Book review: Jena 1800 by Peter Neumann

This is our review of Peter Neumann's recent book Jena 1800: Die Republik der freien Geister [Jena 1800: the Republic of free Spirits] (Sielder, 2018) on the literary and philosophical culture of German Romanticism (reissued 2020 as Sternstunden: Jena 1800 und der Aufbruch in die Moderne).

Wilhelm Dilthey's Hegel as seen by György Lukács

Statue of György Lukács by Imre Varga in Budapest.

This post considers Hungarian critic György Lukács’ (1885-1971) reading of Wilhelm Dilthey on Hegel’s Frankfurt period. Lukács’ trenchant materialist analysis of Hegel is at odds with Dilthey’s predominantly religious interpretation, so his concessions to it are worth considering.

Wilhelm Dilthey on the origins of Hegel's "objective idealism"

Spanish edition of Wilhelm Dilthey's Works.

This blog summarizes Wilhelm Dilthey's account of the origins of the "objective idealist" or "mystical pantheist" views that he attributes to Hegel from around 1796. It includes discussion of the concept of "life" as the context of ratiocination. This sheds light on Hegel's early move from a reductive view of religion to the more empathetic account of Christian life in his published works.

Rudolf Haym on the Preface to the Phenomenology

Title page of Rudolf Haym's Hegel und seine Zeit (1857).

Rudolf Haym was a central figure in the reception of Hegelian ideas and the dissolution of the Hegelian school in Germany. The chapters of his book, Hegel and his Time (1857), on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) are of particular interest in their own right. This post summarizes Haym's analysis of the Phenomenology Preface.