Gender and the Ethical Given

Human and Divine Law in Hegel's Reading of the Antigone

Bibliographic Data

ID14760809
AuthorsMolly Farneth (0000-0003-2344-220X, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume41
Issue4
Pages643-667
Publication date2013-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12036
OpenAlexW1487697167
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

G. W. F. H egel's discussion of the A ntigone in the P henomenology of S pirit has provoked ongoing debate about his views on gender. This essay offers an interpretation of H egel as condemning social arrangements that take the authoritativeness of identities and obligations to be natural or merely given. H egel criticizes the ancient G reeks' understanding of both the human law and the divine law; in so doing, he provides resources for a critique of essentialist approaches to sex and gender. On this interpretation, H egel views the conflict between A ntigone and C reon as tragic because the gendered identities and obligations inherent to Greek Sittlichkeit are naturalized and withheld from scrutiny and revision. In the conclusion, I suggest how H egel's criticisms pose a challenge to certain approaches to religious ethics

Epistemology · Essentialism · Interpretation (philosophy · Natural (archaeology · Natural law · Political science · Scrutiny · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Law · Philosophy · Theological Perspectives and Practices

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