Hegel’s Theory of Self-Conscious Life and the Modern Aristotelianism

Hegelian philosophy, recently, has been dealing with the natu-
ralistic aspects connected to Hegel’s notion of self-conscious life and has
highlighted the tight correlation between the German philosopher and
Aristotle when it comes to the definition of the human being, its form of
life and its practical and historical dimension. This reading is embedded
within a wider debate about contemporary Aristotelian philosophy and
the way it accounts for some notions of practical philosophy especially
life-form and self-knowledge. In this contribution I will deal with Hegel’s
notions of life and self-consciousness, and the impact they have on
our understanding of human practices and institutions. I will compare
Hegel with authors like Anscombe and M. Thompson and highlight that
the notion of life can be deployed to shed light onto the fundamental
questions of practical thought and that it is crucial for an appropriate
understanding of the practical sphere of the human beings.