Hegel Introducing Hegel: Subjectivity and God in the Prefaces and Introductions of the <i>Encyclopaedia</i>

Abstract This paper seeks to mediate two current interpretations of Hegel: a recent, resurgent, ‘re-theologizing’ reading and a more established ‘de-theologized’ reading. In doing so, I aim to substantiate a metaphysical reading of Hegel from a different angle. My mediation does not amount to arguing for a theological Hegel, but attempts to reinforce certain metaphysical elements by pointing out the implication the representation of God has in Hegel’s system, which is that God is taken to be the truth and essence of things on the level of representations. This implication aligns with metaphysical readings according to which the absolute is the truth and the essence of things on the conceptual level, and that it is this truth that philosophy recognizes. I pursue my mediation in three steps. Firstly, I defend the re-theologizing interpretation by focusing on a recent paper by Clinton Tolley. Secondly, I address tensions in Tolley’s re-theologizing account that concern the deflationary role of finite subjectivity. I argue, along the lines of a de-theologized, non-metaphysical reading, that it is the dialectical reasoning of finite subjectivity that enables and pursues the task of speculative philosophy. However, leaning again towards a re-theologizing reading, this speculative reasoning aims at the philosophical knowledge of the absolute which in the realm of representation corresponds to God. Thirdly, I argue that this recognition of the absolute or God through the method of dialectical-speculative philosophy represents a third interpretative option, namely a speculative re-theologizing reading, which holds that Hegel does not proceed theologically, yet recognizes an absolute that corresponds to the theological representation of God.