Filozofija i drustvo 2014 Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages: 87-104
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1404087J
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Philosophy and war: Hegel’s therapeutic movement of the spirit
Jovanov Rastko (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade)
In addition to Axel Honneth’s thesis on the therapeutic function of the
concept of ethical life in Hegel’s philosophy, I want to underline two
moments which, to my mind, show Hegel’s views on the therapeutic dimension of
both philosophy and the war against the pathology of civil society more
clearly. In this context, (a) philosophy performs a corrective function by
fostering the individual’s virtue conceived as an ethical duty of care both
for oneself and for others. The main aim of Hegel’s practical philosophy is
hence to return the individual from abstract subjective concepts to his
concrete everyday intersubjective practices, and to show him the way to
understand himself and the social world as originally related to each other;
(b) one of the main problems for the moral development of individuals
consists in their propensity to perceive the good in particularist and
selfish terms: in this context events such as natural disasters or wars can
be seen as performing a therapeutic function by teaching individuals to view
the good in more principled and general terms.
Keywords: therapy, practice, spirit, war, moral, ethical life, suffering, Hegel, honneth
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