Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Metaphysics

No scholarly consensus exists about the nature and evaluation of Hegel’s “metaphysics.” There is a commonplace view, prevalent since the 19th century, in which Hegel is understood as proposing an “extravagant” God-centered ontology, and while some contemporary Hegel interpreters endorse accounts along these general lines, it is now commonly contested by many specialists in the field. In this traditional view, humans are singled out from the rest of nature in terms of their possession of “spirit” (Geist)—a notion understood as a terminological variant of the concept of God, although a somewhat unorthodox and pantheistic-leaning one. Stressing God’s immanence in the world, this concept becomes linked to a Eurocentric triumphalist account of history, with God’s increasing presence in the world being identified with the ways “reason” and “freedom” had purportedly developed in the practices and institutions of European society. Understood along such lines Hegel’s metaphysics is seldom thought to be of relevance to contemporary philosophy. However, in terms of capturing the central features of Hegel’s philosophy, the traditional interpretation had been challenged from the decades after Hegel’s death, and, similarly, nontraditional approaches have from time to time linked Hegel to movements critical of traditional metaphysics, such as existentialism, phenomenology, philosophical hermeneutics, and American pragmatism. Recently a variety of nontraditional views have been gaining strength within academic philosophical interpretations of Hegel, generating debates over the nature of Hegel’s metaphysical commitments.