Wake - tragedy in Hegels Early Theological Writings

TRAGEDY IN HEGELS
EARLY THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS

I NDIANA S ERIES IN THE P HILOSOPHY OF R ELIGION

Merold Westphal, editor

TRAGEDY IN HEGELS EARLY THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS

PETER WAKE

Indiana University Press
Bloomington and Indianapolis

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2014 by Peter Wake
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ISBN 978-0-253-01251-7 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-253-01261-6 (ebook)

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was conceived while I was a student in the Philosophy Department at DePaul University. I wish to acknowledge, first and foremost, David Krell for the inspiration he provided during these years. His seminars on Hlderlin and Greek tragedy were decisive in shaping this book on Hegel. I also extend my deep thanks to Will McNeill for the close reading he gave to earlier versions of this text and for his continued support. Bill Martin, Michael Naas, and Angelica Nuzzo have each, in their own distinct ways, shaped the approach to philosophical texts reflected in this work. Kevin Carey, Sarah Dwyer, Laura Santos, and Mark Walter read sections of the book at various stages of its development, and I am grateful for their comments and our discussions. My thanks to Merold Westphal for his faith in the project and to Dee Mortensen at the University of Indiana Press for her advice and patience during its completion. My thanks also to Mary Lou Bertucci for her meticulous work in copyediting the manuscript.

I am particularly grateful to my students and colleagues at Saint Edwards University for their friendship and for the many conversations we have had about the ideas that animate this book. Evidence of these conversations can be found on virtually every page. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the members of the Philosophy Department at Saint Edwards. Thanks to William Zanardi, Mark Cherry, Jack Green Musselman, and Stephen Dilley for their encouragement and collegiality. My thanks as well to Richard Bautch, Lou Brusatti, Kerstin Somerholter, and the late Harald Becker, all of whom assisted in various ways in refining the work. I would also like to recognize George Martin for the St. Edwards Presidential Research Grants that made much of the writing and editing of this volume possible.

Above all, I give my most heartfelt thanks to Phil and Irene Wake for the in-numerable ways in which they have lent their support during the long process of completing this project; and to Rene for her generous, indomitable spirit.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Citations that give both the German and the English sources will always list the German first. I have occasionally modified English translations and have indicated when I have done so.

G. W. F. Hegel

Friedrich Hlderlin

Immanuel Kant