Sebastian Rödl (Leipzig University), "The Spiritual Life: Against Kant’s Formal Naturalism” (History of Philosophy Workshop, Harvard University Department of Philosophy)

Human life is no natural life. It is spiritual life, the life of the spirit. – Hegel says this about spirit: spirit sustains the infinite pain, and, the wounds of the spirit heal without scars. These metaphors convey the difference of spiritual life from natural life. They have a logical meaning. – Pain is a form of opposition; thus as animals suffer pain, animal life contains within itself an opposition to itself. That opposition, animal pain, is finite. Now, spirit, says Hegel, not only sustains pain; it sustains the infinite pain. This means that, in contrast to a natural life, the life of the spirit is the infinite opposition to itself. – Human life has a depth not found in nature. The depth of human life is the depth of its negativity. This is the point of Hegel’s metaphors. I want to develop this point through a discussion of Kant’s attempt to limit the negativity of the life of the spirit, his attempt to evade the infinite pain. Since the infinity of its pain distinguishes spirit from nature, that attempt of Kant’s is his naturalism. Reflection on the meaning of Hegel’s remark reveals the failure of Kant’s practical philosophy to reside in its formal naturalism.

Reception in Robbins Library (Emerson 211) to follow the lecture.

More information: https://scholar.harvard.edu/mcdonough/history-philosophy-workshop