Hegel and the History of Political Philosophy [Hardcover]

This book relates Hegel to preceding and succeeding political philosophers. The Hegelian notion of the interdependence of political philosophy and its history is demonstrated by the links established between Hegel and his predecessors and successors. Hegel's political theory is illuminated by essays showing its critical assimilation of Plato and Hobbes, and by studies reviewing subsequent critiques of its standpoint by Stirner, Marx and Collingwood. The relevance of Hegel to contemporary political philosophy is highlighted in essays which compare Hegel to Lyotard and Rawls.Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Plato and Hegel: Reason, Redemption and Political Construction Hegel's Plato: The Owl of Minerva, Political Philosophy and History Hobbes, Hegel and the Modern Self Stirner's Critique of Hegel: Geist and the Egoistic Exorcist The German Ideology , Stirner and Hegel: The Theory of History and the History of Theory Good and Bad Infinites in Hegel and Marx New Leviathans for Old: Collingwood's Hobbes and the Spirit of Hegel Lyotard's Hegel and the Dialectic of Modernity Rawls and Hegel: The Reasonable and the Rational in Theory and Practice Conclusion: Politics, Philosophy and Critique Index

'In this impressive comparative study, Gary Browning sets Hegel's political philosophy against the tradition that preceded him (Plato, Hobbes) and the one he has helped to shape (Stirner, Marx, Collingwood, Lyotard and even as Browning argues, Rawls). In so doing, Browning helps us arrive at a balanced assessment of Hegel's achievement, his place in the history of political thought, and his own contribution as an historian of ideas. This collection of essays provides an excellent way in to Hegel's political philosophy for those who are familiar with other figures from the tradition, whilst forcing Hegel scholars to test his ideas against different but related outlooks, and to question for themselves what is distinctive and living in the Hegelian position. It is l“0