Irony and idealism : rereading Schegel, Hegel and Kierkegaard / Fred Rush.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rush, Fred, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Idealism--Philosophy.

Idealism.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

xiv, 312 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

The principal figures treated are the romantic thinkers Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, Hegel, and Kierkegaard. Fred Rush argues that the development of philosophical irony in this historical period is best understood as providing a way forward in philosophy in the wake of Kant and Jacobi that is discrete from, and on many points opposed to, German idealism. Irony and Idealism argues, against the grain of received opinion, that among the German romantics Schlegel's conception of irony is superior to similar ideas found in Novalis. It also presents a sustained argument showing that historical reconsideration of Schlegel has been hampered by contestable Hegelian assumptions concerning the conceptual viability of romantic irony and by the misinterpretation of what the romantics mean by 'the absolute.' Rush argues that this is primarily a social-ontological term and not, as is often supposed, a metaphysical concept. Kierkegaard, although critical of the romantic conception, deploys his own adaptation of it in his criticism of Hegel, continuing, and in a way completing, the are of irony through nineteenth-century philosophy. The book concludes by offering suggestions meant to guide contemporary reconsideration of Schlegel's and Kierkegaard's views on the philosophical significance of irony. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Jena Romanticism and the Philosophical Significance of Irony 13

Some Preliminaries 16

The Contributions and Limitations of Novalis' Fichte-Studien 27

A Novalis on judgment-relative and absolute identity 28

B Novalis' criticism of Fierite 31

C Faith, feeling, and the 'absolute' 34

Schlegel's Insight 39

A Reciprocal proof and romantic 'progression' 41

B Contextualism, experiential underdetermination, and the scope of regulative reason 48

C Interlude: the centrality of poetry and interpretation in Schiegel 58

a Staking middle ground 59

b 'Poetry': Greek, modem, romantic 60

D Romantic irony 65

E Poetic philosophy and sociality: symphilosophkren 73

F Back to Novalis 75

G Fragments and ironic systematicity 80

H Language, history, and expression 89

Concluding Remarks: Crisis and Response 96

2 Irony Displaced, or Hegel 101

Synopsis of Schlegel's Vision Going Forward 105

Jena Romanticism in the Phenomenology of Spirit 112

A Preliminary qualifications 121

B The proximate historical and conceptual background of romanticism as Hegel understands it 122

C 'Conscience' and self-determination 127

D The 'Beautiful Soul' and 'Evil' 129

Two Conceptions of Dialectic 140

A Hegelian dialectic in its 'negative' and 'positive' aspects 143

B Hegelian dialectical ontology 147

C Claim-making, contradiction: self-determination revisited 155

D Sociality, religion, and politics 168

The Aesthetic Dimension of Hegel's Critique 181

A Preliminaries: 'Absolute Spirit' and 'Art' 182

B Modern tragedy and comedy as preconditions to romanticism 186

C 'Humor' and romantic irony 192

Excursus: The Importance of Karl Solger 198

A Solger on irony 200

B Hegel's review of the Nachgelassene Schriften 203

C Solger's transmission of the substance of Jena romanticism 205

Recapitulation 209

3 Irony Redivivus, or Kierkegaard 212

Spheres of Existence I: The Aesthetic 216

A Don Giovanni and simple aestheticism 218

B The many faces of the reflective aesthete 221

C Theory and the aesthete 230

Irony: Kierkegaard's Initial View 237

Irony: Kierkegaard's Developed View 245

Spheres of Existence II: The Ethical 247

Aesthetic and Ethical Life in the Wake of the Ironic 255

Spheres of Existence III: The Religious 257

Religion Speaks to the Ethical: Humor as a Confinium 264

Excursus: Transition between Spheres 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0199688222

9780199688227

OCLC:

961818276