The Fool's Truth: Diderot, Goethe, and Hegel

Journal of the History of Ideas

Volumn 57, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 625-644

  Schmidt, James ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 1842429580     PISSN: 00225037     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3654085     Document Type: Article

References (116)

1. For the early publishing history of Rameau 's Nephew, see Roland Mortier, Diderot en Allemagne (1750-1850) (Paris, 1954), 254-63; for Goethe's complaint see "Nachträgliches zu Rameaus Neffe" in Goethes Werke (36 vols.; Stuttgart, 1866-68), XXV, 290, and 269-96.
2. For the early publishing history of Rameau 's Nephew, see Roland Mortier, Diderot en Allemagne (1750-1850) (Paris, 1954), 254-63; for Goethe's complaint see "Nachträgliches zu Rameaus Neffe" in Goethes Werke (36 vols.; Stuttgart, 1866-68), XXV, 290, and 269-96.
3. Marx to Engels, 15 April 1869. Later Marxian critics include Georg Lukács, The Young Hegel, tr. Rodney Livingstone (London, 1975), 495-97; Henri Mougin, "Hegel et le Neveu de Rameau," Europe, 24 (1946), 1-11; Gottfried Stiehler, " 'Rameau's Neffe' und die 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' von Hegel," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe, 13 (1964), 163-67; and Marie-Jeanne Königson, "Hegel, Adam Smith, et Diderot," Hegel et le Siècle des Lumières, ed. Jacques D'Hondt (Paris, 1974), 51-70.
4. Marx to Engels, 15 April 1869. Later Marxian critics include Georg Lukács, The Young Hegel, tr. Rodney Livingstone (London, 1975), 495-97; Henri Mougin, "Hegel et le Neveu de Rameau," Europe, 24 (1946), 1-11; Gottfried Stiehler, " 'Rameau's Neffe' und die 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' von Hegel," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe, 13 (1964), 163-67; and Marie-Jeanne Königson, "Hegel, Adam Smith, et Diderot," Hegel et le Siècle des Lumières, ed. Jacques D'Hondt (Paris, 1974), 51-70.
5. Marx to Engels, 15 April 1869. Later Marxian critics include Georg Lukács, The Young Hegel, tr. Rodney Livingstone (London, 1975), 495-97; Henri Mougin, "Hegel et le Neveu de Rameau," Europe, 24 (1946), 1-11; Gottfried Stiehler, " 'Rameau's Neffe' und die 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' von Hegel," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe, 13 (1964), 163-67; and Marie-Jeanne Königson, "Hegel, Adam Smith, et Diderot," Hegel et le Siècle des Lumières, ed. Jacques D'Hondt (Paris, 1974), 51-70.
6. Marx to Engels, 15 April 1869. Later Marxian critics include Georg Lukács, The Young Hegel, tr. Rodney Livingstone (London, 1975), 495-97; Henri Mougin, "Hegel et le Neveu de Rameau," Europe, 24 (1946), 1-11; Gottfried Stiehler, " 'Rameau's Neffe' und die 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' von Hegel," Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Gesellschafts- und sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe, 13 (1964), 163-67; and Marie-Jeanne Königson, "Hegel, Adam Smith, et Diderot," Hegel et le Siècle des Lumières, ed. Jacques D'Hondt (Paris, 1974), 51-70.
7. Sincerity and Authenticity (Cambridge, Mass., 1972), 26-52; cf. E. J. Hundert, "A Satire of Self-Disclosure: From Hegel Through Rameau to the Augustans," JHI, 47 (1986), 235-48.
8. Sincerity and Authenticity (Cambridge, Mass., 1972), 26-52; cf. E. J. Hundert, "A Satire of Self-Disclosure: From Hegel Through Rameau to the Augustans," JHI, 47 (1986), 235-48.
9. Hans Robert Jauss, "The Dialogical and the Dialectical Neveu de Rameau; or, The Reciprocity between Diderot and Socrates, Hegel and Diderot" in Question and Answer: Forms of Dialogic Understanding, tr. Michael Hays (Minneapolis, 1989), 118-47; James Hulbert, "Diderot in the Text of Hegel: A Question of Intertextuality," Studies in Romanticism, 22 (1983), 267-91; David W. Price, "Hegel's Intertextual Dialectic: Diderot's Le Neveu de Rameau in the Phenomenology of Spirit" Clio, 20 (1991), 223-33; and Suzanne Gearhart, The Interrupted Dialectic: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and their Tragic Other (Baltimore, 1992), 157-81.
10. Hans Robert Jauss, "The Dialogical and the Dialectical Neveu de Rameau; or, The Reciprocity between Diderot and Socrates, Hegel and Diderot" in Question and Answer: Forms of Dialogic Understanding, tr. Michael Hays (Minneapolis, 1989), 118-47; James Hulbert, "Diderot in the Text of Hegel: A Question of Intertextuality," Studies in Romanticism, 22 (1983), 267-91; David W. Price, "Hegel's Intertextual Dialectic: Diderot's Le Neveu de Rameau in the Phenomenology of Spirit" Clio, 20 (1991), 223-33; and Suzanne Gearhart, The Interrupted Dialectic: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and their Tragic Other (Baltimore, 1992), 157-81.
11. Hans Robert Jauss, "The Dialogical and the Dialectical Neveu de Rameau; or, The Reciprocity between Diderot and Socrates, Hegel and Diderot" in Question and Answer: Forms of Dialogic Understanding, tr. Michael Hays (Minneapolis, 1989), 118-47; James Hulbert, "Diderot in the Text of Hegel: A Question of Intertextuality," Studies in Romanticism, 22 (1983), 267-91; David W. Price, "Hegel's Intertextual Dialectic: Diderot's Le Neveu de Rameau in the Phenomenology of Spirit" Clio, 20 (1991), 223-33; and Suzanne Gearhart, The Interrupted Dialectic: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and their Tragic Other (Baltimore, 1992), 157-81.
12. Hans Robert Jauss, "The Dialogical and the Dialectical Neveu de Rameau; or, The Reciprocity between Diderot and Socrates, Hegel and Diderot" in Question and Answer: Forms of Dialogic Understanding, tr. Michael Hays (Minneapolis, 1989), 118-47; James Hulbert, "Diderot in the Text of Hegel: A Question of Intertextuality," Studies in Romanticism, 22 (1983), 267-91; David W. Price, "Hegel's Intertextual Dialectic: Diderot's Le Neveu de Rameau in the Phenomenology of Spirit" Clio, 20 (1991), 223-33; and Suzanne Gearhart, The Interrupted Dialectic: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and their Tragic Other (Baltimore, 1992), 157-81.
13. See Price, 226, for an exception to this generalization.
14. Johann Peter Eckermann, Gespráche mit Goethe (Zurich, 1948), 628-29 (conversation of 3 May 1827).
15. Goethe had seen the play as a child; see The Autobiography of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, tr. John Oxenford (2 vols.; Chicago, 1974), I, 96.
16. See Goethe's notes to his translation of Rameaus Neffe, in Goethes Werke, XXV, 268.
17. See Milton F. Seiden, "Jean-François Rameau and Diderot's Nevue" Diderot Studies, I (1949), 143-91.
18. Schiller's letter to Körner described the work as "ein Gespräch welches der (fingirte) Neffe des Musicus Rameau mit Diderot führt," Schillers Briefwechsel mit Körner (4 vols.; Leipzig, 1847), IV, 484. Seiden, 186, notes that the Assézat-Tourneux edition of Diderot's Oeuvres mistranslates the letter so that "fingirte" modifies "Gespräch" rather than "Neffe," thus giving the impression that Schiller thought that the dialogue, and not the Nephew, was imaginary. For Goethe's discussion of doubts about the Nephew's existence, which were not put to rest until the 1820s, see his "Nachträgliches zu Rameaus Neffe," in Rameaus Neffe, 296-99.
19. Schiller's letter to Körner described the work as "ein Gespräch welches der (fingirte) Neffe des Musicus Rameau mit Diderot führt," Schillers Briefwechsel mit Körner (4 vols.; Leipzig, 1847), IV, 484. Seiden, 186, notes that the Assézat-Tourneux edition of Diderot's Oeuvres mistranslates the letter so that "fingirte" modifies "Gespräch" rather than "Neffe," thus giving the impression that Schiller thought that the dialogue, and not the Nephew, was imaginary. For Goethe's discussion of doubts about the Nephew's existence, which were not put to rest until the 1820s, see his "Nachträgliches zu Rameaus Neffe," in Rameaus Neffe, 296-99.
20. Goethe, Rameaus Neffe, 282-83
21. Ibid., 254.
22. Ibid., 285.
23. Ibid., 286
24. For a chronology of Hegel's work on the Phenomenology see the editors' note to Hegel, Phänomenologie des Geistes, ed. Wolfgang Bonsiepen and Reinhard Heede in Hegel, Gesammelte Werke (Hamburg, 1980), IX, 461-63.
25. Letter to Schelling of 1 May 1807, in Hegel, Briefe von und an Hegel (4 vols.; Hamburg, 1952-60), I, 161-62.
26. Hegel, Werke (20 vols.; Frankfurt, 1970), III, 326 (Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller [Oxford, 1977], 265).
27. Hegel, Werke (20 vols.; Frankfurt, 1970), III, 326 (Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller [Oxford, 1977], 265).
28. Judith Shklar, Freedom and Independence: A Study of the Political Ideas of Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind (Cambridge, 1976), 42-43, 142-45.
29. For Goethe, see Hyppolite, 501 and Donald Verene, Hegel 's Recollection: A Study of Images in the Phenomenology of Spirit (Albany, 1985), 100; for Jacobi, see the editors' note in Hegel, Gesammelte Werke, IX, 518.
30. For Goethe, see Hyppolite, 501 and Donald Verene, Hegel 's Recollection: A Study of Images in the Phenomenology of Spirit (Albany, 1985), 100; for Jacobi, see the editors' note in Hegel, Gesammelte Werke, IX, 518.
31. See Shklar, 44, 151 and Trilling, 43.
32. See E. L. Stahl, Die Religiose und die Humanitätsphilosophische Bildungsidee (Bern, 1934), 97-101 and Hans Sperber, "Der Einfluss des Pietismus auf die Sprache des 18 Jahrhunderts," Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, VIII (1930), 508-9.
33. See E. L. Stahl, Die Religiose und die Humanitätsphilosophische Bildungsidee (Bern, 1934), 97-101 and Hans Sperber, "Der Einfluss des Pietismus auf die Sprache des 18 Jahrhunderts," Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, VIII (1930), 508-9.
34. Rudolf Vierhaus, "Bildung," in O. Brunner, W. Linze, R. Koselleck (eds.), Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe (8 vols.; Stuttgart, 1972-73), I, 510.
35. See Johannes Hoffmeister, Dokumente zu Hegels Entwicklung (Stuttgart, 1936), 140-43.
36. Vierhaus, 511-15.
37. Ibid., 515-17.
38. Hegel, Werke, III, 31-32, 73, 363-90 (Phenomenology, 16-17; 50; 297-321). See John H. Smith, The Spirit and its Letter: Traces of Rhetoric in Hegel's Philosophy of Bildung (Ithaca, 1988), 200-201.
39. Hegel, Werke, III, 31-32, 73, 363-90 (Phenomenology, 16-17; 50; 297-321). See John H. Smith, The Spirit and its Letter: Traces of Rhetoric in Hegel's Philosophy of Bildung (Ithaca, 1988), 200-201.
40. Hegel, Werke, III, 31-32, 73, 363-90 (Phenomenology, 16-17; 50; 297-321). See John H. Smith, The Spirit and its Letter: Traces of Rhetoric in Hegel's Philosophy of Bildung (Ithaca, 1988), 200-201.
41. Ibid., III, 72-73 (49-50). For a discussion of this process, see Charles Taylor, "The Opening Arguments of the Phenomenology" in Alasdair MacIntyre (ed.), Hegel: A Collection of Critical Essays (New York, 1972), 157-61.
42. Ibid., III, 72-73 (49-50). For a discussion of this process, see Charles Taylor, "The Opening Arguments of the Phenomenology" in Alasdair MacIntyre (ed.), Hegel: A Collection of Critical Essays (New York, 1972), 157-61.
43. Ibid., III, 74(51).
44. Ibid., II, 558. For a discussion see Smith, 207.
45. Hegel, Werke, III, 361 (Phenomenology, 295).
46. Hegel, Werke, III, 361 (Phenomenology, 295).
47. For a discussion, see Jürgen Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, tr. F. Lawrence (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), 16-31.
48. See, for example, Hegel, Werke, II, 20-22 (translated by H. S. Harris and Walter Cerf as The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy [Albany, 1977], 89-91).
49. See, for example, Hegel, Werke, II, 20-22 (translated by H. S. Harris and Walter Cerf as The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy [Albany, 1977], 89-91).
50. Hegel, Werke, III, 387 (317-18). Hegel quotes (231) Goethe's translation (Le Neveu de Rameau, ed. Jean Fabre [Geneva, 1963], 83; Rameau's Nephew and Other Works, tr. Jacques Barzun and Ralph H. Bowen [Indianapolis, 1956], 67).
51. Hegel, Werke, III, 387 (317-18). Hegel quotes (231) Goethe's translation (Le Neveu de Rameau, ed. Jean Fabre [Geneva, 1963], 83; Rameau's Nephew and Other Works, tr. Jacques Barzun and Ralph H. Bowen [Indianapolis, 1956], 67).
52. Hegel, Werke, III, 387 (317-18). Hegel quotes (231) Goethe's translation (Le Neveu de Rameau, ed. Jean Fabre [Geneva, 1963], 83; Rameau's Nephew and Other Works, tr. Jacques Barzun and Ralph H. Bowen [Indianapolis, 1956], 67).
53. Ibid., III, 364 (298).
54. Hegel, Werke, III, 364-65 (Phenomenology, 298) quoting Goethe's translation 235 (Fabre, 90; Barzun and Bowen, 72).
55. Hegel, Werke, III, 364-65 (Phenomenology, 298) quoting Goethe's translation 235 (Fabre, 90; Barzun and Bowen, 72).
56. Ibid., III, 403 (332) quoting Goethe's translation, 229 (Fabre 82; Barzun and Bowen 66).
57. For discussions of this point see Jauss, 136-47, Hulbert, 276-83, and Price, 227-28.
58. Goethes Werke, XXV, 235 (Fabre, 89-90; Barzun and Bowen, 71-72, translation modified).
59. See Jauss, 138-39, and Herbert Dieckmann, "Diderots Le Neveu de Rameau und Hegels Interpretation des Werkes," Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, 10 (1980), 164-65.
60. See Jauss, 143-44.
61. The passage cited in Hegel, Werke, III, 387 (Phenomenology, 317-18) inserts p. 182 of Goethe's translation (Fahre 24; Barzun and Bowen, 23) into the longer passage from p. 231 (Fahre, 83; Barzun and Bowen, 67). Matters are further complicated by the presence of an unclosed (and misplaced) quotation mark in the Phenomenology. For discussions of Hegel's construction of this quotation see Jauss, 140-43, Price, 225-26, and Dieckmann, 166-67.
62. The passage cited in Hegel, Werke, III, 387 (Phenomenology, 317-18) inserts p. 182 of Goethe's translation (Fahre 24; Barzun and Bowen, 23) into the longer passage from p. 231 (Fahre, 83; Barzun and Bowen, 67). Matters are further complicated by the presence of an unclosed (and misplaced) quotation mark in the Phenomenology. For discussions of Hegel's construction of this quotation see Jauss, 140-43, Price, 225-26, and Dieckmann, 166-67.
63. For a discussion, see Gearhart, 165-68.
64. Hegel, Werke III, 387-88 (Phenomenology, 318, translation modified).
65. Hegel, Werke III, 387-88 (Phenomenology, 318, translation modified).
66. Curtius, "Diderot and Horace," European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, tr. Willard R. Task (New York, 1953), 573-83.
67. See Michael Bernstein, Bitter Carnival: Ressentiment and the Abject Hero (Princeton, 1992), 60.
68. Curtius, 582.
69. See Herbert Dieckmann, "The Relationship between Diderot's Satire I and Satire II," Romanic Review, 43 (1952), 12-26, and the discussion in Jauss, 121.
70. For the classic version of this argument see Carl Becker, "The Dilemma of Diderot," Philosophical Review, 24 (1915), 54-71. For two recent formulations of it, see Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame, 1981), 45-50, and Mark Hulliung, The Autocritique of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the Philosophes (Cambridge, Mass., 1994), 94-106.
71. For the classic version of this argument see Carl Becker, "The Dilemma of Diderot," Philosophical Review, 24 (1915), 54-71. For two recent formulations of it, see Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame, 1981), 45-50, and Mark Hulliung, The Autocritique of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the Philosophes (Cambridge, Mass., 1994), 94-106.
72. For the classic version of this argument see Carl Becker, "The Dilemma of Diderot," Philosophical Review, 24 (1915), 54-71. For two recent formulations of it, see Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame, 1981), 45-50, and Mark Hulliung, The Autocritique of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the Philosophes (Cambridge, Mass., 1994), 94-106.
73. Goethe, Rameaus Neffe, 285.
74. Ibid., 285.
75. Hegel, Werke, III, 328-34 (Phenomenology, 266-72).
76. Hegel, Werke, III, 328-34 (Phenomenology, 266-72).
77. Ibid., III, 347-49 (283-84).
78. Ibid., III, 361 (293).
79. For a discussion of Hegel's account, see Lewis Hinchman, Hegel's Critique of the Enlightenment (Gainesville, 1984), 104-15.
80. Hegel, Werke, III 367-68 (300-301).
81. Hegel, Werke, III, 368 (Phenomenology, 302).
82. Hegel, Werke, III, 368 (Phenomenology, 302).
83. Ibid., III, 372 (305).
84. Ibid., III, 373-75 (306-7). Hegel here recapitulates themes initially introduced in the well-known account of the dialectic of master and slave.
85. Ibid., III, 375 (307).
86. Ibid., III, 375-76 (308).
87. Ibid., III, 378 (310).
88. Ibid., III, 377-78 (310).
89. Ibid., III, 378 (310-11). For a discussion, see Jean Hyppolite, Genesis and Structure of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, tr. S. Cherniak and J. Heckman (Evanston, 1974), 404-6
90. Ibid., III, 378 (310-11). For a discussion, see Jean Hyppolite, Genesis and Structure of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, tr. S. Cherniak and J. Heckman (Evanston, 1974), 404-6
91. . 64 Ibid., III, 381 (312-13). Hinchman, 115, sees this as an allusion to the noblesse de robe, drawn to monarch because of the positions he could offer them.
92. Ibid., 111, 383-84 (315).
93. Goethe, Rameaus Neffe, 213 (Fahre, 63; Barzun and Bowen, 51). Bertin's mistress is - appropriately enough-"penetrée de la verité" of Rameau's comparison, but Bertin, outraged, banishes him from the table.
94. Hegel, Werke, III, 385-86 (Phenomenology, 316-17).
95. Hegel, Werke, III, 385-86 (Phenomenology, 316-17).
96. Goethe, Rameaus Neffe, 211 (Fahre, 60; Barzun and Bowen, 49-50).
97. Hegel, Werke, III, 384 (Phenomenology, 316).
98. Hegel, Werke, III, 384 (Phenomenology, 316).
99. Diderot, This is Not a Story and Other Stories, tr. P. N. Furbank (Columbia, Mo., 1991), 17.
100. For this reason, few recent studies of Diderot manage to avoid mentioning Bakhtin.
101. Hegel, Werke, XI, 269-70. See the discussion in Hulbert, 275-76.
102. See Hulbert, 278.
103. For a discussion, see Smith, 211.
104. Goethes Werke, XXV, 230 (Fahre, 83; Barzun and Bowen, 67).
105. Hegel, Werke, III, 386 (Phenomenology, 317).
106. Hegel, Werke, III, 386 (Phenomenology, 317).
107. Ibid., III, 386-87 (317).
108. Hegel, Werke, III, 128-36 (Phenomenology, 97-103). Price (226-27) offers a brief discussion of the "associative link" between the "inverted world" and Rameau's Nephew.
109. Hegel, Werke, III, 128-36 (Phenomenology, 97-103). Price (226-27) offers a brief discussion of the "associative link" between the "inverted world" and Rameau's Nephew.
110. This has been appreciated by Roger Laufer, "Structure et Signification du 'Neveu de Rameau' de Diderot," Revue des sciences humaines, 100 (1960), 400.
111. Hegel, Werke, III, 398-99 (Phenomenology, 328-29).
112. Hegel, Werke, III, 398-99 (Phenomenology, 328-29).
113. Ibid., III, 390 (320).
114. For a critical discussion of differing interpretations of the Hegelian "we," see Kenley R. Dove, "Hegel's Phenomenological Method," Review of Metaphysics, 23 (1970), 627-41.
115. For arguments along these lines see Jauss, 143-47 and Hulbert, 288-91. Cf. Price 232-33.
116. See M. J. Petry's discussion in Hegel's Philosophy of Subjective Spirit (3 vols.; Dordrecht, 1978), I, x-xix.