From Mylne to Hegel (Part Two)

This post completes our two-part essay tracing the early reception of Hegel in Britain back to the influence of James Mylne.

From Mylne to Hegel (Part One)

This post examines the reception of Hegel in 19th century Britain, leading up to The Secret of Hegel (1865) by James Hutchison Stirling, the "father of British Hegelianism". I trace the striking Scottish receptiveness to Hegelian ideas back to James Mylne's rationalist critique of the "moral sense" and "common sense" schools of philosophy in Glasgow.

Hotho's Sketch of Professor Hegel

I here reproduce, with permission, Canadian scholar Jim Devin's complete annotated translation of the portrait of Hegel by Heinrich Hotho (1802-73), his former student, friend and editor of Hegel's Lectures on Aesthetics. Above is the cover of a recent biography of Hotho by Elisabeth Ziemer covering his life as an art historian, critic and philosopher.

Herbart's Psychology

This post summarises Herbart's contributions to philosophical psychology and his critique of Fichte's Idealism. The contrast with Hegel comes out particularly in their differing responses to Fichte. We draw from Marcel Mauxion's La Métaphysique de Herbart (1894). Above is an image of Herbart's Psychology as a Science (1824-25). We conclude our series of posts on Herbart with a link to a remarkable piano sonata which he composed in 1808.

Herbart's Philosophy of Religion

This post discusses Herbart's religious philosophy. We use Marcel Mauxion's La Métaphysique de Herbart (1894). The above picture shows the old university of Königsberg with the Cathedral in the background of the Dominsel (Cathedral island).

Herbart's Philosophy of Nature

This post summarizes Herbart's philosophy of nature. Herbart shared the project of a philosophical understanding of nature distinct though complementary in its aims and method from natural science with his contemporaries Schelling and Hegel. This is not now a common project. We draw for our account on Marcel Mauxion's La Métaphysique de Herbart (1894). The above image is of the Herbartdenkmal in Oldenburg around 1900.

Herbart's Theory of Being

This post outlines Herbart's account of being, which is characterized by the credence given to metaphysical analysis in a Leibnizian vein and the critique of Fichte’s idea of the “self creation of man”. We draw for our account on Marcel Mauxion's La Métaphysique de Herbart (1894). Above is an extract from the manuscript of Leibniz's Monadology.