Hegel's Eschatological Vision
Does History Have a Future
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4495319 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel Berthold-Bond (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 14 |
| Publication date | 1988-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2504959 |
| OpenAlex | W2317480929 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
A central motif of Hegel's philosophy is his effort to trace out a teleological development of human thought and culture, from its initially embryonic, undeveloped stages to ever more evolved and mature forms. And he conceives of this process of development as the Bildung of rationality in history: history is the process of mind [Geist] itself, the [progressive] revelation of itself from its first .. . enshrouded consciousness ... in order that the absolute command of mind, 'know thyself,' may be fulfilled1 (HPh, III, 7). In this article I will address the question of what this fulfillment means for Hegel. I will argue that there is a strongly entrenched ambiguity and ambivalence in Hegel's philosophy between two opposed ways of describing the End, or completion of history: what I will refer to as the and the readings.2 And I will suggest that contrary to the usual way of reading Hegel, we should adopt the non-absolutist, epochal version of Hegel's eschatology if we are to preserve the spirit of his metaphysics. I wish to make it clear from the start that my argument is not that this epochal reading is clearly what Hegel himself intended, so that the great majority of commentators who insist on the absolutist alternative simply misread Hegel. Indeed, the import of my argument will be to suggest that neither the absolutist nor the epochal readings can be interpreted away: I am convinced that a faithful reading of Hegel must result in a confirmation of his deep-seated ambivalence in this matter. I will argue, on the other hand, that we should choose for Hegel, where he was unwilling to, the reading which emphasizes the nonabsolutist pole of the ambivalence as against the absolutist pole
Art history · Epistemology · Hegelianism · History · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,15 |
| Citation span | 1992 - 2021 (30) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |