Naturalizing Hegel's Idealism. Epistemological Consequences of His Theory of Recognition

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370013
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Philosophy/Ethics
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: OKOCHI Taiju 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 教授 (80513374)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 承認 / 自然主義 / 認識論 / 歴史 / ヘーゲル / プラグマティズム / 語用論 / 合理性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research aims to justify the naturalization of Hegel's epistemology to develop a historical conception of rationality. I took up R. Brandom's pragmatics and A. Honneth's theory of recognition as Hegelian normativity theories which also develop the epistemology based on the social interaction (recognition) and argue for the embedment of norms in the social interaction or the historical development of society. In this research I came to conclude that Hegel's concept of the (objective) "Geist" could and needs to be naturalized by adjusting to his "Bildung"-concept a concept of the weak naturalism that does not reduce human beings' rational ability to the nomological natural process but understands our history as evolutional learning process in which we, the human beings, are getting better in handling their tasks.

Free Research Field

哲学