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The Mythology of Reason in “Das älteste Systemprogramm”: A Hegelian Project?

  • Martina Barnaba EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 28, 2023

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate the thesis of the so-called Neue Mythologie within the fragment entitled “Das älteste Systemprogramm des deutschen Idealismus” [“The Oldest Systematic Program of German Idealism”]. The latter presents a revolutionary project of social pedagogy linked to the use of the aesthetic character of myth and poetry in the formation of the conscience and the intellect of the people. The program, therefore, formulates a fertile dialogue between the emancipatory potential of the Enlightenment and Jena Romanticism, in that it proposes a re-evaluation of feelings and Sinnlichkeit [sensuousness] in connection to modern rationality and freedom. The links between the rational mythology of the program and Hegelian philosophy will be explored, starting from his early writings, which are strictly concerned with the importance of a popular and sensuous religion (Volksreligion). Secondly, the work will retrace the same sensuous externalization of philosophical ideas within the relationships between art, religion and philosophy in the mature system, addressing the problem of Hegel’s change of heart regarding art and mythology between the two phases of his thought. In the end the value of symbolical mediation of concepts and idea will be established.


Corresponding author: Martina Barnaba, Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185Roma, Italy, E-mail:

Abbreviations

LFAI

G.W.F. Hegel, Hegel’s Aesthetics, vol. 1, trans. T.M. Knox (Oxford University Press 1975).

LPRI

G.W.F. Hegel. Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, vol. 1, trans. P. Hodgson and J.M. Stewart (University of California Press 1984).

LPRIII

G.W.F. Hegel. Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, vol. 3, trans. P. Hodgson and J.M. Stewart (Oxford University Press 2007).

PCR

G.W.F. Hegel, The positivity of Christian Religion, in Early Theological Writings, trans. T.M. Knox (University of Pennsylvania Press 1975).

SP

Oldest Systematic Program of German Idealism, trans. D.F. Ferrer (Kuhn von Verden Verlag 2021).

TE

G.W.F. Hegel. The Tübingen Essay, in Three Essays, 1793–1795, trans. P. Fuss and J. Dobbins (University of Notre Dame Press 1984).

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Received: 2023-05-17
Accepted: 2023-07-13
Published Online: 2023-07-28
Published in Print: 2023-12-15

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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