Kant & Post-Kantian German Philosophy Group Talk (Andreja Novakovic, Berkeley)

The Kant & Post-Kantian German Philosophy Research Interest Group is pleased to welcome as a speaker Andreja Novakovic, an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, who is also affiliated with its Program in Critical Theory. Dr. Novakovic has research interests in 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, primarily Hegel, as well as Nietzsche, critical theory, and feminist philosophy, especially feminist epistemology.  She also serves as book review editor for the SGIR Review, splitting her time between Berkeley and Berlin.

Join the event at:

Passcode: 857825

Talk Title

Self-Surprise in Hegel’s Subjective Logic

Talk Abstract

Hegel’s Science of Logic tracks the self-contained and self-generated development of what Hegel calls the concept.  My question is: can the concept in the Logic surprise itself?  I argue that the answer to that question is yes – the concept can surprise itself when it rediscovers itself in a place it did not expect to be.  I first clarify the kind of perspective that the Logic asks us as readers to occupy and its difference from the perspective inside the “opposition” of consciousness.  I then provide an example of the concept’s self-surprise, namely, the transition from subjective to realized purpose in the Subjective Logic.  I conclude by drawing out some implications of self-surprise for Hegel’s method in the Logic and in the subsequent Realphilosophie.

This will be a discussion of a pre-circulated paper. The paper will be made available to those interested a week in advance of the event; please contact David Suarez for a copy.

The Kant & Post-Kantian German Idealism Group is a a subgroup of the History of Philosophy Research Group, which focuses on European philosophy in Kant and post-Kantian traditions.