Fall Forum: Sebastian Ostritsch, "Hegel's God"

Please save the date for our first talk of the fall semester, co-sponsored by the History of Philosophy Forum and the Theology department!

Sebastian Ostritsch (University of Stuttgart) will be giving a talk entitled "Hegel's God" on September 27th at 5:15 pm (see abstract below).

We hope to see you there!

Abstract: On the face of it, Hegel’s philosophy is wholeheartedly affirming Christianity, at least in the form of Protestantism. Yet, there is a longstanding debate going back to Hegel’s own lifetime as to whether his thinking is actually compatible with core Christian beliefs. It is especially Hegel’s notion of God that has sparked this controversy. While some believe that Hegel’s philosophy is not contradicting Christian dogmas but only expressing them in a new, speculative way, others claim that Hegel is a full-blown pantheist or panentheist. In this lecture, I want to approach Hegel’s notion of God and the question of its compatibility with Christianity by focusing on the divine freedom to create a world or abstain from creating altogether. While such a freedom on God’s part belongs to what C. S. Lewis has called “mere Christianity”, I claim that Hegel’s philosophy does not subscribe to it. According to Hegel, not only is the world necessarily grounded in God, but God Himself is necessarily connected to the world.

Originally published at historyofphilosophy.nd.edu.