Thomas Khurana. Das Leben Der Freiheit. Form und Wirklichkeit der Autonomie. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2017. ISBN 978-3-518-29798-8. Pp. 550. €24.

Abstract

The core aim of Khurana's book is to show that the notions of 'life' and 'freedom' are deeply connected, much more than we usually tend to think. It's not only that in order to be free one must, obviously, be living: rather, for Khurana, the basic structure of life intrinsically shapes the nature and anatomy of human freedom. Grasping the constitutive relationship between life and freedom is therefore the goal of the book, as well as a necessary condition for understanding freedom itself. In order to pursue this goal, Khurana embarks on a detailed journey through the philosophies of Kant and Hegel. Specifically, Khurana's own notions of 'life' and 'freedom' are in a sense products of how those concepts figure in Kant and Hegel. The volume itself is a detailed critical analysis of their positions and the relations among them. As the Introduction explains, the general approach of the book is not historisch but rather systematisch, so Khurana does not dwell on historical considerations but provides a rational reconstruction of the arguments of the two authors. It is via such analysis of Kant and Hegel (pursued, so to speak, 'from within') that Khurana offers his main philosophical insights. The book thus belongs to the tradition reanimating classical insights for current philosophical discussion. The journey that Khurana takes us on is quite impressive (the volume contains more than 1 million characters, according to my rough estimate, which makes it longer than the Phenomenology of Spirit). The book is divided into two main parts-the first devoted to Kant (29-263), the second to Hegel (277-505)-which are connected by a short 'transition' (264-74). The body of the text incorporates some previously published articles, which are integrated here in an organic way. To elaborate his views, Khurana not only provides a detailed analysis of the texts, but also builds on a variety of insights that have been developed in debates around Classical German Philosophy in recent years (debates on the notions of 'autonomy', 'normativity', 'recognition', 'second nature', 'social ontology', 'additive/transformative' takes on rationality, etc.). He makes a conscious intervention into contemporary discourse. The result is that Khurana builds a comprehensive overview of the debates surrounding the thought of Kant and Hegel in recent