Beyond Lust and Emptiness: Political Ethics in the Modern Context

Author: Qian Yongxiang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: "Modernity is a desolate situation where gods retreat and values deplete. So, what ethical consciousness should actors possess in the modern context? What moral challenges does modernity pose for those who prioritize practice? What constraints should political action in the modern world face? The themes explored in this book reflect the author's perspective on the intellectual trajectories of thinkers like Weber, Lukács, Orwell, Marcuse, and Berlin. They also reveal the author's careful engagement with Weber, Marxism, and the broader liberal tradition, inspired and pressured by contemporary issues. Through academic essays, book reviews, public discourse on Taiwan, and historical reflections, the author combines political philosophy with ethical thinking on political action, forming a challenging framework of critical inquiry and practical ethics. The author emphasizes that, compared to nihilism and conservatism, modern ethics must seek equality as a fundamental public value for a way forward. However, the profound and extensive implications of egalitarianism, including its rigorous demands for both diversity and universality, require practitioners to patiently deliberate and refine it in public life. Excerpt: Hegel: The last great master of the Western classical philosophical tradition is not a stranger to most people. "Hegel" is a name familiar to all, and everyone knows that Hegel (G. W. F. Hegel, 1770–1831) was a German philosopher of extraordinary achievement and profound influence. However, beyond a few terms like "World Spirit" and "dialectics," most people know little about his thought. This is not surprising, as any work dealing with modern Western thought or ideology inevitably mentions Hegel. Yet, readers seeking a deeper understanding of his ideas face significant challenges. , Hegel's own works are renowned for their obscurity, making it difficult for both general readers and professional philosophers to grasp his meaning. Second, the intellectual background and historical context of Hegel's thought are far removed from today's world, making it hard for contemporary readers to discern the problems he faced or understand the purpose behind his fundamental concepts in addressing them. These factors not only hinder general interest in him but also render most mediocre secondary interpretive works of little help. However, it is clear that Hegel is not a philosopher to be ignored. Since his death in 1831, his "ghost" has continued to haunt the development of modern thought. Over the past 150 years, Western countries have experienced several "Hegel revivals," each followed by intense critical waves that ended with new intellectual orientations. Yet, after each period, this phoenix rises from the ashes, exerting an inexplicable attraction on new generations. The Young Hegelians of the 1840s in Germany were replaced by positivism after the failure of the 1848 revolution; late 19th-century British and American New Hegelianism was drowned out by Russell and Moore's new realism and James and Dewey's pragmatism; early 20th-century "Hegel revivals" in Germany and Italy were swiftly overwhelmed by phenomenology, existentialism, and Nazi ideology; and the Hegel studies that emerged in France in the 1930s and 1940s were soon eclipsed by new topics like Freud, Nietzsche, and Marx. It was not until the late 1960s that Western interest in Hegel was reignited. New complete editions and translations continue to appear, new translations are published regularly, and approximately 200–300 papers on him are published annually in academic journals. Over the past decade alone, the English-speaking world has seen around 40 books on him. In 1946, the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty wrote, "Interpreting Hegel is taking a stance on all philosophical, political, and religious issues of our time." There is no better way to summarize Hegel's significance. Thus, although Karl Popper wrote in 1945, "This Hegel farce has caused enough harm. We must stop it. We must speak—even if it means touching this ugly thing and dirtying our hands," an increasing number of people are no longer afraid to "dirty their hands" and explore the truth of this "ugly thing." Why would a once obscure philosopher have such a peculiar fate? This question, of course, does not have a simple answer. In 1976, the American philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote an article in the Times Literary Supplement discussing this issue. He argued that the sudden rise in Western interest in Hegel since the late 1960s can be attributed to four reasons: because Hegel's thought is inherently fascinating; because for the Anglo-American philosophical world long dominated by positivism, Hegel represents an alternative path; because student movements have led to growing interest in Hegel among students; and because the entire Western intellectual community has a strong interest in Marx. In 1977, another American philosopher, Richard J. Bernstein, argued that Kaufmann's "reasons" merely describe the phenomenon without explaining why these phenomena occurred. Bernstein pointed to three active areas of contemporary philosophy: the philosophy of science, epistemology, and action theory, noting that Hegel provided fundamental, important, and novel insights in these fields. These insights not only align with the orientation of contemporary philosophers but often offer timely inspiration for their explorations. Furthermore, Bernstein observed from the perspective of intellectual history and broad knowledge sociology that Hegel has once again become a focal point of Western thought because the problems he cared about are, in fact, taking different forms in the modern world. Therefore, his ideas and works are inevitably of interest to modern people. Bernstein's explanation is clearly one of the best ways to demonstrate Hegel's modern significance; and indeed, this approach has also been one of the main orientations of Hegel studies over the past decade.