Hegel’s Lectures on the History of Modern Philosophy

© Oxford University Press 2017. All rights reserved. The young Hegel began lecturing on the history of philosophy in 1805, that is, while working on the Phenomenology of Spirit in Jena. He later taught on the subject in Heidelberg (1816-1817 and 1817-1818) as well as in Berlin (six times between 1819 and 1830). Hegel’s lectures on the history of philosophy stand out because of their ambition to conceive of every past philosophical system as an element of an encompassing whole— a whole, moreover, that testifies to a development that is necessary rather than contingent. What is at stake in the lectures, therefore, is philosophy’s effort to grasp its proper past in a truly philosophical way. We have to take into account, however, that the texts we possess were not intended for publication. Their primary aim was to introduce students to the history of philosophy, or even to philosophy as such. It is no wonder, therefore, that the lectures, largely handed down through student transcripts, exhibit a tension between Hegel’s philosophical aim and the less lofty requirements of the classroom. Apart from these, the lectures can also be considered to expose a tension between Hegel’s basic philosophical convictions and, on the other hand, the need to discuss a wide range of philosophers who appear to pursue a variety of particular and often diverging aims. In this contribution I will examine the lectures on the history of modern philosophy in view of this tension.status: publishe