Abstract

HEYMANN, EZRA. (THE CRITIQUE OF THE MORAL WORLDVIEW). Ideas y Valores [online]. 2007, vol.56, n.133, pp.79-94. ISSN 0120-0062.

Abstract: Hegel’s examination of the “moral worldview” in his Phenomenology of Spirit, VI C, is anything but friendly. Nevertheless, his precise objections to the common basis of Kant’s and Fichte’s ethics are justified, and we must give them due attention if we want to work out what we find convincing in Kantian ethics. Hegel’s critique focuses on the relationship between consciousness and nature: both the world in which action takes place and develops, and our inner nature which nurtures and gives executive force to our thought and our inclinations. To consider moral consciousness autarchic is not only unrealistic, according to Hegel; it also means to ignore the rationale and the internal possibility of action. By revealing the essential incompleteness of all moral knowledge, this chapter opens a perspective on Hegel’s notion of absolute spirit, which may be understood as the consciousness that sees in opposition and insufficiency its proper and adequate vital element.

Keywords : moral consciousness; nature; happiness; action; self-reference.

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