Love and Politics: Re-Interpreting Hegel. By Alice Ormiston.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004. 164p. $40.00
With this book, Alice Ormiston presents a compelling interpretation of
Hegel's philosophy that speaks to the needs of our time. Her central
argument is that love is “the continuous foundation at play in
Hegel's understanding of the modern self” and the
“experiential basis” of his philosophy (pp. 5–6).
Hegelian love is an expansive notion that has historical grounding in
early Christian mysticism. No longer readily felt in widely shared
religious or civic practices, love has been all but eclipsed in the modern
world. But love's knowledge is not lost. Reappearing as a moment of
grace in situations of moral and political conflict, love helps us heed
our conscience. Hegel's political philosophy is, we learn, a call to
conscience. If we do not know what conscience requires, we become
vulnerable to “the problems of our time”: alienation and
social atomism—seen in poverty, weakened commitments to family and
local politics, and selfish disregard for the welfare of others—and
a collective inability to distinguish right and wrong that contributes to
evil (pp. 115–24).