Luca Corti (a cura di)

Abstract

In the early ‘90s, American philosophy saw a renaissance of interest in Hegel’s thought both from an epistemological and practical-philosophical perspective. Today, this Hegel-renaissance flourishes in lively debate on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The theoretical core of this engagement with Hegel’s thought is “normativity”. What does “normativity” mean? Why should we approach Hegel from a normative point of view? What are the current positions in the debate? What are the prospects for future debate?  I recently had the opportunity to ask American philosopher Robert Pippin these questions. Pippin initiated the rediscovery of Hegel in the early’90s and is today one of the prominent voices of Hegelism in the United States. According to Pippin, among the most important aspects of Hegel’s thought is a particular — normative — conception of rationality and modernity. Pippin believes that Hegel’s conception of modernity is especially essential to a proper understanding of «how we got to be us», to use his phrase.

Luca Corti is PhD student in philosophy at the University of Padua. He is working on the reception of Hegel’s thought in contemporary Anglophone philosophy. He has written several reviews and an article, «Crossing the line: Sellars on Kant on imagination» (forthcoming). He translated in Italian A. Kenny, New History of Western Philosophy, Vol. II (2012) and Vol. III (forthcoming).

Robert Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the author of many books and articles on German idealism, Hegel, the problem of modernity and related topics, several of which are translated in many languages. His books include: Hegel's Idealism (1989), Modernism as a Philosophical Problem (1991), Idealism as Modernism: Hegelian Variations (1997), Die Verwirklichung der Freiheit (2005), Hegel’s Practical Philosophy (2008), Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosophy (2010), Hegel on Self-Consciousness (2011).