Kierkegaards Forhold Til Hegel (review)

366 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY the fabric of philosophy at the beginning of the second haft of the 18th century--topics such as "evidence as certainty and as comprehensibility," "evidence in mathematics and in metaphysics" (Mendelssohn representing what in effect is a Socratic approach of analysis, Kant representing the Euclidean approach of a postulational procedure), "the problem of reality in metaphysics and the ontological proof," "Mendelssohn's formulation of the ontological argument," "validity of the principle of sufficient reason," "appearance and reality," "evidence in moral matters and Hutcheson's doctrine of 'moral sense'," etc. Altmann also makes it clear in what respects Mendelssohn's thinking had now advanced beyond his earlier position---especiallywith respect to the interrelations of art and morality. Mendelssohn still accepts as the "highest principle of morality" the maxim "Make thyself and others perfect!"; but he no longer holds that one must first be a metaphysician in order to live a moral life, for the perfection meant in the moral sphere is no longer bound up with the faculty of reason. The morally perfect man is he for whom duty has become an inclination. The fine arts may be helpful on the path to moral perfection, but the distinction between the good and the beautiful cannot be obliterated. It is impossible to convey an adequate impression of the richness and the complexity of Altmann's judicious evaluations, comparisons and expositions--although his arguments are always straightforward and clear. There is simply too much significant material in this book for an easy summary. The book must speak for itself. There is no bibliography; but the numerous and generally informative footnotes (there are over 300) supplement the text. References to works in German, French, English and Latin (and brief commentaries on them) usually bring the discussions up-to-date, covering a period from 1609 (a reference to de Hauranne's "Question royalle et sa decision") to 1968, with special emphasis, of course, on 18th century authors and contemporary (1900 to 1968) discussions. W. H. WERKME1STER Florida State University Kierkegaards Forhold Til Hegel. By Niels Thulstrup. (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1967. Pp. 354) Kierkegaard's rejection of Hegel, frequently expressed with bitter sarcasm, is quite familiar to anyone who has the slightest acquaintance with the writings of Kierkegaard , and the growing corpus of books and articles about him. 1 Thulstrup's book deals with Kierkegaard's relationship to Hegel and to speculative idealism up to 1846 (as its full title indicates). One of the major theses of this book is that "Kierkegaard's knowledge of Hegel and of his disciples' thought was fundamentally correct on the points that were in his interest to attack; but it can, moreover, scarcely be correctly described as especially 1 In his Commentary on the Philosophical Fragments given in the second edition of the English translation of that work (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962), p. 179, Thulstrup provides a brief list of some of the more important works by others who have dealt with Kierkegaard's relationship to Hegel in one way or another, but for the most part only incidentally. BOOK REVIEWS 367 extensive or thorough. His understanding of Hegel continued to bear the mark especially of the interpretations of the Right Hegelians, such as he learned to know them in his last years as a student. His assessment of Hegel became deprecatory, first in individual respects, and--gradually as his own theology and anthropology clarified and got a fixed formulation--then in every way, though he kept his respect for Hegel, while his contempt for [Hegel's] followers grew from year to year." 2 Thulstrup substantiates this claim through a painstaking, yet marvelously clear, examination of all of the available evidence. Thulstrup starts with a thorough analysis of Hegelianism in Denmark up to the summer of 1835 and Kierkegaard's relation to it. Johan Ludvig Heiberg, who first came into contact with Hegelian thought at the University of Kiel in 1824, was one of the most important importers of Hegelianism in Denmark at this time. Heiberg was not only a professor at the University of Copenhagen but also a distinguished playwright and literary critic. Kierkegaard, in spite of his rejection of Hegel and Hegelianism, remained on...