Books by Robert M Wallace
Macrina Magazine, 2022
Abstract: None of the leading ancient Greek philosophers rejected the concept of God, and leading... more Abstract: None of the leading ancient Greek philosophers rejected the concept of God, and leading modern philosophers in the age of science haven’t done so either. From René Descartes through G.W.F. Hegel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alfred North Whitehead, and Iris Murdoch, important philosophers have made the notion of God central to their thinking, while making no appeal, for this purpose, to sacred writings or to what’s commonly called “faith.” In this essay, I outline a “God of the philosophers” of which we have direct knowledge, and which performs the main functions that are performed by traditional theistic Gods.
Papers by Robert M Wallace
Philosophical Mysticism in Plato, Hegel, and the Present, 2020
Probaby one of the biggest mysteries of Plato interpretation is, why should we agree with him tha... more Probaby one of the biggest mysteries of Plato interpretation is, why should we agree with him that the Good "provides being and essence" [to einai te kai ten ousian] to the things that we know [Republic 509b])? Most modern thought assumes the opposite: that what is can be good or bad, indifferently. This essay aims to show how Plato is right, and modern thought is wrong, so that (for example) the natural sciences as we currently understand them, which give no special role to the Good, can't be the final authority regarding what is or is real. Only what responds to the Good can be said to be or be real in the fullest sense of those words. The essay also responds to many of the objections that are raised against Platonism by writers like Thomas Hobbes,
In this book, Robert Wallace shows that the repeated pronouncements of the death of Hegel's philo... more In this book, Robert Wallace shows that the repeated pronouncements of the death of Hegel's philosophical system have been premature. Wallace brings to light unique arguments in Hegel for the reality of freedom, of God, and of knowledge-each of them understood as intimately connected to nature, but not as reducible to it-and for the irrationality of egoism. And Wallace systematically answers many of the major criticisms that have been leveled at Hegel's system, from Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, and Marx through Heidegger and Charles Taylor. The book provides detailed interpretations of the major works of Hegel's mature system-his entire Philosophy of Spirit, most of his indispensable Science of Logic, and key parts of his Philosophy of Nature and Philosophy of Right. With the exception of Chapters 4 and 5, which will particularly interest advanced students, Hegel's Philosophy of Reality, Freedom, and God is written for students of philosophy at all levels. Wallace explains Hegel's terminology thoroughly, analyzes many important passages from Hegel's works in detail, and outlines alternative approaches (Plato's, Hume's, and Kant's, among others), so that the distinctiveness of Hegel's solutions becomes apparent.
Hegel Jahrbuch, 2019
Plato was among the first to give prominence to the apparent conflicts between philosophy, religi... more Plato was among the first to give prominence to the apparent conflicts between philosophy, religion, and the arts, conflicts that are still alive in modern cultures. Philosophers often challenge the legitimacy of religion, in various ways; philosophy as an advocate of ethics challenges the arts as lacking a moral compass; and advocates of the arts and religion stage counterattacks against these challenges. However, Plato wasn’t only a critic of religion and the arts. He had his own preferred version of religion, and his own practice of art, of which he was quite aware. And in modern times, Hegel presents a systematic account of the sciences, the arts, religion, and philosophy, as aspects of “Spirit,” which shows how all of them make indispensable contributions to freedom and thus, in fact, to the highest and most "real" reality. My goal in this talk is to show how, elaborating on Plato’s hints on these issues, Hegel not only resolves the disputes between the sciences, the arts, religion, and philosophy, but reveals a unified higher and more real reality that is composed of efforts within all of these cultural domains.
Hegel's Philosophy of Reality, Freedom, and God, 2005
In this book, Robert Wallace shows that the repeated pronouncements of the death of Hegel's philo... more In this book, Robert Wallace shows that the repeated pronouncements of the death of Hegel's philosophical system have been premature. Wallace brings to light unique arguments in Hegel for the reality of freedom, of God, and of knowledge-each of them understood as intimately connected to nature, but not as reducible to it-and for the irrationality of egoism. And Wallace systematically answers many of the major criticisms that have been leveled at Hegel's system, from Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, and Marx through Heidegger and Charles Taylor. The book provides detailed interpretations of the major works of Hegel's mature system-his entire Philosophy of Spirit, most of his indispensable Science of Logic, and key parts of his Philosophy of Nature and Philosophy of Right. With the exception of Chapters 4 and 5, which will particularly interest advanced students, Hegel's Philosophy of Reality, Freedom, and God is written for students of philosophy at all levels. Wallace explains Hegel's terminology thoroughly, analyzes many important passages from Hegel's works in detail, and outlines alternative approaches (Plato's, Hume's, and Kant's, among others), so that the distinctiveness of Hegel's solutions becomes apparent.
Routledge Handbook of Idealism and Immaterialism, ed. B. Göcke and J. Farris, 2021
In this essay I will show how Hegel belongs in the broadly Platonic tradition (which includes Ari... more In this essay I will show how Hegel belongs in the broadly Platonic tradition (which includes Aristotle), and how this tradition explains knowledge, value, and freedom or rational functioning better than common-sense ‘realism’ or Berkeleyan or Kantian versions of ‘idealism’ can explain them.
This paper shows how Hegel's conception of infinity enables him to integrate science and religion... more This paper shows how Hegel's conception of infinity enables him to integrate science and religion, and the " natural " and the " supernatural, " more explicitly and effectively than any other well-known writer has done. (Though in retrospect one can see a similar integration at work in the whole broadly Platonic
Drafts by Robert M Wallace
"Ideell" is a key term in Hegel's explanation of his special variety of "idealism," in his Scienc... more "Ideell" is a key term in Hegel's explanation of his special variety of "idealism," in his Science of Logic. Previous translators rendered it as "ideal," while in some cases explaining how this is a fairly misleading translation. DiGiovanni translates it as "idealization." I don't propose a particular translation; rather, I challenge DiGiovanni's rationale for his translation. It seems to me that DiGiovanni's translation and his rationale for it will introduce unnecessary confusion into English-language discussion of this key issue.
These are notes on and quotations from Hegel's Science of Logic, structured according to the book... more These are notes on and quotations from Hegel's Science of Logic, structured according to the book's table of contents. My aim is to bring out and briefly explain many of the book's key concepts and transitions. The main accomplishments of the Science of Logic are that, by developing a more incisive and comprehensive conception of reality, (1) it establishes Hegel's version of "idealism," overcoming what we call the "subject/ object" divide, which Hegel often calls the "opposition of consciousness," (2) it revises the inherited metaphysics of substance, attribute, etc., and derives a logic of thought, concept, judgment, and syllogism from this revised metaphysics, (3) it unifies what we call "fact" and "value," "description" and "evaluation," and "mechanism" and "teleology," (4) it integrates rational freedom with non-rational necessity and mechanism,
(5) it shows the incoherence of self-preoccupied “egoism,” and
(6) it provides a conception of a transcendent and rational divinity that is inseparable from a world of finite beings such as us, so that we know this divinity directly; and thus it integrates a rational religion with science.
Book Reviews by Robert M Wallace
Times Literary Supplement, 2011
This book is about ecstasy, which the authors refer to metaphorically as "shining" or "whooshing ... more This book is about ecstasy, which the authors refer to metaphorically as "shining" or "whooshing up." Dreyfus is a professor of philosophy at Berkeley and Kelly is the same at Harvard. It's rare to find professional philosophers addressing such a pregnant topic in a book intended for a broad audience. The authors' provocative thesis is that in modern times we dither and we're sad, or else we're fanatically self-centered, because we can't engage with the world in the way that Homeric Greeks and medieval Christians could. "The shining things now seem far away," Dreyfus and Kelly write. My review of their book shows how ecstasy is always available and how it is explained better by Platonism than it is by Dreyfus and Kelly.
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Books by Robert M Wallace
Papers by Robert M Wallace
Drafts by Robert M Wallace
(5) it shows the incoherence of self-preoccupied “egoism,” and
(6) it provides a conception of a transcendent and rational divinity that is inseparable from a world of finite beings such as us, so that we know this divinity directly; and thus it integrates a rational religion with science.
Book Reviews by Robert M Wallace
(5) it shows the incoherence of self-preoccupied “egoism,” and
(6) it provides a conception of a transcendent and rational divinity that is inseparable from a world of finite beings such as us, so that we know this divinity directly; and thus it integrates a rational religion with science.