The Owl of Minerva

published on October 17, 2014

Hegel, Creuzer, and the Rise of Orientalism

Commentators generally neglect Hegel’s analyses of the religions of Asia, presumably for fear of being charged with Eurocentrism, racism or colonialism. Hegel’s engagement with these religions, however, occurs during the time when the birth of fields such as Egyptology and Indology gave rise to increased scholarly interest in Asia. Hegel supported the work of Georg Friedrich Creuzer, whose book on symbolism showed the debt that the Greek and Roman religions owed to Egypt, Persia and India. Creuzer’s methodology inspired Hegel, and his support of Creuzer is evidence that Hegel was not the political and social reactionary that many scholars have taken him to be.