The Philosopher's Voice: Philosophy, Politics, and Language in the Nineteenth Century

325 Pages·2002·3.174 MB·

by  Andrew G. Fiala

The Philosopher’s Voice
http://avaxho.me/blogs/ChrisRedfield
SUNY series in Philosophy
George R. Lucas Jr., editor
The Philosopher’s Voice
Philosophy, Politics, and Language
in the Nineteenth Century
Andrew Fiala
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2002 State University of New York Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fiala, Andrew G. (Andrew Gordon), 1966–
The philosopher’s voice: philosophy, politics, and language in the nineteenth century/
Andrew Fiala.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-5483-5 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5484-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Philosophy—History—19th century. 2. Political science—History—19th
century. I. Title. II. Series.
B65 .F5 2002
190'.9'034—dc21 2002021818
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Philosopher’s Voice 1
Chapter 2. Voice in Machiavelli, Locke, and Rousseau 23
Chapter 3. The Politics of Pure Reason 47
Chapter 4. Kant’s Political Philosophy: Progress
and Philosophical Intervention 67
Chapter 5. Fichte: Philosophy, Politics, and
the German Nation 89
Chapter 6. Fichte’s Voice: Language and Political Excess 105
Chapter 7. Hegel: Philosophy and the Spirit of Politics 125
Chapter 8. Hegel’s Voice: Language, Education,
and Philosophy 153
Chapter 9. Marx: Politics, Ideology, and Critique 177
Chapter 10. Marx’s Voice: Political Action and
Political Language 207
Chapter 11. Philosophy, Politics, and Voice:
The Enduring Struggle 231
Appendix: Chronology 241
Notes 249
Bibliography 293
General Index 309
Citation Index 315
v

Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to the completion of this project. My
thinking about this topic began with my dissertation on Hegel’s Philosophy
of Right at Vanderbilt University. I would like to thank my advisors for that
project, John Sallis, John Lachs, David Wood, Gregg Horowitz, Idit Dobbs-
Weinstein, and Victor Anderson. Further thanks goes to John Lachs who
offered suggestions on early drafts of my outline of the present project and
who provided moral support and inspiration as I continued to work on it. I
would also like to thank Scott Zeman who criticized the chapters on Marx;
Robert Metcalf who critiqued the chapters on Fichte; Jere Surber who offered
me insight into Fichte’s philosophy of language and the metacritique of Kant;
and Sarah Cunningham who critiqued an early version of what became the
chapters on Kant. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their support
and patience as I completed this project: Julaine, Gordon, Don, Peggy, Bodhi,
Tahoe, and Valerie.
vii

1
C H A P T E R
(cid:1)
Introduction:
The Philosopher’s Voice
Voice and Philosophy
Besides colors, it is especially sounds (die Töne) which evoke in us
a corresponding mood (Stimmung). This is chiefly true of the human
voice (Stimme); for this is the principal way in which a person
shows forth his inner nature; what he is, that he puts into his voice.
—Hegel, Encyclopedia1
Voice is the origin of philosophy, politics, and poetry. Voice is the medium
in which persons commune with one another by communicating their thoughts.
It is the conjunction of body, mind, and community. It is the material medium
by which we expose ourselves to one another, by which we persuade one
another, by which we pursue together the truth, and by which we create and
share ideas and emotions. Voice is the mechanism by which the inner be-
comes outer. It is the source of dialectic and inspiration as well as the source
of manipulation and coercion. Voice joins the universal and necessary laws
of logic to a particular and contingent locus in space and time. All voices are
embodied: they speak in concrete historically defined languages; they speak
from a definite social and political position; and they address a concrete
politically located audience. A voice is philosophical insofar as it is the active
appearance of thinking, which aims beyond these historical contingencies to-
ward the universal. The voice of philosophy is a mutual communication aimed
at provoking thought in order to call forth truth. A voice is poetic insofar as it
is actively creative. The voice of poetry sings, rejoices, mourns, and inspires.
Such poetic vocalization aims at evoking a mood, feeling, or idea. Voice is
political insofar as it is the mechanism for distributing social goods, for per-
suading others about legitimate distributions, or for invoking authority.
A continual problem for philosophy is to distinguish itself from poetic
and political voices. This is a problem because philosophers cannot guarantee
that their voices will be heard properly amid the cacophony of political life.
As Aristotle noted, there are many other species of social animals, but only
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