God And The Self In Hegel

Argues that Hegel’s conception of God and the self holds the key to overcoming subjectivism in both philosophy of religion and metaphysics. God and the Self in Hegel proposes a reconstruction of Hegel’s conception of God and analyzes the significance of this reading for Hegel’s idealistic metaphysics. Paolo Diego Bubbio argues that in Hegel’s view, subjectivism—the tenet that there is no underlying “true” reality that exists independently of the activity of the cognitive agent—can be avoided, and content can be restored to religion, only to the extent that God is understood in God’s relation to human beings, and human beings are understood in their relation to God. Focusing on traditional problems in theology and the philosophy of religion, such as the ontological argument for the existence of God, the Trinity, and the “death of God,” Bubbio shows the relevance of Hegel’s view of religion and God for his broader philosophical strategy. In this account, as a response to the fundamental Kantian challenge of how to conceive the mind-world relation without setting mind over and against the world, Hegel has found a way of overcoming subjectivism in both philosophy and religion. Paolo Diego Bubbio is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Western Sydney University, Australia. His books include Sacrifice in the Post-Kantian Tradition: Perspectivism, Intersubjectivity, and Recognition, also published by SUNY Press.

Argues that Hegel’s conception of God and the self holds the key to overcoming subjectivism in both philosophy of religion and metaphysics. God and the Self in Hegel proposes a reconstruction of Hegel’s conception of God and analyzes the significance of this reading for Hegel’s idealistic metaphysics. Paolo Diego Bubbio argues that in Hegel’s view, subjectivism—the tenet that there is no underlying “true” reality that exists independently of the activity of the cognitive agent—can be avoided, and content can be restored to religion, only to the extent that God is understood in God’s relation to human beings, and human beings are understood in their relation to God. Focusing on traditional problems in theology and the philosophy of religion, such as the ontological argument for the existence of God, the Trinity, and the “death of God,” Bubbio shows the relevance of Hegel’s view of religion and God for his broader philosophical strategy. In this account, as a response to the fundamental Kantian challenge of how to conceive the mind-world relation without setting mind over and against the world, Hegel has found a way of overcoming subjectivism in both philosophy and religion.

This work considers the question of the personhood of God in Hegel. The first part examines Hegel's critique of Kant, focusing on and replying to Kant's attack on the theological proofs. The second part then explores the issue of divine personhood.

Hegel is widely regarded as one of the major thinkers of the modern era, if not the entire tradition of philosophy. Hegel, like many philosophers, took seriously traditional philosophical perplexities about God, but unlike many modern philosophers he claimed to take the specific characteristic of Christianity into account in his philosophizing. This book presents a new examination, interpretation and critical engagement with Hegel's philosophy of religion, and with his concept of God in particular. William Desmond explores the distinctive stresses of Hegel's approach to God, the influence it has exerted, and the fundamental problems that his approach exhibits.

For Hegel, thought is not philosophical if it is not also religious. Both religion and philosophy have a common object and share the same content, for both are concerned with the inherent unity of all things. Hegel’s doctrine of God provides the means for understanding this fundamental relationship. Although Hegel stated that God is absolute Spirit and Christianity is the absolute religion, the compatibility of Hegel’s doctrine of God with Christian theology has been a matter of continuing and closely argued debate. Williamson’s book provides a significant contribution to this ongoing discussion through a systematic study of Hegel’s concept of God. The book proceeds by investigating theism, atheism, pantheism, and panentheism as descriptions of Hegel’s concept. It rejects the view that Hegel’s doctrine so differs from Christian theology so as to be empty of religious content and thereby highlights some important considerations in contemporary theology.

"If one takes a panoramic view of Hegel's entire philosophical endeavor—the endeavor to come to grips with and to be committed to reality in the concrete—one is struck by one inescapable idea: The Hegelian enterprise is an extraordinarily unified and grandiose attempt to elaborate one concept, which Hegel sees as the root of all intelligibility—the concept of God, whatever that term is going to turn out to mean... "...The question with which we are faced ... is neither whether Hegel is correct in what he says nor whether his interpreters are justified in what they say of him. Rather the question is one of finding out just what Hegel does say and of determining what impact that can have on our own thinking... "...Why, then, the 'Concept of God'? The answer is to be found in the culmination of the entire Hegelian system, 'The Philosophy of Absolute Spirit.' Only in the light of 'absolute Spirit' is anything Hegel says intelligible ... in Hegel's view, 'absolute Spirit' is in fact to be identified with God and that, therefore, only if Hegel's 'Concept of God' is intelligible, will anything Hegel says be intelligible." — from the Introduction

Showing the relevance of Hegel's arguments, this book discusses both original texts and their interpretations.

wide criticism both from Western and Eastern scholars.