The Critique and Reinterpretation of the Conflict Between Pippin’s and Žižek’s Readings of Hegel: Proposing a New Interpretation Based on Fundamental Historical Transformations Toward the Attainment of Freedom

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. student at Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Philosophy Department, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Objective: This article examines two conflicting interpretations of Hegel’s philosophy regarding Concrete Freedom in relation to Historical Context. Robert Pippin, based on his particular reading of Hegel, emphasizes participation in existing institutions and historical rationality, conceiving freedom within the framework of modern society and gradual reform. In contrast, Slavoj Žižek, drawing on a distinct intellectual system shaped by his unique engagement with Hegel, argues that genuine freedom is only possible through revolutionary ruptures, emphasizing a radical critique of ideological structures and the internal contradictions of the system.The aim of this article is to analyze this conflict and propose a resolution derived from the of Hegel’s general system of philosophy and his philosophy of history. By focusing on an understanding of and Historical Time Awareness regarding historical change-points, the article shows how both perspectives are incomplete and neither, on its own, provides a comprehensive view of the dialectical development of society. Nevertheless, the two can be integrated through a new synthesis within the Hegelian dialectic.  Methods: conceptual analysis and critical comparison Results: The findings suggest that freedom is achieved neither solely through participation in existing institutions (Pippin) nor exclusively through radical critique (Žižek), but rather through a dynamic and historically aware engagement with history, especially by attending to decisive historical change-points.

Graphical Abstract

The Critique and Reinterpretation of the Conflict Between Pippin’s and Žižek’s Readings of Hegel: Proposing a New Interpretation Based on Fundamental Historical Transformations Toward the Attainment of Freedom

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Baron, M. D. (2022). “Freedom in political philosophy”. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Retrieved 24 May. 2025,
Beiser, Frederick. (2014). Hegel, trans. Seyyed Masoud Hosseini, Tehran: Qoqnoos. (in Persian)
Berlin, I. (1969). Two concepts of liberty. In Four essays on liberty (pp. 118–172), United Kingdom, Oxford University Press.
Carter, I. (2022). “Positive and negative liberty”, In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition), Stanford University, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/liberty-positive-negative/
Chu, A. L. (2018). Black infinity: “Slavery and freedom in Hegel’s Africa” , Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 32(3), 414–425. https://doi.org/10.5325/jspecphil.32.3.0414
Finkelde, D., & McGowan, T. (2023). Žižek responds! United Kingdom, Bloomsbury Academic.
Flisfeder, M. (2023). “There is no metalanguage; or, truth has the structure of a fiction: The Žižekian system, between post-ideology and post-truth”. Enrahonar An international journal of theoretical and practical reason, 70,171-185. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/enrahonar.1420
Fredrickson, Jon (2015). Co-Creating Change: Effective Dynamic Therapy Techniques, trans. E. Khaleghi Sigaroudi, Tehran: Arjmand. (in Persian)
Geirola, G. (2023). “¿Liberación o emancipación? Destitución subjetiva, suicidio simbólico/político e izquierda lacaniana. Desde Slavoj Žižek a Simón Bolívar” Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 11(1).  https://doi.org/10.5070/T411162838
Guerrero Portales, R. (2008). “Aproximaciones hegelianas en el marco de la Revolución Francesa”, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica, Escuela de Filosofía, 61, 113-120. 
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. (1999). Elements of the Philosophy of Right, trans. Mahbod Irani-Talab, Tehran: Ghatreh. (in Persian)
Heyde, L. (1998). “Autonomy and unhappy consciousness”, Ethical Perspectives, 5(4), 253-262.
Holsclaw, G. (2016). Transcending subjects: Augustine, Hegel, and theology, United States, Wiley Blackwell.
Ingram, D. (2010). “Recognition within the limits of reason: Remarks on Pippin’s Hegel’s practical philosophy”, Inquiry, 53(5), 2010: 470-489.  https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2010.516678
Krasnoff, Larry. (2022). An Introduction to Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. Hossein Mafi Moghaddam & Mostafa Mohammad-Doust, Tehran: Naqd-e Farhang. (in Persian)
Lumsden, S. (2015). “Second nature and historical change in Hegel’s philosophy of history”, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 24 (1),74-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672559.2015.1111920
Mohammed, M. H., & Ridha, N. Z. (2023). “Coronavirus from Slavoj Žižek’s perspective: From capitalism to communism”, Journal of University of Raparin, 10(4), 492-514.
Najjar, S. A., & Mustafa, I. O. (2023). “Antagonism and radical politics in the philosophy of Slavoj Žižek”, Journal of University of Raparin, 10(1), 397–431.
Nanto, Y. D. B., & Madung, O. G. N. (2024). “Slavoj Žižek’s criticism of neoliberalism and radical political subjects”, Jurnal Filsafat, 34(1),157-182. https://doi.org/10.22146/jf.89626
Ng, K. (2019). “Science of logic as critique of judgment? Reconsidering Pippin’s Hegel”, European Journal of Philosophy, 27(4), 1055–1064. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12510
O’Connor, B. (2011). “Concrete freedom and other problems: Robert Pippin’s Hegelian conception of practical reason”, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 19(5), 753-760.
Pippin, R. B. (1989). Hegel’s idealism: The satisfactions of self-consciousness. Cambridge University Press.
Pippin, R. B. (1991). Modernism as a philosophical problem: On the dissatisfactions of European high culture, United States, Wiley-Blackwell.
Pippin, R. B. (2008). Hegel's practical philosophy: Rational agency as ethical life, Kingdom of England, Cambridge University Press.
Royer, C. (2024). “Žižek at the Buchmesse: Evil, cancel culture, and the difficulty of diversity”, Theory, Culture & Society, 41 (7-8), 177-189. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764241268241
Silva, L. D. B. (2022). “Resenha - Slavoj Žižek: A coragem da desesperança: crônicas de um ano em que agimos perigosamente”, Marx e o Marxismo - Revista do NIEP-Marx, 10(18).
Sorenson, K. T. (2020). “Razpor: On Slavoj Žižek’s first break”, European Review, 29(6), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S106279872000085X
Žižek, S. (1999). The ticklish subject: The absent centre of political ontology. Verso.
Żižek, S. (2006). The parallax view. MIT Press.
Zupančič, Alenka. (2019). The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the Two, with a preface by Slavoj Žižek, trans. Saleh Najafi & Ali Abbas Beigi, Tehran: Hermes. (in Persian)
Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image
Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Volume 20, Issue 55 - Serial Number 55
Articles
Issue 55, Summer 2026
July 2026
Pages 785-804

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics