Hegel's Antiquity

by Will D. Desmond

Overview

Hegel's Antiquity aims to summarize, contextualize, and criticize Hegel's understanding and treatment of major aspects of the classical world, approaching each of the major areas of his historical thinking in turn: politics, art, religion, philosophy, and history itself. The discussion excerpts relevant details from a range of Hegel's works, with an eye both to the ancient sources with which he worked, and the contemporary theories (German aesthetic theory, Romanticism, Kantianism, Idealism (including Hegel's own), and emerging historicism) which coloured his readings. What emerges is that Hegel's interest in both Greek and Roman antiquity was profound and is essential for his philosophy, arguably providing the most important components of his vision of world-history: Hegel is generally understood as a thinker of modernity (in various senses), but his modernity can only be understood in essential relation to its predecessors and 'others', notably the Greek world and Roman world whose essential 'spirit' he assimilates to his own notion of Geist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198839064
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2020
Series:	Classical Presences
Pages:	404
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 5.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Will D. Desmond, Lecturer in the Department of Ancient Classics, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Will Desmond completed his doctorate in classics and philosophy at Yale University, where he was a lecturer for two years before returning to Ireland. After lecturing at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, and the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, he arrived at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth in 2007. His research interests centre on intellectual history, particularly in the Greek classical period and certain modern receptions of antiquity; recurrent themes include virtue ethics, political philosophy, historiography, and metaphysics. His current research remains interdisciplinary, focusing on nineteenth-century German receptions of both Greek and Roman cultures, especially among Idealist and Romantic writers.

Table of Contents

FrontmatterList of Abbreviations1. Hegel and the Ancient World1.1. Between old and new1.2. A historical trio: Germany, Italy, Greece1.3. Hegel's life and intellectual development1.4. One system in three formulae1.5. The encyclopaedic ideal: Hegel and Wolffian Altertumswissenschaft1.6. Hegel's Antiquity: overview2. Beautiful City, Lawful Empire, Rational State2.1. Politics of the will2.2. Philosophy of Right: moments of antiquity2.2.1. Abstract right2.2.2. Morality2.2.3. Ethical life2.2.3.1. Families: Greek, Roman, Christian2.2.3.2. Civil society2.2.3.3. State: patriotism, constitution, great men, war2.3. Lectures on the Philosophy of History: ethical life evolving2.3.1. Beautiful city2.3.2. Lawful empire2.4. The World-Spirit and its own: who owns ancient art? 3. Art3.1. Art, arts, and the Classical Ideal3.2. System of the individual arts: architecture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry3.2.1. Architecture3.2.2. Sculpture3.2.3. Painting3.2.4. Music3.2.5. Poetry3.2.5.1. Epic3.2.5.2. Lyric3.2.5.3. Drama3.3. Finale: the end of art? 4. Religion4.1. The dialectic of religions: God, gods, and worship4.2. Greek religion4.3. Roman religion4.4. Early Christianity and late antiquity4.5. A profane prophet: 'I say unto you, "You must become God"'5. Philosophy5.1. Concepts of philosophy5.2. Thales to Aristotle5.2.1. Presocratics5.2.2. Sophists and Socrates5.2.3. Plato5.2.4. Aristotle5.3. Three Hellenistic systems5.3.1. Stoicism5.3.2. Epicureanism5.3.3. Scepticism5.4. The Neoplatonic synthesis5.5. The unfinished synthesis6. History, Cosmos, Mind, and (Not Quite) Everything6.1. History and philosophy6.2. Hegel's Greece and Rome in world history6.3. Hegel's Mediterranean, Earth, Big History, and Cosmic Mind6.4. The living and the dead: between antiquity and modernityEndmatterWorks CitedIndex

Editorial Reviews

"...masterful in compressing and clearly presenting a great deal of information...Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." — J. M. Fritzman, Lewis & Clark College, CHOICE

"Throughout, Desmond provides useful overviews of Hegel's work, so that even those with less familiarity will gain much from the details of his discussion. He has set himself no minor challenge in seeking to cover so much in one volume. His playful Kierkegaardian suggestion for an alternative title to 'Hegel's Antiquity' runs to seven lines. I was frequently struck by the thought that any of the individual chapters could be plausibly developed into a book-length treatment." — Jenny Bryan, Greece & Rome

"...very accessible and thoroughly researched volume... " — Vicky Roupa, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"The volume remains an extremely well-written and thoughtful analysis of a difficult philosopher... The book should be most welcome by students and scholars examining nineteenth-century biblical scholarship and by those interested in the interaction of modern philosophy and the classical world." — Shawn Kelley, RBL 06/2024

From the Publisher