Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Samuel Munroe

Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Philosophy

Committee Chair

Michael Monahan

Committee Member

Daniel Smith

Committee Member

Karen Ng

Committee Member

Mary Beth Mader

Abstract

I have two central aims in this dissertation. First, I argue that Hegel and Foucault’s deepest disagreements should be understood in terms of their different approaches to the themes of normativity and the modal constitution of history. My central interpretative claim with respect to Hegel is that the expressivist modal theory that he lays out in the “Actuality” chapter of his Logic structures the historicist dimensions of his work. Incorporating that modal theory into his conception of the uniquely self-conscious character of spirit yields three concepts arranged diachronically in what he calls “experience”, which I refer to as self-problematization, normative breakdown, and normative recouperation. A key upshot in interpreting Hegel in the way that I propose is that, while the particular course that history has taken and the particular content of spiritual freedom is contingent, overall progress in the consciousness of freedom is strictly necessary. Across his archaeological and genealogical periods, Foucault develops two concepts that mount an objection and alternative to Hegel. His archaeological concept of discontinuity is a direct denial of Hegel’s core expressivist commitment about the modal constitution of history. Foucault’s genealogical concept of contingency supplies the core materials for an alternative explanation for how the content of normative commitments is historically generated and for why we experience them as binding on our actions and beliefs. My second aim in the dissertation is to sketch a path forward for historicist political philosophy that draws from the best of Hegel and Foucault’s work. I argue that we can do so by focusing on the functionalist dimensions of both of their bodies of work. That is, we should understand social practices as organized—with Foucault—by functions of power and—with Hegel—by ethical functions.

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