Toward a Theory of Organic Relations: Hegel's Social Theory from Tübingen to Jena

This book thematises Hegel s earliest writings to explore the role an organic theory plays in his understanding of politics, society, ethics, culture and human nature. The book develops a relational account of the organic where the relations constitutive of the socio-political realm are understood as recognitive ones. Ultimately Hegel presents a non holistic relational social theory mediating the tensions between holism and individualism. This book contributes to the small body of English language writings devoted to Hegel s Early Theological Writings. It does so by showing that many of the features important to Hegel s later work are present in his earliest thinking in a more radical form. Most importantly it demonstrates that both a relational theory of Geist and an ethics of recognition are present in his thinking as early as 1793 and emerged through his thinking about the relationship between religion and society.