Practical Necessity, Freedom, and History - From Hobbes to Marx

By means of careful analysis of relevant writings by Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, and Marx, this study argues that the concept of practical necessity is key to understanding the nature and extent of human freedom.

List of contents

• Abbreviations


• Introduction


• 1: Hobbes's Argument for the Practical Necessity of Colonization


• 2: Practical Necessity and History I: Rousseau's Second Discourse


• 3: Practical Necessity and History II: Kant on Universal History


• 4: Hegel and Marx on the Necessity of the Terror


• 5: Practical Necessity, Ethical Freedom, and History: Hegel's Philosophy of Right


• 6: The Compatibility of Freedom and Necessity in Marx's Idea of Communist Society


• 7: Practical Necessity and Historical Necessity in Historical Materialism


• Bibliography

About the author

David James is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. His publications include Fichte's Republic: Idealism, History and Nationalism (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Rousseau and German Idealism: Freedom, Dependence and Necessity (Cambridge University Press, 2013), and Fichte's Social and Political Philosophy: Property and Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Summary

By means of careful analysis of relevant writings by Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, and Marx, this study argues that the concept of practical necessity is key to understanding the nature and extent of human freedom.

Additional text

David James offers an elaborate, well-wrought reflection on human freedom and its limits by considering five canonical modern philosophers: Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, and Marx.

Product details

• Authors: James , David James, David (Associate Professor of Philosophy James
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2021
• EAN: 9780198847885
• ISBN: 978-0-19-884788-5
• No. of pages: 244
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Free Will & Determinism, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / General, Political science & theory, Ethics & moral philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy, Political science and theory, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought, History of Western philosophy