Wallis A. Suchting, and Henry S. Harris (Cambridge, MA: Hackett, 1991). Enc. I* Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic Outline, Part I: Science of Logic, trans. Klaus Brinkmann and Daniel O. Dahlstrom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010). Enc. II Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature, 3 vols., ed. and trans. Michael J. Petry (London: George Allen & Unwin; New York: Human- ities Press, 1970).