Orient as Past, Orient as a Feature in Hegel. State, Society, Philosophy and Religion from East to West and Back

Abstract

This paper compares four themes in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s philosophy of world history through the transition from Orient to West. The State and religious representation originate in the Orient, where philosophy and social organization are already present. Although both State and society undergo profound transformations, they preserve enduring features such as law and administration. Greek philosophy appears as a luminous response to the supposed darkness of Oriental thought, yet it also retains important elements of the latter, such as the division between logic, physics, and ethics, while transforming the relation between theory and praxis. From this perspective, the transition from Orient to West cannot be understood as a simple rupture. Historical forms preserve certain elements, transform others, and abandon others still. In modernity, for example, the State loses traditional authority while defending freedom through constitutionalism and the rule of law, and at the same time gives rise to new forms of empire. Religion survives as representation, purified of divine images and increasingly abstract. Philosophy changes its role and becomes more contemplative, while still preserving its traditional fields. Within society, classes replace castes, extending the Indian principle of social division, whereas the material principle of Chinese equality is transformed into an ethical and political ideal. Finally, Persian tolerance becomes one of the foundations of modern empires, public opinion, and freedom of the press.