Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Explicating a concept that Hegel coins in his early writings, this paper shows how death—which initially appears as an absolute limitation on human freedom—can be understood as its condition. Understood as ‘the power to die’, our mortality becomes the freedom to negate any determination whatsoever, much as to own and value some determinations. The last section juxtaposes this agentive understanding of mortality against Hegel’s ideal of modern Ethical Life, sketching the ways in which modern ‘second nature’ is better grounded in our mortal ‘first nature’.
Source: Hegel Bulletin
Author: Gal Katz
Institution: Columbia University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,550
OpenAlex ID: W7222937360