33211
God
?- 0 Hegel's 'System of Science'
- 1 Logic (Thinking of Thinking, Science of Science)
- 2 Nature (science of matter)
- 3 Spirit/Mind (Science of humanities)
- 31 Subjective Spirit/Mind (Science of the inner Human)
- 32 Objective Spirit/Mind (Science of the interpersonal)
- 33 Absolute (divine) Spirit, that knows itself and its goal
- 331 Art (seeing the truth, Aesthetics)
- 332 Religion (representing the truth, theology)
- 333 Philosophy (comprehension of the truth)
- 3321 Concept of religion
- 3322 Finite Religions (specific religions)
- 3323 Christianity (absolute religions)
- 33211 God
- 33212 Knowledge of God
- 33213 The ritual (the cult)
- 332111 God as absolute substance
- 332112 God is only for thought
- 332113 Pantheism
God
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God is for Hegel not the personal being of religion, but the fundamental order --- the absolute idea that unfolds itself in logic, nature, and spirit. Logic shows "God as he is in his eternal essence before the creation of nature" --- demystified: the structures of thought that underlie everything. Hegel makes the question of God scientifically treatable, without dogmatic pre-decisions (neither theistic nor atheistic). The absolute idea is the absolute that knows itself. Whether this order is personal remains philosophically open --- logic shows only the rational structures. Hegel's "theodicy" is a justification of rationality itself: reality is knowable. Practically: religion and science both seek the fundamental --- only in different form. Hegel makes conversation possible at a higher level of reflection.
Origin: *Theologia naturalis* (natural knowledge of God). Spinoza: *Deus sive Natura* (God or Nature). Kant: God as postulate. Hegel: God as absolute idea --- rationally comprehensible, but not dogmatically fixed. Difference from religion: philosophy treats God conceptually, religion in representation.
In Hegel: Enc. §194 (addition), §236 (addition); SL Vol. 1, Preface
Cross-references: Absolute, Idea, System, Logic, Theodicy, Religion, Method