Old Hegelians

Also known as “Right Hegelians”. Formed in the 1830–1840s, they belonged to the conservative faction of the Hegelians. They represented the interests of the Junker aristocracy. Their chief representatives were Hinrichs, Gabler, among others.

Old Hegelians clung to the conservative theoretical system of Hegelian objective idealism, were mesmerized by the perfect and refined appearance of the Hegelian system, and lacked the ability to look at Hegel's theoretical system with a developmental eye, while at the same time abandoning his idea of dialectics. Starting from Hegel's idea of reconciling philosophy and religion, they proceeded to interpret Hegelian philosophy in terms of orthodox Christian theology, holding that the Hegelian system is a final, absolute system, and thus fully equating Hegel's absolute spirit with the Christian God. They interpreted Hegelian system in the supra-natural sense, claimed that Hegelian philosophy was a Christian theology expounded in a “rational form”, advocated that Hegelian logic was sacred and omnipotent—a stiff formula that can be applied to any topic. In this regard, Marx and Engels pointed out that the Old Hegelians comprehended everything as soon as it was reduced to a Hegelian logical category. Politically, the Old Hegelians unilaterally proclaimed the point of view that “reality is reasonable”, supported the Church to protect religious theology, defended the power of the Prussian king, aimed to maintain the German feudal-despotic system, opposed the demands of German bourgeois democratic revolution, and blatantly defended the Prussian Dynasty. They were the ideological representatives of German feudal aristocracy and the conservative group of the bourgeoisie that compromised with the feudal forces.