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For Kant the fundamental question, which sums up the sense of every other philosophical inquiry, is "What is man?". Although there is a seemingly immense distance between their philosophical reflections, Aristotle and Hegel give an answer to this question, which shows a surprising affinity both with respect to its content and to the systematical point where they expound this problem with great intensity. For both of them, indeed, the essence of man is manifested in action and the structure of genuine and intrinsic action, caught in its complete perfection, reveals a tragic aspect.Consequently it is the supreme form of artistic creativity of the Greek spirit, the tragedy, which, for Aristotle and Hegel, turns out to be the most adequate guide for the exploration of the essence of action and, through this, of the truth of man. The specific task of tragedy is, indeed, the representation of action, and therefore here — in virtue of the power of poetry — it becomes possible to find within tragedy the reality and truth of spiritual action universally expressed and to oppose liberty as its interior principle to the relative choices between alternatives presenting themselves to the selective arbitrary will, which remains imprisoned in its dependence on the external world.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1464-8_4

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