ABSTRACT
In the midst of the optimism of the nineteenth century, Hegel reflexively grounded modernity in spirit and constructed a progressive vision of world history. The twentieth century, especially around the years immediately following World War I and beyond, witnessed a counter-current against Hegel, modernity and history. From both cultural and political perspectives, the path of Western modernity no longer appeared as a universal goal; rather, a fulfilling human life seemed to entail an overcoming of the modern predicament, along with its various divisions and sense of time. People began to doubt the project of reconciliation at the center of Hegel’s philosophy in which various spheres of life, including art and religion, form a coherent whole. The problem was not merely the left Hegelian project of completing Hegel’s thought; rather, intellectuals presented a counter-vision of human emancipation and history or even a vision of emancipation outside of history. At issue here are alternative conceptions of time and history informed by rethinking the role of religion in history. This chapter discusses a number of these anti-modern and post-Hegelian thinkers in Germany and Japan, including Franz Rosenzweig, Walter Benjamin, Nishida Kitarō, and Miki Kiyoshi, who each invoke the past that confront the present.
