Post-Hegelian Horizons: Ruptures, Returns, Echoes

What does it mean to mark or to be marked by the condition of coming after or “post” a particularly monumental historical figure? When that figure is G.W.F. Hegel, the question often provokes contentious debate. This conference aims to explore the divergent ways that Hegel and his legacy have been interpreted as changing the horizon of thought.

                A wide range of 19th to 21st century philosophical movements—including Marxism, critical theory, existentialism, deconstruction, various poststructuralisms, and many others—have positioned themselves in dialogue with Hegel. Some of these movements understand themselves as ruptures or radical departures from Hegel, suggesting an interpretation of post-Hegelianism which means something like ‘in contrast to’ or even ‘against’ Hegel. Other movements that are situated under the post-Hegelian philosophical inheritance focus on returns rather than ruptures, insisting that there are aspects in Hegel’s thought and legacy that demand going back to and building upon in some sense. There are also those movements which less noticeably fit into a post-Hegelian framework but nonetheless contain echoes of Hegelian thought throughout. This conference aims to present a sketch of the numerous differences in such movements’ interpretations of Hegel.

                To envision post-Hegelian horizons and come to better understand the diverse movements that engage with, challenge, and reshape Hegel's philosophy, the organizers invite submissions on the following potential topics and beyond: 

• The significance of Schelling’s complicated relationship with Hegel and his work and how that relationship might best be characterized
• Hegel’s Influence on Sartre and Sartre’s usage of Hegelian Philosophy
• Hegel, the unconscious, and psychoanalysis: Freud, Lacan, Slavoj Žižek, Catherine Malabou, and other psychoanalytic readings of Hegel
• Interpretations and problematizations of the master-slave dialectic (Sartre, Fanon, and others)
• The 20th century Francophone reception of Hegel’s philosophy (Alexandre Kojève, Jean Hyppolite, and others)               
• The post-structuralists and Hegel             
•  Archaeology, genealogy, difference, and deconstruction: Are Foucault, Deleuze, and Derrida post-Hegelians in any meaningful sense? 
• The Frankfurt School’s varying understandings and uses of Hegel (Adorno, Benjamin, Horkheimer, Fromm, Marcuse, Habermas, and others)
• Dichotomies and trichotomies in Hegel Scholarship: Young/old Hegelians, left/right Hegelians, metaphysical/non-metaphysical Hegelianism, analytic/ continental/pluralist up-takings of Hegel, Hegelian Marxism, epistemological/metaphysical emphasis or priority in Hegel, etc.
• Influences between Hegel scholarship and Nietzsche scholarship
• Heidegger’s unique position among the various lineages of post-Hegelianism 

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