Self-Consciousness and the Critique of the Subject: Hegel Heidegger and the Poststructuralists (Hardcover)

Poststructuralists hold Hegel responsible for giving rise to many of modern philosophy s problematic concepts--the authority of reason self-consciousness the knowing subject. Yet according to Simon Lumsden this animosity is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of Hegel s thought and resolving this tension can not only heal the rift between poststructuralism and German idealism but also point these traditions in exciting new directions. Revisiting the philosopher s key texts Lumsden calls attention to Hegel s reformulation of liberal and Cartesian conceptions of subjectivity identifying a critical though unrecognized continuity between poststructuralism and German idealism. Poststructuralism forged its identity in opposition to idealist subjectivity; however Lumsden argues this model is not found in Hegel s texts but in an uncritical acceptance of Heidegger s characterization of Hegel and Fichte as metaphysicians of subjectivity. Recasting Hegel as both post-Kantian and postmetaphysical Lumsden sheds new light on this complex philosopher while revealing the surprising affinities between two supposedly antithetical modes of thought.