The Metaphysics of British Hegelianism

A one day conference at Christ's College, Cambridge. Supported by the Cambridge Philosophy Faculty, and the Centre for Idealism and the New Liberalism at the University of Hull.

British Hegelianism, or British Idealism, was an especially productive period in British metaphysics. Its proponents - including T. H. Green, Edward Caird, F. H. Bradley, Harold Joachim, Bernard Bosanquet, D. G. Ritchie, Samuel Alexander and J. M. E. McTaggart - discussed a wide range of metaphysical issues including idealism, monism, theism, free will, fundamentality, the nature of truth, the existence of relations and the reality of space and time. Many of these topics are of particular importance to contemporary metaphysics. This conference will discuss these issues and raise contextual questions, investigating the philosophical influences at work on particular metaphysicians. Hegel is the foremost of a large pantheon of further influences, which also includes Plato, Spinoza, Locke, the Cambridge neo-Platonists and Lotze. Indeed, one might question the appropriateness of labelling the movement at all, given that neither 'British Hegelianism' nor 'British Idealism' provide perfect labels: there are Hegelians who are not idealists, and idealists who are not Hegelians.

British Hegelianism has been neglected but the last few years have seen an increasing wave of interest in the subject, as evidenced not least by Robert Stern's 'Hegelian Metaphysics', William Mander's 'British Idealism' and Imprint Academic's new monograph series 'British Idealist Studies'. This conference will provide a venue for furthering that interest, featuring many of the eminent scholars in the area. The talks will be as follows.

Keynote: Prof. Robert Stern (Sheffield) "Determination is negation: The adventures of a doctrine from Spinoza to Hegel to the British Idealists"

Dr. Giuseppina D'Oro (Keele) "Varieties of Idealism"

Dr. William Mander (Oxford) "T. H. Green's Metaphysics of Free Will"

Emily Thomas (Cambridge) "Space, Time, and Samuel Alexander"

Prof. David Boucher (Cardiff) "Oakeshott and Idealist Metaphysics"

Dr. Colin Tyler (Hull)  "T. H. Green and the Metaphysics of the Self"

The conference will take place in the Lloyd Room, Christ's College, Cambridge; it will run from 10am to 6pm. The conference will include coffees and lunch. Conference attendees are asked to register and pay a £10 fee to cover costs before April 7th. Cheques should be made out to 'Christ's College', and addressed to the care of the conference convener Emily Thomas at Christ's College, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge CB2 3BU. Any queries should also be directed to Emily at [email protected]