Tragedy plays a central role in Hegel's early writings on theology and politics. Hegel?s overarching aim in these texts is to determine the kind of mythology that would best complement religious and political freedom in modernity. Peter Wake claims that, for Hegel at this early stage, ancient Greek tragedy provided the model for such a mythology and suggested a way to oppose the rigid hierarchies and authoritarianism that characterized Europe of his day. Wake follows Hegel as he develops his idea of the essence of Christianity and its relation to the distinctly tragic expression of beauty found in Greek mythology.
"Elegant. Combines the virtues of close reading of extraordinary subtlety with a wide-angle scope not only to Hegel's work as a whole, but also to the enduring value of the early work." ?Cyril J. O'Regan, University of Notre Dame
Peter Wake is Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Edward?s University in Austin, Texas. Part I. Positivity and the Concrete Idea of Freedom Part II. The Spirit of Withdrawal Conclusion: Comedy, Subjectivity, and the Negative
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Monotheism of Reason and the Heart, Polytheism of the Imagination and Art
1. Positivity and Historical Reversal
2. On Expansion
3. The Idea of Freedom as Independence
4. Withdrawal and Exile
5. Dialectic of Love
Notes
Bibliography
Index