Will Dudley

Bio: Will Dudley is an academic researcher from Williams College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hegelianism & Genetic epistemology. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 17 publications receiving 90 citations.

Hegel, Nietzsche, and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom

Abstract: Acknowledgements List of texts, translations and abbreviations Introduction: freedom and philosophy Part I. Freedom In and Through Hegel's Philosophy: 1. The place of freedom in Hegel's philosophy 2. The freedom of willing: Hegel's Philosophy of Right 3. Freedom beyond willing: From the Philosophy of Right to absolute spirit 4. Freedom through Hegel's philosophy Part II. Freedom In and Through Nietzsche's Philosophy: 5. The place of freedom in Nietzsche's philosophy 6. The freedom of willing: decadence and nobility 7. Freedom beyond willing: from nobility to tragedy 8. Freedom through Nietzsche's philosophy Conclusion: philosophy and freedom Notes Index.

Understanding German Idealism

Abstract: Understanding German Idealism provides an accessible introduction to the philosophical movement that emerged with the publication of Kant’s monumental Critique of Pure Reason and ended fifty years later with Hegel’s death. The thinkers of this period and the themes they developed revolutionized almost every area of philosophy and had an impact that continues to be felt across the humanities and social sciences today. Notoriously complex, the central texts of German Idealism have confounded the most capable and patient interpreters for more than 200 years. Understanding German Idealism aims to convey the significance of this philosophical movement while avoiding its obscurity. Readers are given a clear understanding of the problems that motivated Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel and the solutions that they proposed. Dudley outlines the main ideas of transcendental idealism and explores how the later German Idealists attempted to carry out the Kantian project more rigorously than Kant himself, striving to develop a fully self-critical and rational philosophy, in order to determine the meaning and sustain the possibility of a free and rational modern life.

Immanuel Kant: Key Concepts

Abstract: 1. Introduction, Will Dudley & Kristina Engelhard Part I Theoretical Philosophy 2. Critique: knowledge, metaphysics, Gunter Zoller 3. Sensibility: space and time, transcendental idealism, Emily Carson 4. Understanding: judgments, categories, schemata, Dietmar Heidemann 5. Reason: syllogisms, ideas, antinomies, Michelle Grier Part II Practical Philosophy 6. Freedom: will, autonomy, Paul Guyer 7. Practical Reason: categorical imperative, maxims, laws, Ken Westphal 8. Moral Obligation: rights, duties, virtues, Georg Mohr & Ulli Ruhl 9. Political Obligation: republicanism, league of nations, perpetual peace, Katrin Flikschuh Part III Aesthetics, Teleology, Religion 10. Beauty: subjective purposiveness, Kirk Pillow 11. Organism: objective purposiveness, John Zammito 12. Nature and History: ultimate and final purpose, Stephen Houlgate 13. Rational Faith: God and immortality, Patrick Frierson Chronology of Life & Works

Hegel and Colonialism

Abstract: This article explores the implications of Hegel’s Philosophy of World History with respect to colonialism. For Hegel, freedom can be recognized and practised only in classical, Christian and modern Europe; therefore, the world’s other peoples can acquire freedom only if Europeans impose their civilization upon them. Although this imposition denies freedom to colonized peoples, this denial is legitimate for Hegel because it is the sole condition on which these peoples can gain freedom in the longer term. The article then considers whether Hegel’s basic account of freedom can be extricated from his Eurocentric and pro-colonialist interpretation of the course of history. The article argues that matters are more complicated because that interpretation has significant connections with Hegel’s conception of freedom as self-determination.

Heidegger’s conception of freedom 1927-1930: guilt, transcendence, truth

Abstract: This thesis investigates Heidegger’s concept of freedom between 1927 and 1930. In it, I argue that Heidegger advocates a radical reinvention of the positive concept of freedom in confrontation with Immanuel Kant and Henri Bergson. I also argue, against the grain of recent literature, that this conception remains the same as it is found in Being and Time and in the key texts concerning freedom from the period immediately after its publication: ‘The Essence of Ground’ [WG], Metaphysical Foundations of Logic [GA26], The Essence of Human Freedom [GA31], and ‘On the Essence of Truth’ [WW]. In Chapter 1, I interpret the argument of the lecture course The Essence of Human Freedom as Heidegger’s attempt to dismiss the question of the freedom of the will. In doing so, I argue, he critically repeats the arguments that Bergson provides in Time and Free Will. In Chapter 2, I turn to Being and Time to follow the thread of Heidegger’s argument, leading to the claim that Dasein is fundamentally free but, as inauthentic, also typically unfree. In Chapter 3 I investigate this apparent paradox further, showing that Heidegger, without using the term, is advocating a positive, rather than a negative, conception of unfreedom in evaluating inauthentic Dasein as unfree. In Chapter 4, I show how this positive conception also arrives as a critical confrontation with Kant and Bergson, where authenticity is conceived as Dasein’s being-its-self in an ontological sense. In Chapter 5, I build on the above to demonstrate that the arguments in Being and Time concerning guilt, the arguments in WG and GA26 concerning transcendence, and the arguments in WW concerning truth all complement each other in a single concept of freedom: Dasein’s being its self by choosing to be the ground of its world, rather than fleeing from this existential responsibility.

Transcending subjects: Hegel after Augustine, an essay on political theology

Abstract: TRANSCENDING SUBJECTS: HEGEL AFTER AUGUSTINE, AN ESSAY ON POLITICAL THEOLOGY Geoffrey J. D. Holsclaw, B.A., M.Div. Marquette University, 2013 From where do political reformers and radicals come who are willing and prepared to challenge the status quo? Where are people formed who are capable of initiating change within a political system? Some worry belief in transcendence closes off authentic political engagement and processes of transformation. Others think that a transcendent orientation is the only means to protect and promote a more free and just society. Some see a positive commitment to transcendence as inimical to democratic practices, while others see such a commitment as indispensible for such a project. These general issues concern transcendence, immanence, and subjectivity as they bear on the question of political transformation. Explaining the differences between these fundamental orientations prompts an investigation of the philosophical and theological systems of Hegel and Augustine. Examining Hegel and Augustine around the issues of transcendence and freedom offers a way to understand these more localized disagreements between political philosophers and theologians, and even between theologians. This dissertation examines Hegel, because after the recent demise of Kantian liberalism in the forms of Rawls and Habermas, many are returning to Hegel as the original critic of Kantian philosophy specifically, and of Enlightenment secularism generally. This return to Hegel has produced a larger amount of research that dislodges the easily caricaturized Hegel of dialectical monism and political conservativism, creating the possibility of a more positive deployment of Hegel within philosophy and politics. Concerning Augustine, in one sense his theology is perennial for theology, whether accepted or rejected. But in addition to this, just as with Hegel many are beginning to question the received Augustine, mining his texts within his own cultural and theological milieu rather than merely as the beginning of supposedly unfavorable theological developments. The time is ripe for an engagement between these two stalwarts of theology and philosophy in order to illuminate the similarities and differences and make clear their contemporary relevancy. This dissertations will argue that Hegel best represents a philosophy of ‘selftranscending immanence’ that promotes freedom by standing in opposition to transcendence, and that Augustine best respresents a theology of ‘self-immanenting transcendence’ as the only possible hope for the true freedom.