Freedom, in Context: Time, History, and Necessity in Hegel

G.W.F. Hegel was a radical and incisive thinker, whose ideas have shaped the face of political philosophy. With questions of political agency and free will as urgent as ever, this book reintroduces Hegel’s ideas of freedom and the weight that it carries in the political, economic and social contexts of the 21st century. Examining the concept of freedom from a Hegelian Marxist perspective, Freedom, in Context argues that the essential relation between self-determination and causal necessity is a multifaceted process to be viewed through historical, temporal, logical and ontological lenses. Using examples from the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental justice, economic inequality, and democratic uprisings in Iran, the value of Hegel’s philosophy is emphasised in contexts beyond the colonial, Eurocentric tendencies of his worldview. Emphasising the central role of temporality and history in the conception of free will gives this new reading of Hegel real practical import for the pressing political issues of our time.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Catherine Malabou Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Dialectic of Freedom and Necessity 1. Freedom, Necessity, Self-Reflexive Historicity 2. Freedom's Logical Temporality and Historicity 3. Christianity and The Temporality of Freedom 4. Political-Social Freedom and Philosophy’s Historicity Conclusion: Hegel, Marx, and Hegelian Marxism Bibliography

About the Author :
Borna Radnik is an independent scholar who has published with Radical Philosophy, Continental Thought and Theory, and Crisis and Critique. He has contributed to the anthologies Subject Lessons: Hegel, Lacan, and the Future of Materialism, and Creolizing Frankenstein.

Review :
In a world with so many Hegels it can sometimes be very hard to find the real one. Borna Radnik makes a very compelling case for a radical interpretation of the Prussian polymath: the defender of freedom and struggle within history. An extraordinary work of scholarship, Freedom in Context makes a vital contribution to the debates around Hegel’s legacy and marks the long awaited debut of a major new philosopher. Borna Radnik’s Freedom, in Context marks a breakthrough in the understanding of freedom. Through a spellbinding reading of Hegel, Radnik reveals how freedom always emerges in a context and yet carries a universal bearing that defies context. Hegel here becomes the philosopher of freedom not in spite of, but because of, his commitment to the exploration of historical context. Radnik’s book puts into practice Hegel’s own dialectical method as a way to make sense of Hegel himself.