Von Tragödie und Komödie zum absoluten Geist. Die Funktion der Kunst in Hegels Naturrechtsaufsatz

This article aims to clarify Hegel’s reference to art in connection with his view of the relationship between spirit and nature in his Naturrechtsaufsatz. I will show that the art reference is by no means only a metaphorical one and that, on the contrary, it has a central, though precarious, systematic role. On this basis I will further argue that the Naturrechtsaufsatz represents a milestone in the development of Hegel’s philosophy, contributing to demonstrate that his later system cannot be read in terms of a conservative erasure of the early criticalrevolutionary thread, but on the contrary as a concrete and consistent answer to it. In pursuing these two goals, in the first section I will comment on the relevant passages on the tragedy and comedy in the ethical realm and elucidate their essential, non-metaphorical philosophical function. In the second section I show how Hegel’s conception of the unity of ethical life as an alternative model to modern atomism is informed by the art reference developed in those passages. The third section clarifies in more detail the connection between Hegel’s art reference in the Naturrechtsaufsatz and the meaning of the thesis of the superiority of spirit over nature, and briefly explores the later development of this connection from the Phenomenology of Spirit to the system of the absolute spirit.