How to 'Love Thy Neighbor': Lessons from Hegel on Conflict and Reconciliation

Molly Farneth, Assistant Professor of Religion, Haverford CollegeIn the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel suggests that the command to “love thy neighbor as thyself” is, when considered abstractly, all form and no content. It is, he says, a “mere ought.” Some suggest that this is Hegel’s final word on the matter, and that he abandons the concept of love as irrelevant to the political and philosophical concerns that drive his work. But that’s not so. Later in the book, Hegel shows what it would be to love thy neighbor, through a discussion of a conflict that is resolved through practices of mutual confession and forgiveness. These practices – and the relationship of reciprocal recognition that emerges from them – give content to the command to love thy neighbor as thyself. For a society rife with disagreement, Hegel offers a way of thinking about the love command that embraces the perpetuity of conflict and the ongoing work of reconciliation.Molly Farneth is Assistant Professor of Religion at Haverford College. She works in the area of American and European religious thought and ethics, from the 19th century to the present, with particular attention to religion and politics, ritual studies, and feminist and gender studies in religion. Her research and teaching explore the relationship between religious diversity and democracy, and the ways that members of diverse communities confront ethical conflicts and forge solidarity across religious and racial differences. She is the author of Hegel’s Social Ethics: Religion, Conflict, and Rituals of Reconciliation (Princeton University Press, 2017) and is working on a book on the political significance of rituals.

When 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Location School of Theology, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325
Contact Name Troy DuJardin
Phone (617) 353-3067
Contact Email ipr@bu.edu