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13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals

  • Levin Zendeh
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The Concept of Nature in Classical German Philosophy
This chapter is in the book The Concept of Nature in Classical German Philosophy

Abstract

This chapter highlights the central role of sentience in Hegel’s account of animals, as it is presented in his lecture series, Philosophy of Subjective Spirit (1824). My primary claim is that Hegel here articulates an emergentist conception of sentience. According to this conception, sentience enables animals to determine their physical and chemical components in a way that is irreducible to efficient causation. A central reason for ascribing such an emergentism to Hegel is that it is implied by the reconciliation of his doctrine of interruption (animals may interrupt the natural cohesion) with his doctrine of stages (higher stages of nature are composed of the lower stages). By arguing for the reconciliation of these doctrines, my interpretation differs from prominent readings, which arguably abandon at least one of them.

Abstract

This chapter highlights the central role of sentience in Hegel’s account of animals, as it is presented in his lecture series, Philosophy of Subjective Spirit (1824). My primary claim is that Hegel here articulates an emergentist conception of sentience. According to this conception, sentience enables animals to determine their physical and chemical components in a way that is irreducible to efficient causation. A central reason for ascribing such an emergentism to Hegel is that it is implied by the reconciliation of his doctrine of interruption (animals may interrupt the natural cohesion) with his doctrine of stages (higher stages of nature are composed of the lower stages). By arguing for the reconciliation of these doctrines, my interpretation differs from prominent readings, which arguably abandon at least one of them.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. 1 Introduction: The Resurgence of Classical German Natural Philosophy 1
  4. Part I Visions of Nature
  5. 2 Three Visions of Nature for German Idealism: Kant, Herder, Goethe 21
  6. 3 Nature as a “You”: Novalis’s Philosophical Extension of Fichte 45
  7. 4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason 61
  8. 5 Hegel and the Rationality of Nature 77
  9. 6 Ludwig Feuerbach’s Ecological Humanism 91
  10. Part II Inorganic Nature
  11. 7 Kant’s Concept of Force and its Application in Physics and Psychology 111
  12. 8 From Kant to Schelling: Metaphysics of Nature and the Rise of Modern Science 135
  13. 9 Goethe’s Rational Empiricism 157
  14. 10 Hegel’s Concept of Inorganic Nature as Umwelt 183
  15. Part III Organic Nature
  16. 11 Nature versus Life: Dialectics and Physiology in Schelling 209
  17. 12 Anatomopathology of Reason: Bichat’s Legacy in Hegel’s Philosophy 229
  18. 13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals 247
  19. 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System 263
  20. 15 In What Sense is Nature a Scale of Degrees? Schelling and Hegel on “Degrees” in Nature 283
  21. Index of Names 295
  22. Index of Subjects 297
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111002453-013

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. 1 Introduction: The Resurgence of Classical German Natural Philosophy 1
  4. Part I Visions of Nature
  5. 2 Three Visions of Nature for German Idealism: Kant, Herder, Goethe 21
  6. 3 Nature as a “You”: Novalis’s Philosophical Extension of Fichte 45
  7. 4 Schelling on Comprehending Nature as an Absolute Activity: From Intellectual Intuition to Ecstasy of Reason 61
  8. 5 Hegel and the Rationality of Nature 77
  9. 6 Ludwig Feuerbach’s Ecological Humanism 91
  10. Part II Inorganic Nature
  11. 7 Kant’s Concept of Force and its Application in Physics and Psychology 111
  12. 8 From Kant to Schelling: Metaphysics of Nature and the Rise of Modern Science 135
  13. 9 Goethe’s Rational Empiricism 157
  14. 10 Hegel’s Concept of Inorganic Nature as Umwelt 183
  15. Part III Organic Nature
  16. 11 Nature versus Life: Dialectics and Physiology in Schelling 209
  17. 12 Anatomopathology of Reason: Bichat’s Legacy in Hegel’s Philosophy 229
  18. 13 The Emergence of Sentience: Hegel’s Conception of Animals 247
  19. 14 Great Chains of Being in Schelling’s Würzburg System 263
  20. 15 In What Sense is Nature a Scale of Degrees? Schelling and Hegel on “Degrees” in Nature 283
  21. Index of Names 295
  22. Index of Subjects 297
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