Philosophy of History as Theodicy (DOI: 10.2436/20.3001.01.10)

Abstract

Taking Adorno’s critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of History as the point of departure, (1) the general lines of Modern Philosophy of History are exposed (2) in order to present the issues they have in common and those in which they collide. The Hegelian Philosophy of History (3) can be characterized by considering the pain and the negative. It confers on the afore mentioned topics a relevancy which they had never had before, so it becomes a point of inflexion which is itself revealed in the fact of dealing with the Philosophy of History as a Theodicy. Despite the initially expressed intention of carrying out in the concrete area of History the Theodicy which Leibniz depicted in a metaphysical and abstract way, the said intention is not ever realized in the Philosophy of History (it only conceptualizes Theodicy insofar as it furnishes action with a frame of sense), but in the Absolute Spirit, in his reference to Christianity and
more specifically in Incarnation and in Christ’s death.

Key words: Hegel, Philosophy of History, Theodicy