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The Right Hegelians (german: Rechtshegelianer), Old Hegelians (''Althegelianer''), or the Hegelian Right (''die Hegelsche Rechte''), were those followers of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
philosopher
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
in the early 19th century who took his philosophy in a politically and religiously
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
direction. They are typically contrasted with the
Young Hegelians The Young Hegelians (german: Junghegelianer), or Left Hegelians (''Linkshegelianer''), or the Hegelian Left (''die Hegelsche Linke''), were a group of German intellectuals who, in the decade or so after the death of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ...
(Hegelian Left), who interpreted Hegel's political philosophy as supportive of left-wing and progressive politics or religion.


Overview

Hegel's
historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...
holds that both ideas and institutions can only be understood by understanding their history. Throughout his life, Hegel said he was an
orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
Lutheran. He devoted considerable attention to the Absolute, his term for the infinite Spirit responsible for the totality of reality—something like God, though not the God of classical theism. This Spirit comes to fullest expression in the historical reality of the modern state. In his ''Philosophy of Right'', Hegel writes that: The Hegelian right expanded this conception of
statism In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production. While in use sin ...
, seizing on it as an affirmation of establishment politics and orthodox religion. Hegel's historicism could be read to affirm the historical inevitability of modern institutions; a nation was an
Ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...
, existing in Hegelian idealism above and about the people who constituted it. To argue for political change was to attack the Ideal of the national state. The Right Hegelians believed that advanced European societies, as they existed in the first half of the nineteenth century, were the summit of all social development, the product of the historical dialectic that had existed thus far. Most praised the Prussian state, which enjoyed an extensive
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
system, good universities,
industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...
, and high employment, as the acme of progress and the incarnation of the '' Zeitgeist''. Many of the members of the Hegelian right went on to have distinguished careers in public academia or the Lutheran Church. As a school, they were closely associated with the
University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, and held many of the chairs of philosophy and theology there. Generally, the philosophers of the Hegelian right have been neglected; their fame, if not their reputations, has been eclipsed by the
Young Hegelians The Young Hegelians (german: Junghegelianer), or Left Hegelians (''Linkshegelianer''), or the Hegelian Left (''die Hegelsche Linke''), were a group of German intellectuals who, in the decade or so after the death of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ...
, including
Bruno Bauer Bruno Bauer (; 6 September 180913 April 1882) was a German philosopher and theologian. As a student of G. W. F. Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism. Bauer investigated the sources of the New T ...
and Karl Marx. They left their mark chiefly in theology. Their efforts did not have the intended effect of bolstering a sense of the inevitability of faith as a product of history; rather, they pioneered the introduction of higher criticism by demonstrating the influence of an era on the development of Christianity. Other members of the Hegelian Right included the Erlangen School of Neo-Lutherans, whose influence continues to the present day in
confessional Lutheranism Confessional Lutheranism is a name used by Lutherans to designate those who believe in the doctrines taught in the ''Book of Concord'' of 1580 (the Lutheran confessional documents) in their entirety. Confessional Lutherans maintain that faithfulne ...
. Recent studies have questioned the paradigm of Left- and Right-Hegelianism. No Hegelians of the period ever referred to themselves as "Right Hegelians", which was a term of insult originated by
David Strauss David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he ...
, a self-styled Left Hegelian. Critiques of Hegel offered by the Left Hegelians radically diverted Hegel's thinking into new directions and eventually came to form a large part of the literature on and about Hegel.


Speculative theism

Speculative theism was an 1830s movement closely related to but distinguished from Right Hegelianism. Its proponents (
Immanuel Hermann Fichte Immanuel Hermann Fichte (; ; ennobled as Immanuel Hermann von Fichte in 1863; 18 July 1796 – 8 August 1879) was a German philosopher and son of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. In his philosophy, he was a theist and strongly opposed to the Hegelian Scho ...
,
Christian Hermann Weisse Christian Hermann Weisse (; ; Weiße in modern German; 10 August 1801 – 19 September 1866) was a German Protestant religious philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig. He was the son of theologian (1766–1832). B ...
,
Hermann Ulrici Hermann Ulrici (; 23 March 180611 January 1884) was a German philosopher. He was co-editor (with I. H. Fichte) of the philosophical journal '' Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik''. He also wrote under the pseudonym of Ulrich ...
) were united in their demand to recover the " personal God" after panlogist Hegelianism. The movement featured elements of
anti-psychologism In logic, anti-psychologism (also logical objectivism or logical realism) is a theory about the nature of logical truth, that it does not depend upon the contents of human ideas but exists independent of human ideas. Overview The anti-psychologisti ...
in the historiography of philosophy.William R. Woodward, ''Hermann Lotze: An Intellectual Biography'', Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 74–5.


People

Philosophers within the camp of the Hegelian right include: *
Johann Philipp Gabler Johann Philipp Gabler (4 June 1753 – 17 February 1826) was a German Protestant Christian theologian of the school of Johann Jakob Griesbach and Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. Gabler was born at Frankfurt-am-Main. In 1772 he entered the University ...
* Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm Hinrichs * Karl Daub * Heinrich Leo *
Leopold von Henning Leopold August Wilhelm Dorotheus von Henning (originally von Henning auf Schönhoff; 4 October 1791 – 5 October 1866) was a German philosopher associated with the Hegelian Right. Biography Leopold von Henning was born in Gotha in 1791 to Co ...
*
Heinrich Gustav Hotho Heinrich Gustav Hotho (Berlin, May 22, 1802 – Berlin, December 25, 1873) was a German historian of art and Right Hegelian. He is famous for being the compiler and editor of Hegel's posthumous work ''Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik'' ("'' Lect ...
Other thinkers or historians who may be included among the Hegelian right, with some reservations, include: * Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz *
Eduard Gans Eduard Gans (March 22, 1797 – May 5, 1839) was a German jurist. Biography Gans was born in Berlin to prosperous Jewish parents. He studied law first at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin, then at Göttingen, and finally at Heidelberg, w ...
*
Karl Ludwig Michelet Karl Ludwig Michelet (4 December 1801 – 15 December 1893)
was a German
Philip Marheineke * Wilhelm Vatke *
Johann Eduard Erdmann Johann Eduard Erdmann (13 June 1805 – 12 June 1892) was a German religious pastor, historian of philosophy, and philosopher of religion, of which he wrote on the mediation of faith and knowledge. He was known to be a follower of Friedrich Schleie ...
*
Eduard Zeller Eduard Gottlob Zeller (; 22 January 1814, Kleinbottwar19 March 1908, Stuttgart) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian of the Tübingen School of theology. He was well known for his writings on Ancient Greek philosophy, especially ...
*
Albert Schwegler Albert Schwegler (10 February 18195 January 1857) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian. Biography Schwegler was born at Michelbach in Württemberg, the son of a country pastor. He entered the University of Tübingen in 1836, and wa ...
*
Hans Lassen Martensen Hans Lassen Martensen (19 August 1808 – 3 February 1884) was a Danish bishop and academic. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen and Bishop of the Diocese of Zealand. Early life Martensen was born in a middle-class Lutheran f ...


Hegelian theologians


Rationalistic

* Karl Daub * Philip Marheineke *
David Strauss David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he ...
* Ferdinand Christian Baur *
Richard Adelbert Lipsius Richard Adelbert Lipsius (14 February 1830 in Gera, Thuringia – 19 August 1892 in Jena, Thuringia) was a German Protestant theologian. Biography Richard Adelbert Lipsius was the son of K. H. A. Lipsius (d. 1861), who was rector of the school ...
*
Otto Pfleiderer Otto Pfleiderer (1 September 1839 – 18 July 1908) was a German Protestant theologian. Through his writings and his lectures, he became known as one of the most influential representatives of liberal theology. Biography Pfleiderer was born at ...


Erlangen school

* G. C. A. von Harless * J. W. F. Höfling *
Gottfried Thomasius Gottfried Thomasius (26 June 1802 – 24 January 1875) was a German Lutheran theologian. He was born in Egenhausen (in present-day Middle Franconia) and he died in Erlangen. He studied philosophy and theology in Erlangen, Halle and Berlin, and as ...
* J. C. K. von Hofmann *
Franz Delitzsch Franz Delitzsch (23 February 1813, in Leipzig – 4 March 1890, in Leipzig) was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, Biblical psychology, as well as a history o ...
* K. F. A. Kahnis *
Theodosius Harnack Theodosius Andreas Harnack (russian: Феодосий Карлович Гарнак, translit=Feodosij Karlovič Garnak; , St. Petersburg – , Dorpat (now )) was a Baltic German theologian. A professor of Divinity, he started his career as a P ...
* C. E. Luthardt * F. H. R. von Frank *
Paul Althaus Paul Althaus (4 February 1888 – 18 May 1966) was a German Lutheran theologian. He was born in Obershagen in the Province of Hanover, and he died in Erlangen. He held various pastorates from 1914 to 1925, when he was appointed associate professo ...
* Werner Elert


See also

* Ritter School


References


External links


Hegelianismus – cpw-online.de
{{Authority control Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Hegelianism