Douglas Moggach
Encyclopedia
Douglas Moggach is a professor at the University of Ottawa
and life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge
. He is Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney
, http://sydney.edu.au/handbooks/arts/06_all_staff.shtml#phil and has held visiting appointments at Sidney Sussex College and King's College, Cambridge
, The Centre for History and Economics, Cambridge, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
. Professor Moggach also holds the University Research Chair in Political Thought at the University of Ottawa and the Killam Research Fellowship awarded by the Canada Council for the arts. A maximum of ten Killam awards are granted annually in Canada across all disciplines.
, Johann Gottlieb Fichte
, Hegel, Friedrich Schiller
, Bruno Bauer
, Aesthetics
, Republicanism
, and history of ancient and modern political thought.
Moggach's research falls into three principal areas: analysis of the philosophy, politics, and economic thought of the Hegelian School; the historical development of German idealism from Leibniz to Hegel; and aesthetics and politics. His archival research led to the discovery and publication of lost texts by Bruno Bauer, a leading figure in the Hegelian School of the 1830s and 1840s. Moggach argues that the political thinking of the German Hegelians represents a specific variant of republicanism, which recognizes modern social diversity and alienation. His works in German Idealism have focused on the foundational importance of Leibniz for Kant and Hegel, and trace the origins of Kant's juridical thought in the German Enlightenment debates about freedom, perfection, and state economic direction. Moggach has also published on aesthetics and politics, notably on Schiller and Bauer, developing the concept of an aesthetic republicanism based on an aesthetic version of Kant's moral idea of autonomy. Moggach also traces the relations between German idealism and various strands of Romanticism, and contributes to conceptions of universality, freedom and republicanism in European political thought.
Moggach discovered an unpublished manuscript by Bruno Bauer, which had been awarded the Prussian Royal Prize in philosophy by a panel headed by Hegel in 1829. This manuscript, written in Latin, is held in the archives of the Humboldt Universität, Berlin, but had not been recognized before. Moggach shows how after attending Hegel's lectures on logic in 1828, Bauer applies this logic to the categories of aesthetic judgement that Kant had developed in his Third Critique. Starting from the Hegelian premise of the unity of thought and being, Bauer wants to show that the separation of subject and object in Kant's Critiques of Pure and of Practical Reason remains a feature of the Critique of Judgement. Bauer argues that Kant does make efforts to bridge the gap, and he opens the path that Hegel will follow, but Kant does not finally succeed in this objective. What prevents him from succeeding is his faulty treatment of the categories involved in making aesthetic judgements. Moggach thinks that in this early text Bauer also lays the foundations for his later theory of infinite self-consciousness, and for his specific type of ethical and historical idealism.
Moggach's book, The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer (CUP, 2003) traces the emergence of German republicanism from philosophical and religious polemics of the 1830s and 1840s, its relation to Kant and Hegel, and its assessment of political and economic change. This work was short-listed for the 2004 C.B. Macpherson Prize, awarded by the Canadian Political Science Association. It was reviewed by Frederick Beiser in Times Literary Supplement, 24 September 2004; Choice, Nov. 2004; and other journals.
Moggach's edited volume, The New Hegelians (CUP, 2006), is intended to show that after Hegel's death in 1831, members of his school developed his philosophy in new directions in order to understand the evolution of modern society, along with the modern state and economy. The Hegelians were not mere imitators of their teacher, but creative thinkers about modernity and its problems, especially social cohesion and the conflict of individual interests. According to Moggach, many of these New or Young Hegelians found a solution to these conflicts in republican ideas of virtue, rethought so that they are compatible with modern institutions. Moggach applies the idea of republican rigorism, introduced by other historians of political thought, to outline these solutions. For the Hegelians, this concept involves changing the boundaries between morality and legality that Kant had established. Kant had claimed that the legal sphere concerns the external aspects of action alone, but not its motivating principles or maxims. For the Hegelians, though, political action has to promote, or at least not hinder, the external freedom of others, but it must also have the right kinds of internal ethical motivation: this means not acting from private interest, but from an idea of the general good. In this way Kant's idea of autonomy is related to political as well as moral action, and to republican ideas of freedom as non domination.
Moggach, Beiser, and other interlocutors debated Schiller's republicanism in a special issue of Inquiry (2008). Moggach produced a critical discussion of multiculturalism, in a published conversation with Charles Taylor
, Jeremy Waldron
, James Tully
, and others.
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
and life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students.Informality is a defining value at Clare Hall and this contributes to its unique character...
. He is Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, http://sydney.edu.au/handbooks/arts/06_all_staff.shtml#phil and has held visiting appointments at Sidney Sussex College and King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
, The Centre for History and Economics, Cambridge, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
The Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, also known in Italian as Scuola Normale , is a public higher learning institution in Italy. It was founded in 1810, by Napoleonic decree, as a branch of the École Normale Supérieure of Paris...
. Professor Moggach also holds the University Research Chair in Political Thought at the University of Ottawa and the Killam Research Fellowship awarded by the Canada Council for the arts. A maximum of ten Killam awards are granted annually in Canada across all disciplines.
Works
Professor Moggach has written on G.W. Leibniz, Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
, Hegel, Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
, Bruno Bauer
Bruno Bauer
Bruno Bauer was a German philosopher and historian. As a student of GWF Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism...
, Aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, Republicanism
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
, and history of ancient and modern political thought.
Moggach's research falls into three principal areas: analysis of the philosophy, politics, and economic thought of the Hegelian School; the historical development of German idealism from Leibniz to Hegel; and aesthetics and politics. His archival research led to the discovery and publication of lost texts by Bruno Bauer, a leading figure in the Hegelian School of the 1830s and 1840s. Moggach argues that the political thinking of the German Hegelians represents a specific variant of republicanism, which recognizes modern social diversity and alienation. His works in German Idealism have focused on the foundational importance of Leibniz for Kant and Hegel, and trace the origins of Kant's juridical thought in the German Enlightenment debates about freedom, perfection, and state economic direction. Moggach has also published on aesthetics and politics, notably on Schiller and Bauer, developing the concept of an aesthetic republicanism based on an aesthetic version of Kant's moral idea of autonomy. Moggach also traces the relations between German idealism and various strands of Romanticism, and contributes to conceptions of universality, freedom and republicanism in European political thought.
Moggach discovered an unpublished manuscript by Bruno Bauer, which had been awarded the Prussian Royal Prize in philosophy by a panel headed by Hegel in 1829. This manuscript, written in Latin, is held in the archives of the Humboldt Universität, Berlin, but had not been recognized before. Moggach shows how after attending Hegel's lectures on logic in 1828, Bauer applies this logic to the categories of aesthetic judgement that Kant had developed in his Third Critique. Starting from the Hegelian premise of the unity of thought and being, Bauer wants to show that the separation of subject and object in Kant's Critiques of Pure and of Practical Reason remains a feature of the Critique of Judgement. Bauer argues that Kant does make efforts to bridge the gap, and he opens the path that Hegel will follow, but Kant does not finally succeed in this objective. What prevents him from succeeding is his faulty treatment of the categories involved in making aesthetic judgements. Moggach thinks that in this early text Bauer also lays the foundations for his later theory of infinite self-consciousness, and for his specific type of ethical and historical idealism.
Moggach's book, The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer (CUP, 2003) traces the emergence of German republicanism from philosophical and religious polemics of the 1830s and 1840s, its relation to Kant and Hegel, and its assessment of political and economic change. This work was short-listed for the 2004 C.B. Macpherson Prize, awarded by the Canadian Political Science Association. It was reviewed by Frederick Beiser in Times Literary Supplement, 24 September 2004; Choice, Nov. 2004; and other journals.
Moggach's edited volume, The New Hegelians (CUP, 2006), is intended to show that after Hegel's death in 1831, members of his school developed his philosophy in new directions in order to understand the evolution of modern society, along with the modern state and economy. The Hegelians were not mere imitators of their teacher, but creative thinkers about modernity and its problems, especially social cohesion and the conflict of individual interests. According to Moggach, many of these New or Young Hegelians found a solution to these conflicts in republican ideas of virtue, rethought so that they are compatible with modern institutions. Moggach applies the idea of republican rigorism, introduced by other historians of political thought, to outline these solutions. For the Hegelians, this concept involves changing the boundaries between morality and legality that Kant had established. Kant had claimed that the legal sphere concerns the external aspects of action alone, but not its motivating principles or maxims. For the Hegelians, though, political action has to promote, or at least not hinder, the external freedom of others, but it must also have the right kinds of internal ethical motivation: this means not acting from private interest, but from an idea of the general good. In this way Kant's idea of autonomy is related to political as well as moral action, and to republican ideas of freedom as non domination.
Moggach, Beiser, and other interlocutors debated Schiller's republicanism in a special issue of Inquiry (2008). Moggach produced a critical discussion of multiculturalism, in a published conversation with Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor was the 22nd President of Liberia, serving from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003....
, Jeremy Waldron
Jeremy Waldron
Jeremy Waldron is professor of law and philosophy at the New York University School of Law and Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at All Souls College, Oxford University.-Career:...
, James Tully
James Tully
James "Jim" Tully was a prominent Irish trade unionist, politician and Deputy Leader of the Irish Labour Party who served as a minister in a series of Fine Gael-Labour Irish coalition governments....
, and others.
Publications
Selected Books- Moggach, D., Politics, Religion, and Art: Hegelian Debates, Northwestern University Press, December 2010, 435 pp. (forthcoming)
- Moggach, D., Hegelianismo, Republicanismo e Modernidade, Brazil, PUCRS (Catholic University, Rio Grande do Sul), 2010, 80 pp.
- Moggach, D. (Ed.), The New Hegelians: Politics and Philosophy in the Hegelian School, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006, 345 pp.
- Moggach, D., The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 302 pp; CUP paperback edition, 2007. German translation: Philosophie und Politik bei Bruno Bauer, Frankfurt am Main, Lang, 2009, Studien zum Junghegelianismus, 285 pp.
- Buhr, M., and D. Moggach (Eds.), Reason, Universality, and History, Ottawa, Legas Press, 2004, 303 pp.
- Moggach, D., and P.L. Browne, The Social Question and the Democratic Revolution: Aspects of 1848, Ottawa/Toronto, Univ. of Ottawa Press, 2000.
- Moggach, D., Bruno Bauer: Uber die Prinzipien des Schönen. De pulchri principiis. Eine Preisschrift, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 1996.