Hegel's Theology and Schelling's Post-theology: the Beginning and the End of the Dialectical Method as a Political-theological Paradigm
Keywords:
Schelling, Hegel, political theology, philosophy of revelation, positive philosophy, dialectics, faith, post-metaphysical thinking, post-theology, post-politics
Abstract
The article examines Schelling's late philosophy (philosophy of revelation, or positive philosophy) that proposes approaches to overcome the metaphysical attitude, as an alternative to the Hegelian dialectical method more common among thinkers. The author assumes that metaphysics and theology are closely related disciplines essentially connected to religion and politics. It is argued that philosophy is always related to political theology as a phenomenon denoting practices aligned with religious or metaphysical conceptions. Thus, metaphysics and theology are not just concepts of the world order, but also practices of imperious assertion of these concepts. On the basis of modern works concerning the problems of political theology in Hegelian philosophy, the article suggests that dialectics is an onto-theological method that has a circular logic and leads to the legitimation of the state, its representative principle and the preservation of political theology. Schelling's notions of revelation, groundlessness, immemorial being, freedom, faith, and Christian fraternity, in turn, can serve as the basis for an alternative project of post-metaphysical, post-theological, and post-political thinking. Contemporary works on political theology in Schelling's philosophy allow us to identify the characteristics of a non-political and extra-historical form of community, as well as to outline possible hallmarks of Schellingian political strategy (such as social antagonism, dissensus, parallax vision) that would resonate with Schelling's idea of post-political Christian fraternity.
References
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Meier, Heinrich (2006). Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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Rezvykh, Petr (2006). «Shelling o “bozhestvennoi ironii”» [Schelling on “divine irony”]. Mirovoe derevo, № 12: 87-116.
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Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (1994). Stuttgart Seminars (1810). In Idealism and the Endgame of Theory: Three Essays by F.W.J. Schelling. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2000). The Ages of the World. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2006). Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2007). Historical-Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2020). Philosophy of Revelation (1841–42) and Related Texts. Thompson, Connecticut: Spring Publications.
Schmitt, Carl (2004). On the Three Types of Juristic Thought. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.
Schmitt, Carl (2005). Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
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Shanks, Andrew (1991). Hegel’s political theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shurbelev, Aleksandr (2002). «Filosofskoe postizhenie very: pozdnii Shelling i khristianskoe otkrovenie» [Philosophical comprehension of faith: late Schelling and Christian revelation]. In Filosofiya otkroveniya, T. 2 [Philosophy of Revelation, Vol. 2]. Saint Petersburg: Nauka.
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Voegelin, Eric (1975). From Enlightenment to Revolution. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
Voegelin, Eric (1987). The New Science of Politics. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.
Wahl, Jean (2006). Neschastnoe soznanie v filosofii Gegelya [Unhappy consciousness in Hegel's philosophy]. Saint Petersburg: Vladimir Dal.
Wallace, Robert M. (2005). Hegel’s philosophy of reality, freedom, and God. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, Robert R. (2017). Hegel on the proofs and the personhood of God: studies in Hegel’s logic and philosophy of religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodard, Ben (2013). On an ungrounded Earth towards a new geophilosophy. New York: Punctum Books.
Woodard, Ben (2018). Schelling’s Naturalism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Yerkes, James (1983). The Christology of Hegel. Albany: State University Of New York Press.
Žižek, Slavoj (2005). Interpassivnost. Zhelanie: vlechenie. Multikulturalizm [Interpassivity. Desire: attraction. Multiculturalism]. Saint Petersburg: Aleteiya.
Žižek, Slavoj (2006). The Parallax View. Cambridge & London: Mit Press.
Žižek, Slavoj (2007). The indivisible remainder: on Schelling and relatedmatters. New York & London: Verso.
Žižek, Slavoj (2008). Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. New York: Picador.
Žižek, Slavoj (2013). Less than nothing: Hegel and the shadow of dialectical materialism. New York & London: Verso.
Assman, Yan (2022). Politicheskaya teologiya mezhdu Egiptom i Izrailem [Political theology between Egypt and Israel]. Saint Petersburg: Vladimir Dal.
Bruff, Kyla (2021). «The Problem of the Organic State in F. W. J. Schelling’s Identity Philosophy.» Comenius-Jahrbuch, Vol.29: 107-134.
Buijs, Martijn (2016). «Theology, Ontotheology, and Eschatology in Schelling’s Late Thought.» The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 30(3): 373-381.
Caputo, John D. (2013). The insistence of god: a theology of perhaps. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Corriero, Emilio Carlo (2021). The absolute and the event: Schelling after Heidegger. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Das, Saitya Brata Das (2016). Political Theology of Schelling. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Descombes, Vincent (1998). Modern French Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dews, Peter (2023). Schelling’s Late Philosophy in Confrontation with Hegel. New York: Oxford University Press.
Dorrien, Gary (2020). In a post-Hegelian spirit: philosophical theology as idealistic discontent. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press.
Ehrhardt, Walter E. (1989). Schelling Leonbergensis Und Maximilian II. Von Bayern: Lehrstunden Der Philosophie. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog.
Faust, Michael (2013). Hegel: The Man Who Would Be God. Lulu Press.
Gabriel, Marcus (2011). Transcendental Ontology. New York: A&C Black.
Gabriel, Marcus, Žižek, Slavoj (2009). Mythology, Madness, and Laughter. New York & London: Continuum.
Gelžinytė, Brigita, Sodeika Tomas (2015). «Post Metafizinės Ungrund principo prielaidos Schellingo laisvės filosofijoje.» Problemos, 88: 44-53.
Grant, Iain Hamilton (2008). Philosophies of nature after Schelling. London: Continuum.
Habermas, Jürgen (1992). Postmetaphysical thinking: philosophical essays. Trans. William Mark Hohengarten. London: Mit Press.
Haijyeva, Vasila (2013). «Correlation between Philosophy and Politics: Complex Systems Approach to the Question.» In Proceedings of the 23rd World Congress of Philosophy (WCP 2013), Athens, Greece, August 4-10.
Hardt, Michael, Negri, Antonio (2000). Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1991). Elements of the philosophy of right. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (2018). The Phenomenology of Spirit. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (2021). Lectures on the philosophy of religion: the lectures of 1827. Berkeley & Los Angeles & London: University of California Press.
Heidegger, Martin (2008). Identity and Difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Heidegger, Martin (2015). Hegel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Hyppolite, Jean (1997). Logic and Existence. Albany: State University Of New York Press.
Jaeger, Werner Wilhelm (2003). The theology of the early Greek philosophers: the Gifford lectures, 1936. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers.
Kirwan, Michael (2008). Political theology: a new introduction. London: Darton, Longman & Todd.
Kojève, Alexandre (1980). Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. Ithaca & New York: Cornell University Press.
Krichevskii, Andrei (2009). Obraz absolyuta v filosofii Gegelya i pozdnego Shellinga [The image of the absolute in the philosophy of Hegel and the late Schelling]. Moscow: IFRAN.
Lacoue-Labarthe, Philippe (1982). «Transcendence Ends in Politics.» Social Research, Vol. 49, № 2: 405–40.
Lauer, Quentin (1982). Hegel’s concept of God. Albany: State University Of New York Press.
Laughland, John (2016). Schelling versus Hegel. London: Routledge.
Lynch, Thomas (2019). Apocalyptic Political Theology. New York & London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Malabou, Catherine (2005). The future of Hegel: plasticity, temporality and dialectic. New York: Routledge.
McGrathMcgrath, Sean J. (2021). The philosophical foundations of the late Schelling: the turn to the positive. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Meier, Heinrich (2006). Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Moynihan, Thomas (2019). Spinal catastrophism: a secret history. Falmouth: Urbanomic Media Ltd.
Nancy, Jean-Luc (2002). Hegel: the restlessness of the negative. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press.
Neyrat, Frédéric (2018). The Unconstructable Earth: an Ecology of Separation. Trans. Drew S. Burk. New York: Fordham University Press.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1967). The Will to Power. New York: Random House.
Patkul, Andrei (2014). «Faktichnost u F.W.J. Shellinga i E.G. Gusserlya» [Facticity in F.W.J. Schelling and E.G. Husserl]. Izvestiya Uralskogo federalnogo universiteta. Ser. 3, Obshchestvennye nauki, № 2 (128): 135-148.
Rancière, Jacques (2008). Disagreement: politics and philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Rezvykh, Petr (2003). «Shelling v svete noveishikh issledovanii» [Schelling in the latest research]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Series: Filosofiya, № 4, 58-66.
Rezvykh, Petr (2006). «Shelling o “bozhestvennoi ironii”» [Schelling on “divine irony”]. Mirovoe derevo, № 12: 87-116.
Rezvykh, Petr (2010). «Filosofiya otkroveniya» [Philosophy of Revelation]. In Novaya filosofskaya ehntsiklopediya: v 4 t. [New Philosophical Encyclopedia: in 4 v.]. Vol. 4. Moscow: Mysl: 225-226.
Rezvykh, Petr (2018). Shelling i revolyutsiya: gosudarstvo kak sredstvo [Schelling and revolution: the state as a means]. YouTube, February 26, 2018. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nIaeuDFlIo.
Rohls, Jan (2019). «Schelling and protestant theology.» International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, 80(1-2): 8-22.
Rosen, Michael (2022). The Shadow of God. Cambridge & Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (1994). Stuttgart Seminars (1810). In Idealism and the Endgame of Theory: Three Essays by F.W.J. Schelling. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2000). The Ages of the World. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2006). Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2007). Historical-Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (2020). Philosophy of Revelation (1841–42) and Related Texts. Thompson, Connecticut: Spring Publications.
Schmitt, Carl (2004). On the Three Types of Juristic Thought. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.
Schmitt, Carl (2005). Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Scott, Peter M., Cavanaugh William T. (2004). The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology. Malden & Oxford & Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Publishing.
Shanks, Andrew (1991). Hegel’s political theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shurbelev, Aleksandr (2002). «Filosofskoe postizhenie very: pozdnii Shelling i khristianskoe otkrovenie» [Philosophical comprehension of faith: late Schelling and Christian revelation]. In Filosofiya otkroveniya, T. 2 [Philosophy of Revelation, Vol. 2]. Saint Petersburg: Nauka.
Vater, Michael (2017). «Ultimate Concern and Finitude: Schelling’s Philosophy of Religion and Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology.» Philosophy and Theology, Vol. 29, № 2 (2017): 384-395.
Voegelin, Eric (1975). From Enlightenment to Revolution. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
Voegelin, Eric (1987). The New Science of Politics. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.
Wahl, Jean (2006). Neschastnoe soznanie v filosofii Gegelya [Unhappy consciousness in Hegel's philosophy]. Saint Petersburg: Vladimir Dal.
Wallace, Robert M. (2005). Hegel’s philosophy of reality, freedom, and God. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, Robert R. (2017). Hegel on the proofs and the personhood of God: studies in Hegel’s logic and philosophy of religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woodard, Ben (2013). On an ungrounded Earth towards a new geophilosophy. New York: Punctum Books.
Woodard, Ben (2018). Schelling’s Naturalism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Yerkes, James (1983). The Christology of Hegel. Albany: State University Of New York Press.
Žižek, Slavoj (2005). Interpassivnost. Zhelanie: vlechenie. Multikulturalizm [Interpassivity. Desire: attraction. Multiculturalism]. Saint Petersburg: Aleteiya.
Žižek, Slavoj (2006). The Parallax View. Cambridge & London: Mit Press.
Žižek, Slavoj (2007). The indivisible remainder: on Schelling and relatedmatters. New York & London: Verso.
Žižek, Slavoj (2008). Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. New York: Picador.
Žižek, Slavoj (2013). Less than nothing: Hegel and the shadow of dialectical materialism. New York & London: Verso.
Published
2023-12-31
How to Cite
Merzenina, A. (2023). Hegel’s Theology and Schelling’s Post-theology: the Beginning and the End of the Dialectical Method as a Political-theological Paradigm. Stasis, 11(1-2). Retrieved from https://stasisjournal.net/index.php/journal/article/view/240
Section
Articles
