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Antigone’s Guilt. Reading Antigone with Hegel and Butler

  • Yuka Okazaki
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The Owl's Flight
This chapter is in the book The Owl's Flight

Abstract

This paper explores Antigone’s guilt, examining how Judith Butler takes issue with Hegel’s interpretation of Sophocles’ Antigone in the Phenomenology of Spirit. In Antigone’s Claim, Judith Butler argues that Hegel wrongly casts Antigone as representing the law of household gods, although Antigone transgresses the very mandate of that law. Referring to Hegel’s discussion of wrong in his Elements of the Philosophy of Right, I show that Butler misses Hegel’s crucial point: Antigone’s deception. Based on this reading, I argue that in Hegel’s interpretation Antigone must acknowledge her guilt for transforming the gods’ unwritten law into her own law.

Abstract

This paper explores Antigone’s guilt, examining how Judith Butler takes issue with Hegel’s interpretation of Sophocles’ Antigone in the Phenomenology of Spirit. In Antigone’s Claim, Judith Butler argues that Hegel wrongly casts Antigone as representing the law of household gods, although Antigone transgresses the very mandate of that law. Referring to Hegel’s discussion of wrong in his Elements of the Philosophy of Right, I show that Butler misses Hegel’s crucial point: Antigone’s deception. Based on this reading, I argue that in Hegel’s interpretation Antigone must acknowledge her guilt for transforming the gods’ unwritten law into her own law.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Table of Contents VII
  4. List of Abbreviations/Siglenverzeichnis XIII
  5. Editors’ Introduction. The Owl’s Flight. Hegel’s Legacy in a Different Voice 1
  6. Introduction
  7. Hegel’s Theory of Absolute Spirit as Aesthetic Theory 7
  8. Section 1 The Night of Reason
  9. The Dark Side of Thought. The Body, the Unconscious and Madness in Hegel’s Philosophy 23
  10. The Feminine in Hegel. Between Tragedy and Magic 37
  11. A Plastic Anthropology? Dialectics and Neuroscience in Catherine Malabou’s Thought 51
  12. Maternal Consciousness and Recognition in the Anthropology of Hegel 61
  13. The Rise of Human Freedom in Hegel’s Anthropology 71
  14. Seele, Verrücktheit, Intersubjektivität. Einige Überlegungen zu Hegels Anthropologie 79
  15. Die Behandlung der psychischen Störung. Hegel und Pinel gegen die De-Humanisierung der Geisteskranken 91
  16. Verrücktheit und Idealisierung. Wachen, Schlaf, Traum in Hegels Philosophie des Geistes 103
  17. Im wachen Zustand träumen. Der Einfluss der Gefühle auf die Entstehung psychischer Krankheiten 115
  18. Dialectics of Madness: Foucault, Hegel, and the Opening of the Speculative 127
  19. Section 2 Women for and against Hegel
  20. Hegel’s Master and Servant Dialectics in the Feminist Debate 141
  21. Giving an Account of Precarious Life and Vulnerability. Antigone’s Wisdom after Hegel 149
  22. “Men and women are wonderfully alike after all”. The Practical Adaption of Hegel by Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911) 161
  23. Simone de Beauvoir Reading Hegel. The Master-Slave Dialectic 173
  24. Irigaray as a Reader of Hegel. The Feminine as a Marginal Presence 183
  25. Domination and Exploitation. Feminist Views on the Relational Subject 195
  26. Subversion without Subject? Criticism of the Dissolution of Nature and I-Identity in Performativity 205
  27. Considerations on the Female Body between Political Theory and Feminism. The Rehabilitation of Hegel? 213
  28. Reading Hegel on Women and Laughing. Hegel against or with Women/Other? 223
  29. Section 3 Female Characters in Hegel’s Philosophy
  30. Hegel’s Constellation of the Feminine between Philosophy and Life. A Tribute to Dieter Henrich’s Konstellationsforschung 239
  31. Von Antigone zur anständigen Frau. Hegels Frauenbild im Spannungsfeld zwischen der Phänomenologie des Geistes und der Rechtsphilosophie von 1820 255
  32. „Der Stand der Frau − Hausfrau“. Hegels Affirmation der bürgerlichen Geschlechterverhältnisse 273
  33. Antigone and the Phenomenology of Spirit. Between Literary Source (vv. 925–928) and Philosophical Reading 287
  34. The Feminist Potential of Hegel’s Tragic Heroines 301
  35. Welches Recht ist gerecht? ‚Sittlichkeit‘ und ‚Gerechtigkeit‘ in Hegels Deutung der Antigone 313
  36. Antigone’s Guilt. Reading Antigone with Hegel and Butler 327
  37. Die Tochter der Nacht: „Nemesis“ im Maß. Das Maßlose und die absolute Indifferenz in Hegels Wissenschaft der Logik 337
  38. Die mütterliche Seite der Dreieinigkeit an einer Stelle der Phänomenologie des Geistes 349
  39. The Sphinx and Hegel’s Philosophy of History. On the Philosophical Riddle 357
  40. Section 4 The Twentieth Century and Hegel: Subversion or Conciliation?
  41. Subversion or Conciliation? The Challenges of Hegel’s Legacy 369
  42. Hegels Relevanz für den heutigen Diskurs zu „Gemeinschaft/Community“ 375
  43. The Work of Man and the End-of-History. Hegel Transfigured by Kojève’s Thought 397
  44. Subjects of Desire and Law Hypothesis on Kojève’s Hegel 407
  45. Der Andere in der Begierde. Kojèves Hegelianismus und dessen Einfluss auf die französische Philosophie 419
  46. Kreis und Ellipse Adornos Kritik an Hegel 431
  47. The Hegelian Influence in Adorno’s Construction of the Idea of Nature 439
  48. Difference and Affirmation. Deleuze against Hegel 449
  49. WO-MAN DIFFÉRANCE (I): Figuras indecidibles. Sexual Difference and Gender (Hegel read by Heidegger, read by Derrida, read by Cixous, read by Butler … et ainsi de suite) 461
  50. The Logic of Remains in Derrida 475
  51. With Portia in the Passage towards Philosophy. The Place of Translation in Hegel’s System 485
  52. Reading Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. A Feminist Issue 497
  53. Section 5 Re-thinking the Absolute Spirit
  54. Suggestions on a Re-interpretation of Hegel’s Philosophy of Absolute Spirit 509
  55. Friendship and Religion. Some Missing Elements in Hegel’s Conception of “Lordship and Bondage” 521
  56. „Das Lob der Frauen“. Hegel und das ästhetische Ideal Schillers 535
  57. The Reins of the Inconceivable. Contemporary Echoes of Hegel’s Theory on Symbolic Art: Interpreting Kapoor’s Art between Danto, Mitchell and Gadamer 549
  58. Philosophy and the End of Art. Hegel in Danto’s View 565
  59. Judaism as the Other of Greek-Christian Civilization. Samuel Hirsch, Franz Rosenzweig, and Ernst Cassirer on Hegel’s Religionsphilosophie 573
  60. Von Homer bis Hegel. Die Konzeption der Geschichte in Homer und der ‚Traum des Hades‘ als vorstrukturierte Lesart der Hegelschen spekulativen Philosophie 585
  61. Hegel’s Thought in Egypt. The “East”, Islam, and the Course of History 599
  62. The “Feminine”. A Breach in the Absolute Levinasian Anti-idealism 611
  63. Conclusion
  64. Critique, Refutation, Appropriation: Strategies of Hegel’s Dialectic 625
  65. List of Contributors 641
  66. Editors 641
  67. Invited Contributors 642
  68. Selected Papers 643
  69. Index 651
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110709278-030

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Table of Contents VII
  4. List of Abbreviations/Siglenverzeichnis XIII
  5. Editors’ Introduction. The Owl’s Flight. Hegel’s Legacy in a Different Voice 1
  6. Introduction
  7. Hegel’s Theory of Absolute Spirit as Aesthetic Theory 7
  8. Section 1 The Night of Reason
  9. The Dark Side of Thought. The Body, the Unconscious and Madness in Hegel’s Philosophy 23
  10. The Feminine in Hegel. Between Tragedy and Magic 37
  11. A Plastic Anthropology? Dialectics and Neuroscience in Catherine Malabou’s Thought 51
  12. Maternal Consciousness and Recognition in the Anthropology of Hegel 61
  13. The Rise of Human Freedom in Hegel’s Anthropology 71
  14. Seele, Verrücktheit, Intersubjektivität. Einige Überlegungen zu Hegels Anthropologie 79
  15. Die Behandlung der psychischen Störung. Hegel und Pinel gegen die De-Humanisierung der Geisteskranken 91
  16. Verrücktheit und Idealisierung. Wachen, Schlaf, Traum in Hegels Philosophie des Geistes 103
  17. Im wachen Zustand träumen. Der Einfluss der Gefühle auf die Entstehung psychischer Krankheiten 115
  18. Dialectics of Madness: Foucault, Hegel, and the Opening of the Speculative 127
  19. Section 2 Women for and against Hegel
  20. Hegel’s Master and Servant Dialectics in the Feminist Debate 141
  21. Giving an Account of Precarious Life and Vulnerability. Antigone’s Wisdom after Hegel 149
  22. “Men and women are wonderfully alike after all”. The Practical Adaption of Hegel by Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911) 161
  23. Simone de Beauvoir Reading Hegel. The Master-Slave Dialectic 173
  24. Irigaray as a Reader of Hegel. The Feminine as a Marginal Presence 183
  25. Domination and Exploitation. Feminist Views on the Relational Subject 195
  26. Subversion without Subject? Criticism of the Dissolution of Nature and I-Identity in Performativity 205
  27. Considerations on the Female Body between Political Theory and Feminism. The Rehabilitation of Hegel? 213
  28. Reading Hegel on Women and Laughing. Hegel against or with Women/Other? 223
  29. Section 3 Female Characters in Hegel’s Philosophy
  30. Hegel’s Constellation of the Feminine between Philosophy and Life. A Tribute to Dieter Henrich’s Konstellationsforschung 239
  31. Von Antigone zur anständigen Frau. Hegels Frauenbild im Spannungsfeld zwischen der Phänomenologie des Geistes und der Rechtsphilosophie von 1820 255
  32. „Der Stand der Frau − Hausfrau“. Hegels Affirmation der bürgerlichen Geschlechterverhältnisse 273
  33. Antigone and the Phenomenology of Spirit. Between Literary Source (vv. 925–928) and Philosophical Reading 287
  34. The Feminist Potential of Hegel’s Tragic Heroines 301
  35. Welches Recht ist gerecht? ‚Sittlichkeit‘ und ‚Gerechtigkeit‘ in Hegels Deutung der Antigone 313
  36. Antigone’s Guilt. Reading Antigone with Hegel and Butler 327
  37. Die Tochter der Nacht: „Nemesis“ im Maß. Das Maßlose und die absolute Indifferenz in Hegels Wissenschaft der Logik 337
  38. Die mütterliche Seite der Dreieinigkeit an einer Stelle der Phänomenologie des Geistes 349
  39. The Sphinx and Hegel’s Philosophy of History. On the Philosophical Riddle 357
  40. Section 4 The Twentieth Century and Hegel: Subversion or Conciliation?
  41. Subversion or Conciliation? The Challenges of Hegel’s Legacy 369
  42. Hegels Relevanz für den heutigen Diskurs zu „Gemeinschaft/Community“ 375
  43. The Work of Man and the End-of-History. Hegel Transfigured by Kojève’s Thought 397
  44. Subjects of Desire and Law Hypothesis on Kojève’s Hegel 407
  45. Der Andere in der Begierde. Kojèves Hegelianismus und dessen Einfluss auf die französische Philosophie 419
  46. Kreis und Ellipse Adornos Kritik an Hegel 431
  47. The Hegelian Influence in Adorno’s Construction of the Idea of Nature 439
  48. Difference and Affirmation. Deleuze against Hegel 449
  49. WO-MAN DIFFÉRANCE (I): Figuras indecidibles. Sexual Difference and Gender (Hegel read by Heidegger, read by Derrida, read by Cixous, read by Butler … et ainsi de suite) 461
  50. The Logic of Remains in Derrida 475
  51. With Portia in the Passage towards Philosophy. The Place of Translation in Hegel’s System 485
  52. Reading Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. A Feminist Issue 497
  53. Section 5 Re-thinking the Absolute Spirit
  54. Suggestions on a Re-interpretation of Hegel’s Philosophy of Absolute Spirit 509
  55. Friendship and Religion. Some Missing Elements in Hegel’s Conception of “Lordship and Bondage” 521
  56. „Das Lob der Frauen“. Hegel und das ästhetische Ideal Schillers 535
  57. The Reins of the Inconceivable. Contemporary Echoes of Hegel’s Theory on Symbolic Art: Interpreting Kapoor’s Art between Danto, Mitchell and Gadamer 549
  58. Philosophy and the End of Art. Hegel in Danto’s View 565
  59. Judaism as the Other of Greek-Christian Civilization. Samuel Hirsch, Franz Rosenzweig, and Ernst Cassirer on Hegel’s Religionsphilosophie 573
  60. Von Homer bis Hegel. Die Konzeption der Geschichte in Homer und der ‚Traum des Hades‘ als vorstrukturierte Lesart der Hegelschen spekulativen Philosophie 585
  61. Hegel’s Thought in Egypt. The “East”, Islam, and the Course of History 599
  62. The “Feminine”. A Breach in the Absolute Levinasian Anti-idealism 611
  63. Conclusion
  64. Critique, Refutation, Appropriation: Strategies of Hegel’s Dialectic 625
  65. List of Contributors 641
  66. Editors 641
  67. Invited Contributors 642
  68. Selected Papers 643
  69. Index 651
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