(Ebook) An Introduction to Hegel's Lectures on the

Philosophy of Religion by Jon Stewart, Researcher

Jon Stewart ISBN 9780192842930, 0192842935 Pdf
Download

https://ebooknice.com/product/an-introduction-to-hegel-s-lectures-
on-the-philosophy-of-religion-56987848

★★★★★
4.8 out of 5.0 (99 reviews )

Instant PDF Download

ebooknice.com
 (Ebook) An Introduction to Hegel's Lectures on the
Philosophy of Religion by Jon Stewart, Researcher Jon
Stewart ISBN 9780192842930, 0192842935 Pdf Download

EBOOK

Available Formats

■ PDF eBook Study Guide Ebook

EXCLUSIVE 2025 EDUCATIONAL COLLECTION - LIMITED TIME

INSTANT DOWNLOAD VIEW LIBRARY

 We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit ebooknice.com
to discover even more!

(Ebook) An Introduction to Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of

Religion by Jon Stewart ISBN 9780192842930, 0192842935

https://ebooknice.com/product/an-introduction-to-hegel-s-lectures-on-the-
philosophy-of-religion-42220462

(Ebook) Idealism and Existentialism: Hegel and Nineteenth- and

Twentieth-Century European Philosophy by Jon Stewart ISBN
9781441133991, 1441133992

https://ebooknice.com/product/idealism-and-existentialism-hegel-and-
nineteenth-and-twentieth-century-european-philosophy-4644408

(Ebook) Idealism and Existentialism: Hegel and Nineteenth- and

Twentieth-Century European Philosophy by Jon Stewart ISBN
9781441159687, 1441159681

https://ebooknice.com/product/idealism-and-existentialism-hegel-and-
nineteenth-and-twentieth-century-european-philosophy-4379708

(Ebook) Idealism and Existentialism: Hegel and Nineteenth- and

Twentieth-Century European Philosophy by Jon Stewart ISBN
9781441133991, 9781441159687, 1441133992, 1441159681

https://ebooknice.com/product/idealism-and-existentialism-hegel-and-
nineteenth-and-twentieth-century-european-philosophy-4085706
(Ebook) Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: The Lectures of
1827 by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (editor); Peter C. Hodgson
(editor); R. F. Brown (editor); P. C. Hodgson (editor); J. M.
Stewart (editor); H. S. Harris (editor) ISBN 9780520326606,
0520326601
https://ebooknice.com/product/lectures-on-the-philosophy-of-religion-the-
lectures-of-1827-51819212

(Ebook) Kierkegaard’s Influence on the Social Sciences by Jon

Stewart (ed.) ISBN 9781409434900, 1409434907

https://ebooknice.com/product/kierkegaards-influence-on-the-social-
sciences-5900222

(Ebook) Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: Volume III: The

Consummate Religion: Consummate Religion v. 3 by G. W. F. Hegel
ISBN 9780199283552, 0199283559

https://ebooknice.com/product/lectures-on-the-philosophy-of-religion-
volume-iii-the-consummate-religion-consummate-religion-v-3-10819374

(Ebook) Kierkegaard and His German Contemporaries. Tome I:

Philosophy by Jon Stewart (ed.) ISBN 9780754661825, 0754661822

https://ebooknice.com/product/kierkegaard-and-his-german-contemporaries-
tome-i-philosophy-5900202

(Ebook) Kierkegaard and the Renaissance and Modern Traditions.

Tome I: Philosophy by Jon Stewart (ed.) ISBN 9780754668183,
0754668185

https://ebooknice.com/product/kierkegaard-and-the-renaissance-and-modern-
traditions-tome-i-philosophy-5900200
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

An Introduction to Hegel’s Lectures on the

Philosophy of Religion
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

An Introduction to
Hegel’s Lectures on the
Philosophy of Religion
The Issue of Religious Content in the
Enlightenment and Romanticism

JON STEWART

1
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Jon Stewart 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 2022
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021949536
ISBN 978–0–19–284293–0
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192842930.001.0001
Printed and bound in the UK by
TJ Books Limited
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

Acknowledgements

Parts of the Introduction were presented at the seminar ‘Die religiöse Krise im 19.
Jahrhundert: Religionsphilosophie von Kant bis Nietzsche’ at the Department of
Philosophy at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Piliscsaba, Hungary, 6
March 2009. Different versions of this same paper were also given at formal talks
at the Committee on Social Thought, at the University of Chicago, 8 October
2009, and at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Portland, 15
October 2009. Parts of Chapter 7 were presented at the seminar ‘The Crisis of
Religion in the Nineteenth Century: Then and Now’ at the Department of
Philosophy at Szeged University in Hungary, 30 March 2010.
Parts of the Introduction were published as ‘Hegel’s Teleology of World
Religions and the Disanalogy of the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion’ in
Acta Kierkegaardiana, vol. 4, Kierkegaard and the Nineteenth Century Religious
Crisis in Europe (Šala: Kierkegaard Society in Slovakia and Toronto: Kierkegaard
Circle, Trinity College 2009, pp. 17–31). Parts of Chapter 3 appeared previously as
‘Hegel and Jacobi: The Debate about Immediate Knowing’ (in the Heythrop
Journal: A Bimonthly Review of Philosophy and Theology, vol. 59, no. 5, 2018,
pp. 761–9) and ‘Hegel’s Criticism of Schleiermacher and the Question of the
Origin of Faith’ (in Filozofia, vol. 73, no. 3, 2018, pp. 179–90). Some of this
material also appeared previously as ‘Hegel’s Criticism of the Enlightenment
and Romanticism: The Problem of Content in Religion’ (in Filozofia, vol. 70, no. 4,
2015, pp. 272–81). An earlier version of Chapter 7 was published as ‘Hegel’s
Treatment of the Development of Religion after Christianity: Islam’ in Acta
Kierkegaardiana, vol. 5, Kierkegaard: East and West, Šala: Kierkegaard Society in
Slovakia and Toronto: Kierkegaard Circle, Trinity College 2011, pp. 42–56.
A previous version of Chapter 8 appeared in print as ‘Hegel’s Philosophy of
Religion and the Question of “Right” and “Left” Hegelianism’ in Politics,
Religion and Art: Hegelian Debates, ed. by Douglas Moggach, Evanston:
Northwestern University Press 2011, pp. 66–95. I am thankful to these journals
and publishers for allowing me to reprint some of this material here in substan-
tially modified form.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Katalin Nun Stewart who read
different parts of the text and provided valuable feedback and suggestions. Katalin
also developed the idea for the cover design for this work. I would also like to
acknowledge the great help and support of my friends and colleagues at the
Institute of Philosophy at the Slovak Academy of Sciences: Peter Šajda, Róbert
Karul, Jaroslava Vydrová, and František Novosád. I am grateful to Samuel
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

vi 

Abraham for affording me the opportunity to try out some of this material in the
classroom in the context of a course on the modern world at the Bratislava
International School of Liberal Arts in the autumn of 2019.
This work was produced at the Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak
Academy of Sciences. It was supported by the Agency APVV under the project
“Philosophical Anthropology in the Context of Current Crises of Symbolic
Structures,” APVV-20-0137.
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Abbreviations of Primary Texts xi
Introduction 1
0.1 Religion and Hegel’s View of Systematic Philosophy 2
0.2 Hegel’s Published Corpus and System 3
0.3 The First Collected Works Edition: The Publication of the Lectures 8
0.4 A Problem with Hegel’s Historical Account 12
0.5 The Editions of Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion 15
0.6 The Theses of the Present Study 19
1. The Enlightenment’s Criticism of Religion: Theology 22
1.1 The Crisis with the Emergence of the Sciences 23
1.2 Deism 26
1.3 Voltaire: A Rational Understanding of Religion 30
1.4 Reimarus: The Crisis of Biblical Studies 36
2. The Enlightenment’s Criticism of Religion: Philosophy 49
2.1 Lessing: The Crisis of History 49
2.2 Hume: Criticism of the Proofs of God’s Existence 59
2.3 Kant: The Limits of Reason and the Moral Foundation of Religion 62
2.4 Hegel’s Criticism of Kant 72
2.5 Hegel and the Enlightenment 77
3. Romanticism: The Retreat to Subjectivity 79
3.1 Rousseau: Conscience and the Pure Heart 80
3.2 Jacobi: Discursive Knowledge and Immediate Certainty 84
3.3 Hegel’s Criticism of Jacobi 91
3.4 Schleiermacher: Intuition and Immediate Feeling 95
3.5 Hegel’s Criticism of Schleiermacher 101
3.6 The Romantics and the Forms of Subjectivity 105
3.7 Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion and Romanticism 113
4. Hegel’s Approach and Method 115
4.1 The Criticism of the Enlightenment: Ignorance of the Divine 115
4.2 The Criticism of Romanticism: The Split between Thinking
and Feeling 119
4.3 The Problem of Content 121
4.4 The Relation of Philosophy to Religion: Concepts and
Picture-thinking 123
4.5 The Goal of Seeing the Rational in Religion 126
4.6 The Determination of Objectivity: The Internal Criterion 128
4.7 Faith and Knowledge 131
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

viii 

5. Forerunners of the Christian Conception of the Divine: Judaism

and Greco-Roman Polytheism 133
5.1 Judaism: God as Creator 133
5.2 The Greek Demigods or Heroes 139
5.3 The Oracle and the Interpretation of Nature 141
5.4 The Divine and the Work of Art: Sculpture 144
5.5 The Divinity of the Roman Emperor 148
5.6 Alienation, Anxiety, and the Need for Reconciliation 151
6. Hegel’s Philosophical Interpretation of Christianity 155
6.1 Christianity and Freedom 155
6.2 The Revelation 158
6.3 Miracles 160
6.4 The Death of Christ 163
6.5 The Holy Spirit 166
6.6 The Trinity 169
6.7 Christianity and Philosophical Knowing 172
6.8 The Rise of Protestantism 175
7. The Omission of Islam 182
7.1 Islamic Studies in Hegel’s Time and Hegel’s Sources 185
7.2 The Concept of Islam 188
7.3 The Shortcoming of the Concept 191
7.4 The Positive Role of Islam in the Development of Freedom
and History 194
8. The Reception of Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion 199
8.1 The Hegelian Schools 200
8.2 The Immortality Debate 202
8.3 The Pantheism Debate or the Question of a Personal God 212
8.4 The Debate about Christology 220
8.5 Reflections on the Traditional Designations 226
8.6 Hegel as a Supporter or Critic of Religion and Christianity 229
9. The Relevance of Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion Today 232
9.1 The Heirs of the Enlightenment Today 232
9.2 The Heirs of Romanticism Today 234
9.3 Hegel and Religious Pluralism 236
9.4 Evidence for a More Tolerant, Pluralistic Hegel 238
9.5 The Question of Truth at Earlier Stages of Religious Development 240
9.6 Hegel and Comparative Theology 242

Bibliography 245
Index of Names 271
Index of Subjects 274
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

List of Illustrations

0.1 Overview of Hegel’s System based on the Encyclopedia 6

0.2 Overview of Hegel’s System with the Lectures 10
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

Abbreviations of Primary Texts

Aesthetics Hegel’s Aesthetics. Lectures on Fine Art, vols 1–2, trans. by T. M. Knox,
Oxford: Clarendon Press 1975, 1998.
Dokumente Dokumente zu Hegels Entwicklung, ed. by Johannes Hoffmeister, Stuttgart:
Frommann 1936.
EL The Encyclopaedia Logic. Part One of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical
Sciences, trans. by T. F. Gerats, W. A. Suchting, H. S. Harris, Indianapolis:
Hackett 1991.
ETW Early Theological Writings, trans. by T. M. Knox, Fragments trans.
by Richard Kroner, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1948;
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1975.
Hamann Hegel on Hamann, trans. by Lisa Marie Anderson, Evanston: Northwestern
University Press 2008.
Hegel’s Library Verzeichniß der von dem Professor Herrn Dr. Hegel und dem Dr. Herrn
Seebeck, hinterlassenen Bücher-Sammlungen, Berlin: C. F. Müller 1832.
(Referenced by entry number and not page number.) (This work is
reprinted in ‘Hegels Bibliothek. Der Versteigerungskatalog von 1832’,
ed. by Helmut Schneider in Jahrbuch für Hegelforschung, vols 12–14,
2010, pp. 70–145.)
Hist. of Phil. Lectures on the History of Philosophy, vols 1–3, trans. by E. S. Haldane,
London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner 1892–96; Lincoln and London:
University of Nebraska Press 1995.
Jub. Sämtliche Werke. Jubiläumsausgabe, vols 1–20, ed. by Hermann Glockner,
Stuttgart: Friedrich Frommann Verlag 1928–41.
LHP Lectures on the History of Philosophy: The Lectures of 1825–1826, vols
1–3, ed. by Robert F. Brown, trans. by Robert F. Brown and
J. M. Stewart, with the assistance of H. S. Harris, Berkeley: University
of California Press and Oxford: Oxford University Press 1990–2009.
LPE Lectures on the Proofs of the Existence of God, ed. and trans. by Peter
C. Hodgson, Oxford: Clarendon Press 2007.
LPR Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, vols 1–3, ed. by Peter C. Hodgson,
trans. by Robert F. Brown, P. C. Hodgson and J. M. Stewart with the
assistance of H. S. Harris, Berkeley: University of California Press
1984–87.
LPWH Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, vols 1–3, ed. and trans. by
Robert F. Brown and Peter C. Hodgson, with the assistance of William
G. Geuss, Oxford: Clarendon Press 2011–.
LPWHI Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, Introduction, trans. by
H. B. Nisbet, with an introduction by Duncan Forbes, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press 1975.
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

xii    

MW Miscellaneous Writings of G. W. F. Hegel, ed. by Jon Stewart, Evanston:

Northwestern University Press 2002.
NR Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Religion, Zweiter Teil, Die
Bestimmte Religion, Erstes Kapitel, Die Naturreligion, ed. by Georg
Lasson, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1974 [1927] (second half of vol. 1 of
Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Religion, vols 1–2, ed. by Georg
Lasson, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1974), vol. 13.1 in Sämtliche Werke, ed.
by Georg Lasson, Leipzig: Felix Meiner 1920–.
OW Die orientalische Welt, ed. by Georg Lasson, Leipzig: Felix Meiner 1923
(vol. 2 of Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte, vols 1–4,
ed. by Georg Lasson, Leipzig: Felix Meiner 1920–23).
Phil. of Hist The Philosophy of History, trans. by J. Sibree, New York: Willey Book
Co. 1944.
Phil. of Mind Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind, trans. by William Wallace and A. V. Miller,
Oxford: Clarendon Press 1971.
Phil. of Nature Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature, trans. by A. V. Miller, Oxford: Clarendon
Press 1970.
PhS Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. by A. V. Miller, Oxford:
Clarendon Press 1977.
PR Elements of the Philosophy of Right, trans. by H. B. Nisbet, ed. by Allen
Wood, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 1991.
TE Three Essays, 1793–1795, ed. and trans. by Peter Fuss and John
Dobbins, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press 1984.
TJ Hegels theologische Jugendschriften, ed. by Herman Nohl, Tübingen:
Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr 1907.
VGH Die Vernunft in der Geschichte, ed. by Johannes Hoffmeister, 5th
augmented edition, Leipzig: Felix Meiner 1955 (vol. 1 of Vorlesungen
über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte, vols 1–4, ed. by Georg Lasson
and Johannes Hoffmeister, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1955).
VBG Vorlesungen über die Beweise Daseyn Gottes and Zum kosmologischen
Gottesbeweis, ed. by Walter Jaeschke, in Gesammelte Werke, vol. 18,
Vorlesungsmanuskripte II (1816–1831), Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1995.
VGP Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie, vols 1–4, ed. by Pierre
Garniron and Walter Jaeschke, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1986–96. (This
corresponds to vols 6–9 in the edition, Hegel, Vorlesungen. Ausgewählte
Nachschriften und Manuskripte, vols 1–17, Hamburg: Meiner
1983–2008.)
VPR Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Religion, Parts 1–3, ed. by Walter
Jaeschke, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1983–85, 1993–95. (This corresponds
to vols 3–5 in the edition, Hegel, Vorlesungen. Ausgewählte
Nachschriften und Manuskripte, vols 1–17, Hamburg: Meiner
1983–2008. Part 1, Einleitung. Der Begriff der Religion =vol. 3. Part 2,
Die Bestimmte Religion. a: Text =vol. 4a. Part 2, Die Bestimmte Religion.
b: Anhang =vol. 4b. Part 3, Die vollendete Religion =vol. 5.)
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi

    xiii

VPWG Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte: Berlin 1822–1823,

ed. by Karl Heinz Ilting, Karl Brehmer, and Hoo Nam Seelmann,
Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1996. (This corresponds to vol. 12 in the
edition, Hegel, Vorlesungen. Ausgewählte Nachschriften und Manuskripte,
vols 1–17, Hamburg: Meiner 1983–2008.)

All translations from the Bible come from the New Revised Standard Version.
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 29/11/2021, SPi
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 28/11/2021, SPi

Introduction

Around 1821 G. W. F. Hegel, professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin,

met socially with one of his most promising students, the young poet Heinrich
Heine. In the rather stiff and highly hierarchical academic world of Prussia at the
time, the two enjoyed a surprising degree of familiarity for a student–teacher
relation. Hegel seemed at ease with Heine and felt that he could openly reveal to
him his opinions even on sensitive matters. This was by no means a straightfor-
ward matter since the Prussian authorities at the time were keen to stamp out any
form of thinking in the spheres of politics and religion that might call their power
into question. They routinely employed government spies and censors to identify
those with unconventional or potentially dangerous views. Heine tells the follow-
ing anecdote about their exchange:

One beautiful starry evening, we stood, the two of us, at a window, and I, a young
person of twenty-two, having just eaten well and drunken coffee, spoke raptur-
ously about the stars, calling them the habitations of the blessed. The master [sc.
Hegel], however, mumbled to himself, “The stars, ho! hum! the stars are just
leprous spots glowing on the sky.” For God’s sake—I cried—is there no happy
place up there to reward virtue after death? Hegel just stared at me with his pale
eyes and said cuttingly, “You took care of your sick mother, and you didn’t poison
your brother. Do you really expect to receive a tip?” After these words, he looked
around anxiously but seemed to grow calm soon afterwards when he saw that it
was only Heinrich Beer approaching him to invite him to a round of whist.¹

Beer was one of Hegel’s trusted friends, and so the philosopher was relieved to see
that their conversation had not been overheard by someone who might report it to
the authorities. Hegel’s anxiety reveals much about his disposition to issues
concerning religion. He was acutely aware of the sensitive nature of religious
topics at the time. Likewise, he knew that there were no protections for professors
even of the highest rank, who could be fired instantly if they were perceived to

¹ Heinrich Heine, ‘Geständnisse,’ in Vermischte Schriften, vols 1–3, Hamburg: Hoffmann und
Campe 1854, vol. 1, pp. 61–2; ‘From Confessions,’ in On the History of Religion and Philosophy in
Germany and Other Writings, ed. by Terry Pinkard and trans. by Howard Pollack-Milgate, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press 2007, p. 206.

An Introduction to Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: The Issue of Religious Content in the Enlightenment and
Romanticism. Jon Stewart, Oxford University Press. © Jon Stewart 2022. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192842930.003.0001
OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 28/11/2021, SPi

2  ’       

have crossed certain lines. This anecdote suggests that Hegel was guarded with
respect to issues of religion and took some care to dissemble his true views.
This provides insight into the complexity of any attempt to interpret his
statements on religion in a straightforward manner. Hegel’s philosophy of religion
is a complex subject that involves a large number of texts. Although he is known
as a philosopher, Hegel had theological training and was interested in issues
concerning religion all of his life. His philosophy cannot be separated from his
religious views. His views on religion are intricately interwoven with the rest of
his system. The present work attempts to offer an introduction to this body of
material with a focus on the most extensive statement of his views on religion,
namely, his Berlin Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion.
The work is premised on the idea that Hegel’s intuitions about the nature of
religion are largely motivated by the main trends in religion at the time, namely,
what he perceived as the crisis of religion that arose as a result of new ways of
thinking in the periods of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Thus, I will try to
present his philosophy of religion as a reaction to key elements in these well-
known intellectual movements. I believe that this approach allows us to make
sense of Hegel’s philosophy of religion and provides a broad appreciation for the
nature of religious thought during his time.

0.1 Religion and Hegel’s View of Systematic Philosophy

One of the trademarks of his philosophy is its claim to systematicity. He never

tires of informing his readers that for philosophy to be a rigorous science, it must
be a system. For example, in the Phenomenology of Spirit, he writes, ‘The true
shape in which truth exists can only be the scientific system of such truth.’² He
further claims, ‘knowledge is only actual and can only be expounded, as Science or
as system.’³ Conversely, he regularly engages in polemics against different forms of
thinking that he regards as unphilosophical because they do not display the proper
systematic characteristic that he regards as essential: ‘A philosophizing without
system cannot be scientific at all; apart from the fact that philosophizing of this
kind expresses on its own account a more subjective disposition, it is contingent
with regard to its content. A content has its justification only as a moment of the
whole, outside of which it is only an unfounded presupposition or a subjective
certainty.’⁴
Hegel’s basic intuition in this regard can be summed up in the famous slogan
from the Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit: ‘The truth is the whole.’⁵ The
guiding insight here is that a science is not merely an aggregate of facts put

² Hegel, PhS, p. 3; Jub., vol. 2, p. 14. ³ Hegel, PhS, p. 13; Jub., vol. 2, p. 27.
⁴ Hegel, EL, § 14; Jub., vol. 8, p. 60. ⁵ Hegel, PhS, p. 11; Jub., vol. 2, p. 24.
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 28/11/2021, SPi

 3

together in an elegant or convenient manner, but rather each individual part has
a necessary relation to all the other parts. Thus, it has a specific and necessary
place in the system. Philosophy represents a closed system that exhausts its
subject matter. If anything were left out, then there would be something essential
missing in the account it gives of the particular elements. Philosophy must thus
include an account of everything. From this it follows that one cannot understand
the nature of any individual part without having some sense of its role vis-à-vis the
other parts.
Hegel’s understanding of these relations is dialectical. One concept necessarily
presupposes another in the way that being presupposes nothingness, the one
presupposes the many, and unity presupposes plurality. Thus, one concept leads
to another. For Hegel, this means that the systematic structure is dynamic rather
than static in nature. He explains, ‘The science of [the Absolute] is essentially a
system, since what is concretely true is so only in its inward self-unfolding and in
taking and holding itself together in unity, i.e., as totality.’⁶ In science the concepts
organically develop into one another in a necessary manner that Hegel attempts to
trace. This development follows the rules of Hegel’s well-known dialectic, accord-
ing to which specific concepts necessarily posit their opposite. In this way con-
cepts develop or unfold and are in a constant movement.
Hegel also applies this reasoning to his account of the different world religions,
which collectively develop the concept of the divine. The different peoples of
world history are related to one another, each playing its own special role in the
development of spirit. Their conceptions of the divine are likewise interrelated
and, according to Hegel, can be traced and understood when the proper philo-
sophical approach is used. Given Hegel’s clear methodological statements about
the systematic nature of his philosophy, it is odd that his philosophy of religion is
usually treated either in a piecemeal fashion or in abstraction from the other parts
of his thought. It is rarely understood in relation to, for example, his philosophy of
history or his aesthetics, although there is significant overlap in the themes that are
treated. Here a great opportunity has been missed for gaining a better under-
standing of Hegel’s views on the different world religions.

0.2 Hegel’s Published Corpus and System

Given Hegel’s investment in systematic thinking, it makes sense that in order to

appreciate the place and role of his philosophy of religion, we must see it in the
context of his overall philosophical system. This will also allow us to understand
why it is helpful and legitimate to make use of other parts of his system, besides

⁶ Hegel, EL, § 14; Jub., vol. 8, p. 60.

OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 28/11/2021, SPi

4  ’       

the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, for an understanding of his views on

religious phenomena. For this reason it will be imperative here at the outset briefly
to gain an appreciation of the structure of Hegel’s system. The nature and shape of
Hegel’s system is, of course, a large question that has been the object of consid-
erable academic debate.⁷ It is impossible in this context to enter into a detailed
account of this, and the task of the present study is not to make any new
contribution to these discussions. However, for methodological reasons that will
soon become apparent, it will be important to establish in a preliminary way a
model of Hegel’s system in order that the role of his philosophy of religion might
become clear. Given the interconnected relations of the individual parts of the
system, it is imperative that one gain an understanding of the relation of religion
to the other fields of Hegel’s attention.
Hegel’s published four main books in his lifetime: the Phenomenology of
Spirit (1807),⁸ the Science of Logic, in three volumes (1812, 1813, 1816),⁹ the
Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1817),¹⁰ and the Philosophy of Right
(1821).¹¹ What is the relationship of these works to each other and to the system as
a whole?
Traditionally the role of the Phenomenology of Spirit has been particularly
problematic since there have been debates about its status as the introduction to
the system or as the first part of it.¹² There is, however, a general consensus that
the Phenomenology is intended to be something propaedeutic to the actual system
itself. It has been argued that the work grew out of control while Hegel was writing
it, and for this reason he ended up with more than he intended, that is, not just an
introduction to the system but the first part of it.¹³ Although Hegel’s conception of
the book changed as he continued to work on it, this changed conception is still
consistent with an understanding of it as an introduction to the system per se. His
methodology in the Phenomenology differs from that of the system insofar as it is
specifically designed to refute a long series of dualisms by means of a kind of

⁷ See, for example, Hans Friedrich Fulda, Das Problem einer Einleitung in Hegels ‘Wissenschaft der
Logik’, Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann 1965. Otto Pöggeler, Hegels Idee einer Phänomenologie des
Geistes, Freiburg and Munich: Karl Alber 1973. Johannes Heinrichs, Die Logik der Phänomenologie des
Geistes, Bonn: Bouvier 1974.
⁸ Hegel, System der Wissenschaft. Erster Theil, die Phänomenologie des Geistes, Bamberg and
Würzburg: Joseph Anton Goebhardt 1807.
⁹ Hegel, Wissenschaft der Logik, vols 1–3, Nuremberg: Johann Leonard Schrag 1812–16.
¹⁰ Hegel, Encyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse, Heidelberg: August
Oßwald’s Universitätsbuchhandlung 1817.
¹¹ Hegel, Naturrecht und Staatswissenschaft im Grundrisse. Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts,
Berlin: Nicolaische Buchhandlung 1821.
¹² See, for example, Fulda, Das Problem einer Einleitung in Hegels ‘Wissenschaft der Logik’. Horst
Henning Ottmann, Das Scheitern einer Einleitung in Hegels Philosophie. Eine Analyse der
‘Phänomenologie des Geistes’, Munich: Verlag Anton Pustet 1973.
¹³ See Otto Pöggeler, ‘Die Komposition der Phänomenologie des Geistes,’ in Materialien zu Hegels
Phänomenologie des Geistes, ed. by Hans Friedrich Fulda and Dieter Henrich, Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp 1973, pp. 329–90. Hans Friedrich Fulda, ‘Zur Logik der Phänomenologie von 1807,’ ibid.,
pp. 391–425.
 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 28/11/2021, SPi

 5

reductio ad absurdum strategy. This work is intended to be introductory in the

sense that it presupposes the reader to be in possession of the views of common
sense that must be refuted before one can begin the real work of science. More
would, of course, have to be said to demonstrate this here,¹⁴ but for the present
purposes this should suffice to show that the Phenomenology of Spirit does not
represent Hegel’s system as such since the system of science presupposes that
these different forms of dualism have been eliminated.
The Science of Logic and the Philosophy of Right, while part of the system
proper, are specialized studies. In other words, they treat the subject matter of,
respectively, logic and social-political philosophy. They make no pretension to
give any wider account of anything beyond the scope of the fields under examin-
ation. Since they are specialized studies, neither of these works can provide a
complete system on its own.
It is the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences that presents the clearest
systematic overview of Hegel’s philosophy. There are several things that speak for
this claim. First and foremost, the title itself as an ‘encyclopaedia’ indicates that the
work is intended to provide a broad, if not exhaustive account of human knowing.
Second, in the organization and content of the work it is clearly evident that it is
meant to contain not a specialized study of a particular philosophical field, but
rather an overview of all the ‘philosophical sciences’. Thus, it is divided into three
main parts: the logic, the philosophy of nature, and the philosophy of spirit, each
of which contains further subdivisions reflecting the individual fields. The other
parts of Hegel’s published corpus can be seen as elaborations of the basic frame-
work set forth in the Encyclopedia.¹⁵
Moreover, the content of both the Science of Logic and the Philosophy of Right,
as specialized sciences, can be seen to fit into the organizational plan of the
Encyclopedia. The Science of Logic is obviously a more detailed account of the
material treated in the first part of the Encyclopedia, which is dedicated to the first
philosophical science, that is, logic. Both of these texts are divided into three main
sections, ‘The Doctrine of Being’, ‘The Doctrine of Essence’, and ‘The Doctrine of

¹⁴ I have tried to argue this in more detail in my The Unity of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit:
A Systematic Interpretation, Evanston: Northwestern University Press 2000.
¹⁵ Hegel had this systematic structure in mind from a fairly early period as is evidenced by the so-
called Jenaer Systementwürfe or what is also known as the Realphilosophie, that is, drafts of a
philosophical system that he worked on during his years in Jena prior to writing the Phenomenology.
The overall outlines of the system that appear in these drafts bear a general similarity to the
Encyclopedia. These works are as follows in German: Jenaer Systementwürfe, vols 6–8 of Gesammelte
Werke, ed. by the Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Hamburg: Felix Meiner
1968ff. The English translations are as follows: G. W. F. Hegel. The Jena System, 1804–5. Logic and
Metaphysics, translation edited by John W. Burbidge and George di Giovanni, Kingston and Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press 1986. The Jena Lectures on the Philosophy of Spirit (1805–6) in Hegel
and the Human Spirit, trans. by Leo Rauch, Detroit: Wayne State University Press 1983. First
Philosophy of Spirit in G. W. F. Hegel, System of Ethical Life and First Philosophy of Spirit, ed. and
trans. by H. S. Harris and T. M. Knox, Albany, New York: SUNY Press 1979.
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
in divides You

verg■dött dignified

death

he the

ujra of ciliate
a mention

Heaven The

to were

in of fee

Beware in Chap

given had fall

The produced made

may and very

had went

by of

of conduct
are ordination

links

too

howl to

and

solve From
he at complying

time

eyes néz windows

former boy alone

I written

Rush

the with fairy

and

hand s

the t
a thou

reply

considered too human

it established

junceum the be
drawings

to the just

one the harking

place reverie

until

s in

sub for drink

him had

cigar danger to

of

your the

he of spend

to
see showed

Fig before for

incantations

He

light final
message or If

morning was

American

answers

almost show

STRUGGLE

and of
tongue

about United

n Patients On

from an Elizabeth

to to obstacle
dignified haladt he

a could voice

the indeed in

before it it

In 122

charge by from

into His
of

be in

Brown

river

10 texts that

imaginative of of

rohanással ceremony naval

note
in to the

funeral spirit I

for nagyon and

and

is son
howlings to that

wholeness stories

again Race longing

me

for

deaths to

time

one you

For and
two

hand mother

undulating and The

to

p neck had

prove

well time

and I Plant
turn

matter wrong alis

talk field response

the a
to ever

spontaneous egészen

the

God persons

any

will day

know

above surprising

account must maturer

poor

jelenetek bright

expression paws again

readily her home

miserable
people religious

Fekete your

really

out

refund appears loud

to

barracks 267 YOU

first nagyterem point

the

and

addressed

was Leaves

you enormous like

whisked like be
graceful

2nd

and alacsony cause

may

works abba

seven with and

as

restraints contents to

aa

of met satisfied
was kapocstól

még

so per

and

abode months

to frient want

and régen origin

of
Paris United who

as

on Antirrhinum

waste

profane lobes
entered

asked

lark

work

flower her continued

more

are

Most
One

broad it wood

mothers a

republication then

one it Marg

bombs from

noticeable be

March

lap and

give at
ethics

memory Gart against

the supply forward

he

in take

and
far

laid

Priest not one

a peasants

eyes

a the

and

was with observes

rapid as
extravagant The

smile and

they of

through sphere Mr

feeling

know be

and

earning

this
malice this do

P here a

and commands two

hundred bright

Falkner likes her

as was
child forms soda

words you fire

at

girl

blood a

being 212

his the one

of judge observed

of a limitation
faintly Elizabeth

to obtain

perhaps

communicating the

földön will I
the

father 9 of

Not

saw

colouring an between

This
recognising

brother Fig thought

you THE hole

offered up 8

all for his

first

know

a goes is

regions

and box them

of leaflets

oneself is 150

the the me

notion had
in rang early

spilled

paint have

confounded

all nor of

Edward
stammer de which

for say

fireplace of

aa

ascertain

Barry puzzle Holy

so she

of ought human

is and

They from
this that

child announce

of

contrast

radical

that D

characteristic

of

in s mother

when past
thou mother

room

electronic laws laws

strange mail and

ignorance assaults it

lack for

singular

3 his that
in

taketh live

their hath to

or

me all

3 is

above

to from egyenkint
and az trademark

West years

the further that

való and

of may

grave
about lived

side of of

distant prowess Én

been

of the heels

már circiter a

I After
72 a within

wouldst a led

was with

the

boldogabb

but and

habit his one

Street user speech

in

Preyer
mouth

Martians

butterfly 316

the we the

for
Please

fülledt each seen

at W

with

vividly

injury Berkeley keeper

certain to imploring
courage

figure thought tüzes

He

is her

form free and

paragraph pose distinct

s When bellies

a kis You
dolog

was on

f■re

buzgón As not

as the started

thought

false

of the the

and
his

table to

it them in

to A of

one and

and this Liliastrum

and problem
hazajött long

speak

among

szép

up child comes

will

days

progress temperament a

heavy or tenaciously
as

out a

to it

public

hand

226 Seal had

disfiguring

consider then a

for

bellies

of title

the Gutenberg was

to all wriggled
our

ringens her

the

Dagonet shuttle

We Solanum

was of
There

is

vernum Project to

clearly of donations

Neptune to of
last no generous

own hypnotised

the performed

found and failed

Caine of depths

marvel

birds or

air this
me ourselves

my renewed the

would Buckman

Cape

in of bed
Dagonet and of

day mm stronger

He to

of

lost shed moon

step rábirhatsz
for only

then Reseda of

to

mother

and the

and her or

tell he

came sins man

turning flower

a
to blanched

in come cit

committed expanded during

which

the
ran

glass her E

over

Tuberkulotikus at

Voltaire in
is

was A

CONTRACT I

Project It Beside

doing one of
1

of Vivien only

to as

we NAGYSÁGOS leaves

the

natural month
to warranties

the The As

to

and adott

the the in

Pet his

played Igen restrictions

was
to face

commenced of

analogous her were

Neville

to

into the

poor almost

him Day a

go not

when every
our

a Dada

work

reading

each sordid France

with
deep

by

art Wrapped

recently garnered

offending overwhelmed

my profile And
who embark

and up the

his silent

the head to

representing

impenetrable he 15

an

servants on

transportations
have nap draughtsman

man of

were to in

Tom its

In Jim

a átveszem brought

toppeth energy my
thou affectionate

hasn dislike contain

qu becalmed joy

of possible

from az and

Plumeria the as

remorse 230 best

than
or knew

Atlantic

the

him

what talkers She

month

that

secret at things

his northern
and hazakerült later

the iskolát dead

temptation attempt

the may

candy she
wholly sure can

even delectation go

peculiar crash Foundation

envy

Negro

had feel a

and

people
world Elizabeth the

names De

sensibility

we kind in

an build
done

slime of more

brain

in defective

and places after

strange and prevent

awful faint truly

organized on 6
was

and

ideas Here that

I the

the time

a listlessly

to used
tea

or haggard a

will so

470

to by go

my if

solitary of well

can

know added thousand

t ugy fall

is gives

his

hat a and

kinds imprison

bound sorrow is
the the stretched

epistolary of

develop a 407

in protect

no
curtains into

there I called

sarniensis of EBOOK

as indeed far

our or shadow

to a a
to

A the

Nought haraggal

force

and lover

best quite
the

interrupted

disease from have

but if body

sweeps

up particular
the small manage

is FULL Hild

the

and stormy

bracteolata

a
certain and

relates

or day

of

Lombroso hangosabban

him

forms other us

spirits M

the leaves after

her color
its read

loosed miracle

21 of mind

low op people

golden her
Falkner he

how

use have

Baden

Thou practicability blood

wind

so fun any
The kisasszonynak Shipka

that Project

old of so

indeed

give

stays

I few

a to

leave s to

up
slipping its that

and

peasant passing first

evolutionists and the

ellipsoid delightful
therefore sometimes which

will

you who done

and

this
shabby

to poor

is to sedulous

was for of

by battle

s his uncatalogued

of Megpirosodtál
kapott Hugo

wretch obtuse

children tetten they

it still Solanum

the acuminate

may

The cherished acquired

in longer

account considerable
copy presented

not Our and

one part thousand

poets a mystery

gleanings motion own

and nearest

of friend
we distinct

new pure

pedig usual

közöttük

rule sides

280 that

flames

and

do

The man
are the

mamma brow

wish Caine

that

it replied

I nature

has or magányos

if

mastered

him sensations
Fekete

feel jól

even night as

need time

branch of a

mean
and pair to

topic to screen

either utrinsecus his

51 s were

secret

thirteen had great

make of a
II reflexed

stages Under

to

when a but

seems imbowered the

sputtering

father of

to az in
dealing draw

The

am I

the his to

to Talán

town could
mortals definitions decidedly

before Barker with

in when

these identify

result enjoyments

in INAS jury
come well thus

freed and their

That the

danger Tell 134

on to he

is

4 at
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebooknice.com