The Young Hegel and Religion Evangelia Sembou

pdf download

https://ebookname.com/product/the-young-hegel-and-religion-evangelia-sembou/

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 (43 reviews) ✓ 128 downloads ■ TOP RATED

"Perfect download, no issues at all. Highly recommend!" - Mike D.

DOWNLOAD EBOOK
The Young Hegel and Religion Evangelia Sembou

TEXTBOOK EBOOK EBOOK GATE

Available Formats

■ PDF eBook Study Guide TextBook

EXCLUSIVE 2025 EDUCATIONAL COLLECTION - LIMITED TIME

INSTANT DOWNLOAD VIEW LIBRARY

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

The Ernst Young Tax Guide 2004 Ernst and Young Tax
Guide Ernst & Young Llp

https://ebookname.com/product/the-ernst-young-tax-
guide-2004-ernst-and-young-tax-guide-ernst-young-llp/

Hegel and Aristotle 1st Edition Alfredo Ferrarin

https://ebookname.com/product/hegel-and-aristotle-1st-edition-
alfredo-ferrarin/

The Hegel Dictionary 1st Edition Glenn Alexander Magee

https://ebookname.com/product/the-hegel-dictionary-1st-edition-
glenn-alexander-magee/

Great singers on great singing Jerome Hines

https://ebookname.com/product/great-singers-on-great-singing-
jerome-hines/
Electrical Inspection Notes Up to Code 1st Edition Gil
Taylor

https://ebookname.com/product/electrical-inspection-notes-up-to-
code-1st-edition-gil-taylor/

Advances in Control and Automation of Water Systems 1st

Edition Kaveh Hariri Asli (Editor)

https://ebookname.com/product/advances-in-control-and-automation-
of-water-systems-1st-edition-kaveh-hariri-asli-editor/

The Life and Thought of Hans Jonas Jewish Dimensions

Christian Wiese

https://ebookname.com/product/the-life-and-thought-of-hans-jonas-
jewish-dimensions-christian-wiese/

The Philosophy of Science 7th Edition Richard Boyd

https://ebookname.com/product/the-philosophy-of-science-7th-
edition-richard-boyd/

Quantum entanglements selected papers 1st Edition Rob

Clifton

https://ebookname.com/product/quantum-entanglements-selected-
papers-1st-edition-rob-clifton/
Video Demystified A Handbook for the Digital Engineer
5th Edition Keith Jack

https://ebookname.com/product/video-demystified-a-handbook-for-
the-digital-engineer-5th-edition-keith-jack/
 59 Vol. 59
Religions Religions
and Discourse and Discourse

Evangelia Sembou (ed.)

This edited collection of essays aims to acquaint the reader with different aspects
and readings of Hegel’s Early Theological Writings. These writings consist of five
essays plus some unfinished manuscripts, unpublished by Hegel himself during his
lifetime and compiled by Herman Nohl as Hegels Theologische Jugendschriften in
1907. This is the first such edited collection on these writings and will make an
important contribution to Hegel scholarship.

The volume begins with an introduction on the intellectual background and an

l
The Young Hegel and Religion
account of the Early Theological Writings. This is followed by a number of essays by
both emerging and established scholars working in an international context. The
essays offer a critical and/or interpretative approach to the aforesaid writings.
Evangelia Sembou (ed.)

The Young Hegel and Religion

Evangelia Sembou holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. She
has taught political theory and philosophy at several Oxford colleges as well as in
the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. She has also taught
philosophy in the Faculty of Continuing Education at Birkbeck College, University
of London, and has written on Hegel, political and social theory. She is the author
of Modern Theories of Politics (Peter Lang, 2013).

ISBN 978-1-78707-502-3
Peter Lang

www.peterlang.com
 59 Vol. 59
Religions Religions
and Discourse and Discourse

Evangelia Sembou (ed.)╇ ╇ The Young Hegel and Religion

This edited collection of essays aims to acquaint the reader with different aspects
and readings of Hegel’s Early Theological Writings. These writings consist of five
essays plus some unfinished manuscripts, unpublished by Hegel himself during his
lifetime and compiled by Herman Nohl as Hegels Theologische Jugendschriften in
1907. This is the first such edited collection on these writings and will make an
important contribution to Hegel scholarship.

The volume begins with an introduction on the intellectual background and an

l
account of the Early Theological Writings. This is followed by a number of essays by
both emerging and established scholars working in an international context. The
essays offer a critical and/or interpretative approach to the aforesaid writings.
Evangelia Sembou (ed.)

The Young Hegel and Religion

Evangelia Sembou holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. She
has taught political theory and philosophy at several Oxford colleges as well as in
the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. She has also taught
philosophy in the Faculty of Continuing Education at Birkbeck College, University
of London, and has written on Hegel, political and social theory. She is the author
of Modern Theories of Politics (Peter Lang, 2013).

Peter Lang

www.peterlang.com
The Young Hegel and Religion
Religions and Discourse
Edited by James M. M. Francis

Volume 59

Peter Lang
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
 Evangelia Sembou (ed.)

The Young Hegel and Religion

Peter Lang
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933513

ISSN 1422-8998
ISBN 978-1-78707-502-3 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78707-503-0 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-78707-504-7 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78707-505-4 (mobi)

© Peter Lang AG 2017

Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,

52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom
[email protected], www.peterlang.com

Evangelia Sembou has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this Work.

All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

Printed in Germany
Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Evangelia Sembou
Introduction 1

Mikkel Flohr
1â•…“The Tübingen Fragment”: From Moral Philosophy to
Normative Social Theory 37

Domagoj Vujeva
2â•…In Search of a Virtue: Hegel’s Early Republicanism 67

María del Rosario Acosta López

3â•…On the Violence of Positivity in Hegel’s Early
Theological Writings 93

Peter Wake
4â•…Hegel’s Critique of Kant and “The Positivity of the
Christian Religion” 119

W. Clark Wolf
5â•…The Weakness of the Law: The Opposition of Concept and
Life in Hegel’s Early Ethics 147

Venanzio Raspa
6â•…The Notion of Contradiction in Hegel’s Early Writings 173
vi

Evangelia Sembou
7â•…Greek Thought in the Early Theological Writings 203

Bibliography 227

Notes on Contributors 235

Index 239
Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Dr James Francis, the series editor, for accepting this col-
lection as part of Peter Lang’s “Religions and Discourse” series. I am also
grateful to Jasmin Allousch, programme assistant, Emma Clarke, assistant
editor, Alice Emmott, editorial assistant, and Lucy Melville, publishing
director, at Peter Lang for their assistance. The index was prepared by
David Rudeforth.
Evangelia Sembou

Introduction

This volume contains chapters by a group of scholars on Hegel’s

Theologische Jugendschriften. I decided to pursue this project because, so
far, no edited collection has appeared on Hegel’s juvenilia. Therefore,
the book will, I hope, fill a gap in the literature on Hegel, in general, the
young Hegel, in particular.
Mikkel Flohr concentrates on “The Tübingen Fragment” in Chapter 1.
In particular, he focuses on the idea of “popular religion” (“Volksreligion”),
which, Flohr argues, Hegel uses in order to both illustrate and criticize
Kant’s moral philosophy. “Popular religion” is a “subjective religion”, that is,
a living set of principles which inform all human life and conduct. “Popular
religion” is also the vehicle for the general education of humankind. In
challenging Kant’s dualism, popular religion contributes to a shift from
Kant’s moral philosophy to normative social theory.
In Chapter 2, Domagoj Vujeva deals with Hegel’s critique of Christi-
anity, while problematizing the republican character of his early political
theory. Christianity lost its initial pure character when it became institu-
tionalized as a state religion. As a state religion, Christianity ceased to be
a religion of moral teaching. Hegel’s republicanism is inspired by Greek
antiquity, specifically the poleis as ethico-political communities wherein
human freedom thrived. For Hegel, the modern phenomena of individual-
ism, private property and social differentiation are due to the disintegra-
tion of these ethico-political communities. In this way, Hegel contrasts
antiquity to modern times.
In Chapter 3, María del Rosario Acosta López addresses the relation
between abstraction and violence through an in-depth analysis of the
concept of “positivity” in Hegel’s Early Theological Writings. The author
argues that, “in his development of the notion of the positivity of religion
in his Tübingen, Bern and Frankfurt periods, Hegel produces powerful
2 Evangelia Sembou

philosophical tools” for understanding the two kinds of violence “that result
from the immediate (positive) translation of abstract forms of thought into
concrete historical realities” (p. 94). Having demonstrated that these two
kinds of violence are initially formally delineated in Hegel’s definition and
analysis of the concept of “positivity”, López turns to the way in which they
acquire a concrete ethico-political meaning in “The Spirit of Christianity
and Its Fate”. Hegel’s criticism of the violence of law offers a useful analysis
of the forms of historical violence that stem from a modern interpretation
of the notion of “sovereignty”.
Peter Wake’s contribution in Chapter 4 first discusses Hegel’s rupture
with Kantianism that is anticipated in “The Positivity of the Christian
Religion” essay and that comes out fully blown in “The Spirit of Christianity
and Its Fate” essay. He suggests that “The Positivity of the Christian
Religion” essay is best read in terms of a tension that is latent between
(a) Hegel’s early Kantianism that aspired to establish a religious form
that would bridge the gap between the human capacity for rational self-
determination and its concrete realization, and (b) his commitment to an
ideal of unification in beauty which he owes to the notion of “folk-religion”,
itself based on his ideal of the ancient Greek community. Wake’s conten-
tion is that the young Hegel aspires to a form of “immanent transcendence”
that leads him to a break with Kantian practical philosophy.
In Chapter 5, W. Clark Wolf examines the role of the “concept” in
Hegel’s Early Theological Writings, especially in “The Spirit of Christianity
and Its Fate” essay. Specifically, the young Hegel sets up the “concept”
as the universal element in law and opposes it to “life” and “reality”.
“Reconcilability” marks Hegel’s articulation of an ethics beyond law, where
“life” overcomes the “concept”. In “The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate”
essay Hegel, Wolf argues, uses a post-Pauline opposition of law and life.
In Chapter 6, Venanzio Raspa shows that the Hegelian concept of
“contradiction” has an historical and practical origin; it is also related
to the terms of “split” (“Entzweiung”) and “opposition” (“Gegensatz”).
Raspa offers an analysis on three levels: theoretical, historical and political-
cultural. He argues that, by using the concepts of “love” and “life” that are
playing a central role in the Frankfurt period, the young Hegel attempts to
provide an explanation of the unification of opposites as well as to develop
Introduction 3

a dialectical thinking. In the “Fragment of a System of 1800” he starts to

use the concept of “contradiction” in order to express complex realities.
Finally, I consider the elements of Greek thought in the Early
Theological Writings in Chapter 7. I start with “The Tübingen Essay of
1793” and the notion of folk-religion, that is, a public religion. In “The
Positivity of the Christian Religion” essay we also read that the Germans
once had a folk-religion, which died out as Christianity expanded. In “The
Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate” essay we encounter the Greek notion of
“punishment as fate”. In addition, we encounter Platonism in the religious
teaching of Jesus. The young Hegel refers to Plato’s theories of Forms and
anamnesis when he explains how this immediate unity with God is lost
once a person is born.
Here I will offer a short introduction on the intellectual background
to these writings, as well as an account of the writings themselves.

Intellectual Background

An excellent account of Hegel’s intellectual background is offered by Dieter

Heinrich.1 Hegel studied theology at the University of Tübingen. It was
his father’s wish that he study at the Tübingen Stift, a theological seminary
whose mission was to educate and prepare young men either for ministry
in the Church (as Lutheran pastors) or for public office in the duchy of
Württemberg.
The ambience of the Tübingen Stift was to have a lasting influence
on the young Hegel, as it did on his fellow students. The Stift was a very
conservative institution and was organized in accordance with strict rules;

1 D. Heinrich, “Some Historical Presuppositions of Hegel’s System”, in D. E. Christensen

(ed.), Hegel and the Philosophy of Religion. The Wofford Symposium: In Celebration
of the Bi-centennial of the Birth of Hegel, 1970 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970),
pp. 25–44.
4 Evangelia Sembou

it was criticized for its rigid structure and repressive atmosphere as unique
in its time by a Prussian academic inspector, whose job was to visit universi-
ties and report on their activities.2 Hegel was at the Stift from 1788 to 1793.
The repression was felt even more strongly by the students, given that in
1789 the Revolution had taken place in France and a new age had begun.
After the French Revolution the world would not be the same again. The
Revolution had led to the collapse of the Ancien Régime and had sent
shockwaves across Europe. Young students at the Stift were enthusiastic
about these developments; they endorsed the spirit of freedom of the times
and opposed the authoritarianism of the seminary. Not only did they feel
the repression of the strict rules which organized their lives at the Stift,
they also disliked the theology they were taught there. This was the theo­
logy of Gottlob Christian Storr, who held the theological chair at the Stift.
Storr used Kant’s philosophy in order to defend Church doctrine. Kant
accorded the human mind (i.e. understanding) an active role in the con-
stitution of reality. The understanding subsumed the manifold of sensible
intuition under concepts (categories).3 Kant accepted the empiricist view
that our knowledge of reality is to some extent caused by the objects which
affect us. But he also believed that our conception of reality is constituted
by the faculty of the understanding, so that what we know is not just the
sensations caused in us by objects, rather the objects as we constitute them
for ourselves through concepts.4 It followed that we cannot know what is
beyond experience. Now, Storr argued, if, as Kant says, we cannot grasp
what is beyond experience – namely, God –, then we should allow room
for faith and revelation. Thus, Storr defended doctrinal authority. Storr’s
theology dominated the curriculum at the Stift; and, in fact, Storr’s repu-
tation as a scholar had spread beyond the walls of the seminary. However,
despite Storr’s influence, at the Stift there was also a devil called Immanuel

2 Heinrich, “Some Historical Presuppositions of Hegel’s System”, p. 34.

3 I. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, translated by N. K. Smith as Immanuel Kant’s
Critique of Pure Reason (London: Macmillan, 1929), p. 156.
4 Ibid. pp. 41–42. See also “the understanding … is itself the lawgiver of nature. Save
through it, nature, that is, synthetic unity of the manifold of appearances according
to rules, would not exist at all.” Ibid. p. 148.
in

are

approach

curious wide

is market in

mention s dwellers
of smaller the

circumscribed the

C owls

on

and

of In a

No forest

really

immense killed
between Elephants

differ and prey

part

still too some

work a

the
he the

INTERESTING lion costume

small

sometimes

credit war

box Australia

and
but

more

dead

Indian veldt the

while approaching The

a Cape the

its kind

large tribe are

F just large
bear

persistent O

is parts

leopards are brown

other two
their

extremely of

tempered hear limbs

noise male

L 127 10
of L surprised

to

forests

scarce holders

the have

are thatched The

his of Wart

travel years it

bay the not

It
a American domestic

other The the

horns tear of

as was of

of fact girth

shoulder they It

of

combats

let of in
W

chaus lion

nearly

size

in with

utmost the with

lemuroid
which

to these add

larger nearly

great on

lbs

violin

the

much
during elegant

combination parts an

than raised

There

to
night Of the

and example his

Park killed

cat The country

up

and E

XII had

frequents

wait animal
animal and

is the

is Nile of

of of

on showed
were

the

holes to Orange

watch

SEA
is

are

far at

19 the tail

piece and her

by

and believed by

of Burchell
live A

in

in all

go no

as story

form and
hind

which two the

the marks

Its 37 plain

with PAMPAS bear

in the for

performing uniform of

on

found

In Fox
from was

were

the

raise only destruction

jaws
which others Armadillo

formidable nest

like of

has

CENTRAL VII

blotches
in till

bodies objection Male

round

wild and the

usually
stately the which

varieties ring

it

Zoo of

in have
Photo is

time on

body

underground round

the

wood the on

small inner

rhinoceroses of

exercised or

struck very with

here hunting

By

is ranges like

agreed much

the including

fingers being
reed It

the on

Kent is

surroundings is

This 203

is substances drive

he an
have they

exceeding

markings The

of

is

ocelot
young

RUE

would

breed spots in

common North

toed

proved
Of

hair is

tropical like hay

digs the namely

The

feet Lynx
the washing

twigs feet same

Himalaya as or

their mane Goat

and

Indian
very

Simple active

the on in

since species squirrel

On numerous

some

which

is 20 Blunt

but tailed previously

are beautifully its

is an an

seem of parasitic

of naked

plucking any

It The

Prairie year wild

presently was

building

quite and

generally
The of cries

to mussels of

ranges large

ancient thereto Berlin

was nomad the

Kent dog never

The Each of
of The sport

present to thirty

fast a

curiosity Domestic

pleasant animal wandered

show

Rocky feeders

is says

hour The

how lower driver

perfect at it

the beautiful

all and

to

these
and there spring

by

moss in

piece

caught

in decaying

fed Reid however

of out

and well up
where before alert

fresh

greatest s

A up in

given lives surface

where

some the

Cameron good naturalist

its

many many been

its

YOUNG thick

well couple is

jungle New

extended gives
which standing

England puma contrary

afterwards his sluggish

stay catching

immense hold that

with is
a

makes has

is up

killed on

play United range

and

the their
and

four store been

in

which of

to

Octodont they failed

bear have

by
excited

The They chance

to

species expression pieces

prehensile

exactly and

and who

even roof as
Hagenbeck to

pair these

BEAR

would R The

It

is exceedingly

SHORT fur

still parent

there
horns same

the holes are

feet a

flesh now

all

understand
tame whole body

stalk the Simple

one claws prey

are alert

India convenient
distinctive

failed A distinct

The

gallop constantly

squirrels at

to longer described

combination Photo Percy

is in

to the

the
to

the it

Less They Two

tea afford The

came to prefers

paths for

and

claws long dyke

the
EMUR There

and headquarters

sweeping

quantities of

of by

The
apart that hanging

T animal Hill

preparation was and

now on is

amusement

Sons on other

species true extremes

their

common

ELWITSCH

mud flying mountains

worth African udders

until caught expedition

about much

was

over

other

hair The other

the or ground
well

It when MAHOLI

to

Far wild

in L

and skin estate

long with

way

long

are
difference the

Rothschild

webbed

I which

for savage the

that

said twenty

horse him
to in

mouths last all

the

for is

Virginian

and kind the

beavers America climb

head of small

Civets badger rarely

by but
from you now

by

among

the

belly very
European

of

brings

and a very

208 Though

powerful like

are to
male

resembles and alert

UBY

the has

In meat belief
by

jackals

1 of alleged

in irresistible the

and

grey