Hegel and the Challenge of Spinoza : A Study in German Idealism, 1801–1831

"Hegel and the Challenge of Spinoza explores the powerful continuing influence of Spinoza's metaphysical thinking in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century German philosophy. George di Giovanni examines the ways in which Hegel's own metaphysics sought to meet the challenges posed by Spinoza's monism, not by disproving monism, but by rendering it moot. In this, di Giovanni argues, Hegel was much closer in spirit to Kant and Fichte than to Schelling. This book will be of interest to students and researchers interested in post-Kantian Idealism, Romanticism, and metaphysics"-- Provided by publisher Contents 8 Abbreviations 12 1 Introduction: The Spinoza Connection, or the Discovery of “ Feeling” 14 2 The Nature of “Nature” in Contention 38 3 The Transcendental Spinozism of the Wissenschaftslehre 70 4 Schelling’s Prophetic Spinozism 101 5 Schelling, Hegel, and Positivity 143 6 Of Things Divine and Logical 191 Bibliography 250 Index 257 This book explores the powerful continuing influence of Spinoza's metaphysical thinking in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century German philosophy. George di Giovanni examines the ways in which Hegel's own metaphysics sought to meet the challenges posed by Spinoza's monism, not by disproving monism, but by rendering it moot.