Hegel, the History and Us
The theme is to be developed in accordance with the criteria and terms further indicated, by taking a cue from the following:
In the famous passage of the Philosophy of Right, Hegel indicated the most difficult and, for this reason, unavoidable task of philosophy: the understanding of one’s own historical time through thoughts. This statement confirms the nature of Hegelian philosophy as a reality-oriented thinking which, as Jean Hyppolite maintains, «appears as a heroic effort to reduce “vertical transcendence” to a “horizontal transcendence”». In the effort to shed light on this enormous legacy, the issue aims to raise some questions related to the problem of the current Zeitgeist: are there (and, if so, which?) Hegelian categories able to grasp the problems of our time? The proposed challenge is to measure the ‘dialectical thinker par excellence’ by comparison with the open fractures of the contemporary world, in order to verify the persistence or dissolution of his interpretative models. Hegel’s philosophy – and its related categories – are to be considered marginal, inadequate to explain our time or are they open to a rediscovery that might still find them fruitful?
A non-binding list of possible, and particularly appreciated, aspects of the issue can be found below:
- Contemporary perspectives of the Philosophy of Religion in dialogue with Hegel;
- The possibility of a contemporary Philosophy of History along the lines of Hegel’s model;
- The contemporary concept of work investigated through Hegel’s keys to understanding;
- The contemporary analyses of mediation and its function;
- The legacy of Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature;
- Perspectives opened by Hegelian logic;
- The problem of the Other and of Recognition.