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Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition

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Glenn Magee's HEGEL AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION begins with the audacious assertion that "Hegel is not a philosopher"--and then proves it. Hegel is not a philosopher because he does not claim to pursue wisdom, he claims to actually be wise--and he claims that in becoming wise, he has brought God's own quest for self-knowledge and self-actualization to fruition. This, Magee argues, places Hegel in the "Hermetic" tradition that runs from the CORPUS HERMETICUM of Greco-Roman Egypt through alchemy and Kabbalism to modern Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and other occultist strands of thought. Magee offers three kinds of evidence for his claim. First, he shows that Hegel adopts the essential Hermetic teaching that God attains self-knowledge through the Hermetic initiate's knowledge of him. Second, he shows that Hegel read and was influenced by Hermetic thinkers, particularly Jakob Boehme, throughout his intellectual development and mature philosophical career. Third, he shows that Hegel was interested in such loosely Hermetic topics as alchemy and paranormal phenomena. The book begins with a survey of the Hermetic tradition, with special reference to the German tradition and Hegel's intellectual milieu. Then Magee devotes a chapter to Hegel's early writings, a chapter to his PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT and one chapter each to Hegel's discussions of Logic, Nature, and Spirit. The evidence presented is overwhelming. The scholarship is magisterial. And the book is beautifully written. Indeed, it is the best-written book on Hegel I have ever read. Beyond that, Magee's thesis is revolutionary in its implications. If he is right--and I am convinced that he is--then all contemporary accounts of the nature and development of Hegel's thought are inadequate at best. This book is destined to take its place alongside its model, Frances Yates's GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION, as one of the classics of intellectual history. It will be read by philosophers, historians of ideas, and would-be Hermetic adepts, and by anyone who wants to expand his imagination by discovering how rich and strange Hegel's thought really is. To top it all off, Cornell is to be congratulated for the book's tasteful design and beautiful production.

Professor Magee has added a crucial dimension to our understanding of Hegel by showing in abundant detail the deep and life-long influences of hermeticism, alchemy, the Kabbala, and various forms of theosophy (the ancient wisdom) on Hegel's metaphysics. He quickly dispatches the absurd idea that Hegel was primarily a hermeneute and that he was not 'really' interested in hard-core metaphysics, and he further distances Hegel from the postmodern displacement that would reduce him to a negative genealogist of finite self-consciousness (e.g., in Julia Kristeva's reading of "negativity" in Hegelian consciousness via the later Freud). Combining close historical studies with internal categorial analysis, Magee exhibits the power of Swabian mysticism and its correlary, local pietism on such Hegelian ideas as: 1) the self-return of the absolute from its own concentration and condensation in the realms of finite reciprocity, 2) the reconstructed Aristotelian idea that all selves contain potentia of the fullness of absolute Geist in a mirroring relationship, and 3) the doctrine of dynamic internal relations that permeate the manifest cosmos. The "Phenomenology of Spirit," so often seen as a detached "we" consciousness of the regathering of shapes of self-consciousness (gestalten des Selbstbewusstsein), is thought theosophically as an initiation ritual in which the individual self shatters its provincial illusions and prepares to become a true Adept on the edges of absolute knowing (das absolute Wissen).
Hegel scholars will especially appreciate Magee's detailed treatment of the way the concept of "aether" functions in Hegel's "Philosophy of Nature" as a primary background meta-material substance (hints of Paracelsus and Bohme here), which has dynamic and life-generating potencies in the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water understood in the classical Greek sense). Further, Magee's analysis of the "Earth Spirit" opens up a dramatic vista on the mythos underlying Hegel's understanding of messmerism, telepathy, and the earth-like unconscious (shades of Heidegger's earth/world struggle).
For those who came to Hegel through French phenomenology, Protestant theology (e.g., his conflict with Schleiermacher), analytic philosophy ("what was Hegel's epistemology and did he really beat Kant at his own game?"), or Heidegger's destructuring of the opening gambits of the "Phenomenology," Magee's hermetic approach will provide a far more historically accurate and balanced perspective on the mystical and robustly metaphysical heart of Hegelian dialectic. The rose in the cross is an image that Hegel uses in "The Philosophy of Right" to balance his reconstructured Lutheranism with his commitment to the pansophia found in the Rosicrucian Movement (toward which he had friendly relations). Magee gives us a Hegel that Hegel would have recognized on the spot, and we are much in his debt for his doing so.

This new study of Hegel by Glenn Alexander Magee is a brilliant piece of work on numerous levels. Those who have been daunted by the language of Hegel's philosophical system, or who find it otherwise obtuse and impenetrable, will do well to reapproach him from Mr. Magee's perspective. Unfortunately Hegel's name has furthermore been tainted from his later appropriation by the political "Young Hegelians," most famous among them Karl Marx. This has probably caused some to look askance at Hegel as a thinker whose ideas eventually lead to marxoid Gulags (one can see a similar negative type of effect in the world of music, when some folks cringe at the sounds of Richard Wagner, since Hitler was a Parsifal fan).
Mr. Magee's book forces a radical new reading of Hegel, and one that is very much at odds with the materialist or politically motivated interpretations that have been commonplace for over a century. Here the argument is offered that Hegel was, in fact, thoroughly immersed in the Hermetic Tradition, and his "speculative philosophy" is a discourse of mystical conceptions about man's relationship to the divine. The book is clearly written and Mr. Magee states his case with precision and a fascinating wealth of evidence, circumstantial as well as internal. This is not only an illuminating study of Hegel (and you will never look at him the same after having read it), but also an informed explication of the core ideas of Hermeticism, as well as a history of its proponents throughout the centuries, especially in the German speaking lands. Not just a book for philosophy scholars or students of German Intellectual History, it has much of value to offer anyone interested in Hermeticism and its ramifications in the larger world of Western thought.

This beguiling work opens with the statement, "Hegel is not a philosopher". As we go further we see this is to mean that Hegel is expressing the perspective of Absolute Knowledge, in the echoes of the Hermetic tradition. This book is a bit of a tour de force, although perhaps unsettling to those who inherit the Hegel reshaped in the nineteenth century by the Young Hegelians and others, indeed by the reticent stance of Hegel himself whose interest in Bohme and Eckhart, and early contacts with Rosicrucianism, the Masons, and study of a host of occult and theosophical subjects, tends to be factored out of his biographies. This component of Hegel's philosophic odyssey might never meet the approval of an age of science, yet the context is important to an understanding of Hegel's sources and development, and also on the grounds that much that is obscure clarifies at once if seen in this light. In fact this analysis hits the spot. Too much logical bandwidth is wasted on a sort of logical positivist recoil at the glyphic Hegel. Seen in this light, he is another man entirely and can be taken on his own terms, and with a proper caution that the seeker with a mystic triangle argument stands in ghostly shadows near the dialectician hoping to explicate a law of history (read Left Hegelian, Marxist). It is important to know what you were up to!
Very well documented text, with good historical snapshots of this side of Reformation history, made to disappear from most philosophic treatments of Hegelian subjects.

This book came to my attention after reading an article on myth by the same author, which contained some references to Julius Evola. I'm always interested in finding 'mainstream' academics taking Evola seriously, and finding more references to Evola in this work, I purchased it and found it to be an enjoyable but somewhat frustrating work.

First, the enjoyment. I won't add or dispute what the other reviewers have said. This book is extremely well-written, well-researched and well-argued, and I for one am content to think he has made his case for Hegel as being decisively influenced by the Hermetic tradition [to sum up a lot of works in one familiar term] and indeed having an 'esoteric' layer to his works [which could be one reason why they are so hard to read!]. As someone who was introduced to Hegel by a Neo-Platonist [John N. Deck, whose book Nature Contemplation and the One is recommended], I can say that a look of things about Hegel, and my teacher's interest in him, have finally been made clear.

That said, the author seems all too willing to go along with Hegel's claims to not be a philosopher, because he is instead something better: simply a Wise Man; i.e., enlightened. While the evidence is overwhelming that Hegel read hermetic, alchemical and qabalistic works, frequented their contemporary circles, such as the Masons, and incorporated many of their ideas in his works [so that they in fact cannot be understood without some knowledge of this background], there is no evidence at all that Hegel was a practitioner of any such hermetic technique, or even did as little as join the Masons.

He was not, in other words, a 'realized' man, but, like so many we today find in the 'New Age' world, simply someone who read lots of books and thought that talking about 'the Absolute' made him enlightened. Magee seems to take Hegel at his own estimate, writing [in a sadly too typical passage] that "Hegel believes that through the 'purificatory initiation' of the Phenomenology he has, in effect, put himself in an altered state of consciousness..." through which "the Spirit expresses itself." That's right: no need to meditate for years, or even take some mushrooms; all you need to do is THINK ABOUT enlightenment, and ipso facto, you ARE enlightened! In fact, since you have to think about all the stages of the spirit in history to get to this level, it follows that Hegel is the first person EVER to be enlightened! [Conveniently, history then ended as Francis Fukuyama has told us, so Hegel need fear no rival sublating him].

I dare say Hegel did indeed regard himself this way. Hegel's system really does seem to be based on the idea that if you philosophize [that is, think] in JUST the RIGHT WAY, you are no longer philosophizing, but have become not a mere 'lover of wisdom' but simply Wise tout court. But it is amazing that Magee, even after reading just Evola [although none of Evola's more practical works, like "Magic: An Introduction" is referenced], takes him at his word.

As one technical criticism, it is also discouraging to see Magee going along with the myth that the Qabalah some kind of unique 'Jewish mysticsm' when it has long been shown to be merely a medieval adaption of Neo-Platonism by the rabbis [see Barry's "The Greek Qabalah," or Flowers' "Hermetic Magic;" even my old Neo-Platonist professor suspected better 30 years ago].

A frustrating work, but easy to read and convincing. I will look forward to more of Professor Magee's work.

Prior to discovering this book, I had come to the realization that Hegel had been influenced by mystics. I had read most of Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy and his attention to Boehme, Bruno, Alchemy, Kabbalah, etc. was fascinating. I also have studied the history of hermeticism so this topic was not as alien as it is to most who come from the Anglophone tradition. When I came across this book, I could not put it down. The thesis is one i had a foggy notion of, but this sholarly work presents the thesis claearly with an overflowing glut of evidence. I cannot praise this book enough. Professor Maggee knows that the history of Hermetic thought in Germany from Meister Eckhart to Hegel is one that simply is unknown in the English speaking world. So before proving the thesis, he provides one of the best history lessons on this forgotten history that i have seen to date. This is must reading for all philosophers and historians. I do not give 5 stars liberally.

"Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition" is something of a disappointment. The author, Glenn Alexander Magee, argues that the well-known German philosopher Hegel was an occultist and a Gnostic, or rather a Hermeticist (the author defines Hermeticism as different from Gnosticism). If true, this would indeed be quite interesting. Hegel influenced Marx, whose ideology became the official one in the Soviet Union (creatively developed by Lenin, of course). Was the Soviet Union really based on a Gnostic or "Hermetic" philosophy?

Hmmm....

Unfortunately, I don't think Magee really proves his point. Most of the book is simply guilt by association. The book never really delivers. For instance, Magee promises to prove that Hegel was influenced by Hermeticism in his youth, but he is forced to admit that Hegel's teenage diaries contain no entries about Hermetic subjects. Magee brushes this aside with the rather strange argument that "what you talk about every day, you don't write about in your diary". No? Since when? Here, the very lack of evidence for Hermetic influence is dialectically transformed into evidence *for* such influence. Sorry, but that's simply not convincing! Further, the author states that there is no direct evidence for Hegel ever being a Freemason. But since Schelling, Goethe and Fichte were Freemasons, and since Hegel mingled or corresponded with them, therefore... Magee also points out that Hegel and Schelling were friends, and that *Schelling* was influenced by Hermeticism. But Hegel and Schelling parted ways later, since Hegel disliked his friend's philosophy! Further, the author states that Hegel was a friend of Franz von Baader, which is true, but the two gentlemen often criticized each other. Besides, Baader wasn't an unthinking, orthodox Hermeticist.

In plain English, the entire book is nothing but "guilt by association", although positive "guilt", since Magee seems to like the idea that George Wilhelm Friedrich was a Magus. Personally, I don't care either way. I just don't think the case is compelling enough.

I don't doubt that there are similarities between Hegel and Hermeticism (or Gnosticism, if you like). That Hegel studied Jacob Böhme is, of course, uncontestable. He also studied Master Eckhart. Hegel's idea that God needs to create the world in order to realize himself, and that he realizes himself through man, sounds "pretty old hat" to all students of mysticism. So far so good. But is that the end of story?

Hegel's innovation was to claim that God (the World-Spirit) realizes itself through history, and necessarily embodies itself in human cultures and institutions. This historical perspective seems to be lacking from Schelling, for whom Nature was God's embodiment, and it doesn't seem to exist within the Hermetical tradition either, where the individual magus rises himself above everything else, including history. Magee has managed to find only two examples of Hermeticists with some kind of historical perspective, Isaac Luria and Joachim of Fiore, but it's difficult to see any real similarity between their apocalypticism (obviously derived from the Bible) and Hegel's evolutionary perspective.

Why was Marx able to "turn Hegel on his feet"? How could Hegelianism ever be given a secular, left-wing interpretation? Were the left-Hegelians raving mad? I don't think so. When Hegel claimed that the Weltgeist necessarily embodied itself in human institutions with a history, the question automatically arised, what on earth this "World Spirit" could possibly *be*? Isn't it simply a more superstitious, Romantic, pantheistic word for the historical process itself? A historical process propelled forward by *human* spirit? It was Hegel's "grounding" of the Weltgeist that made it possible for the left-Hegelians and Marxists to hi-jack his philosophy. Had Hegel simply said the same thing as Böhme, Schelling or Baader, this would have been impossible!

In other words, Hegel wasn't simply a student of Böhme, and absolutely not an "initiate". He was an innovator, who (dialectically?) pointed forward, to a very different philosophy.