Practical Necessity, Freedom, and History

By means of careful analysis of relevant writings by Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, and Marx, this study argues that the concept of practical necessity is key to understanding the nature and extent of human freedom.

David James is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. His publications include Fichte's Republic: Idealism, History and Nationalism (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Rousseau and German Idealism: Freedom, Dependence and Necessity (Cambridge University Press, 2013), and Fichte's Social and Political Philosophy: Property and Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Abbreviations
Introduction
1: Hobbes's Argument for the Practical Necessity of Colonization
2: Practical Necessity and History I: Rousseau's Second Discourse
3: Practical Necessity and History II: Kant on Universal History
4: Hegel and Marx on the Necessity of the Terror
5: Practical Necessity, Ethical Freedom, and History: Hegel's Philosophy of Right
6: The Compatibility of Freedom and Necessity in Marx's Idea of Communist Society
7: Practical Necessity and Historical Necessity in Historical Materialism
Bibliography