The Right Hegelians (German: Rechtshegelianer), Old Hegelians (Althegelianer), or the Hegelian Right (die Hegelsche Rechte) were those followers of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in the early 19th century who took his philosophy in a politically and religiously conservative direction. They are typically contrasted with the Young Hegelians (Hegelian Left), who interpreted Hegel's political philosophy as supportive of left-wing and progressive politics or views on religion.
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👉 Right Hegelians in the context of Young Hegelians
The Young Hegelians (German: Junghegelianer), later known as the Left Hegelians (German: Linkshegelianer), were a group of German intellectuals who were active from the late 1830s to the mid-1840s. Their thought represented a radicalization of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy, moving from the analysis of religion to critiques of politics and society that laid the groundwork for socialism and Marxism. A central feature of their work was a critique of what they saw as the intertwined religious, philosophical, and political dogmas of "personalism". The collapse of Hegelian philosophy in the face of political and social realities led the Young Hegelians to formulate the first modern theory of ideology—the idea that abstract thought functions as a justification for or compensation for a deficient social reality.
Centered at the University of Berlin, the group initially focused on theological questions, galvanized by David Strauss's controversial book The Life of Jesus (1835), which treated the Gospels as mythological expressions of the early Christian community's consciousness rather than as historical fact. This led to a split in the Hegelian school between the conservative "Right Hegelians" who defended the compatibility of Hegel's philosophy with orthodox Christianity and the radical "Young Hegelians" who drew increasingly atheistic and anti-religious conclusions.
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Right Hegelians in the context of Bruno Bauer
Bruno Bauer (/ˈbaʊər/; German: [baʊɐ]; 6 September 1809 – 13 April 1882) was a German philosopher, theologian, historian, and biblical critic. A prominent member of the Young Hegelians, he was a radical rationalist critic of the Bible and Christianity. Initially a student of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Bauer became a central figure in the intellectual circles of the Vormärz, the period preceding the Revolutions of 1848. His philosophical work was a major influence on, and target of critique for, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, with whom he had a close but tumultuous relationship.
Starting as a right-wing Hegelian, Bauer shifted to the left in 1839, developing a radical critique of religion and the state. He argued that the Christian gospels were not historical records but literary works of the human self-consciousness. His most significant work of this period, The Trumpet of the Last Judgement over Hegel the Atheist and Antichrist (1841), presented Hegel's philosophy as a revolutionary atheism that called for the overthrow of all existing religious and political institutions. Bauer's political thought was a form of republicanism based on the concept of "infinite self-consciousness," an ethical idealism that advocated for the constant transformation of society in pursuit of rational freedom.
Right Hegelians in the context of Typology (theology)
Typology in Christian theology and biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Events, persons or statements in the Old Testament are seen as types prefiguring or superseded by antitypes, events or aspects of Christ or his revelation described in the New Testament. For example, Jonah may be seen as the type of Christ in that he emerged from the fish's belly and thus appeared to rise from death.
In the fullest version of the theory of typology, the whole purpose of the Old Testament is viewed as merely the provision of types for Christ, the antitype or fulfillment. The theory began in the Early Church, was at its most influential in the High Middle Ages and continued to be popular, especially in Calvinism, after the Protestant Reformation, but in subsequent periods, it has been given less emphasis. In 19th-century German Protestantism, typological interpretation was distinguished from rectilinear interpretation of prophecy. The former was associated with Hegelian theologians and the latter with Kantian analyticity. Several groups favoring typology today include the Christian Brethren beginning in the 19th century (for which typology was much favoured and the subject of numerous books) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.