Abstract

ABSTRACTI relate the aesthetic mediation of reason and the identity of religion and mythology found in theEarliest System-Programme of German Idealismto Hegel's account of the transition from the ancient Greek religion of art to the revealed religion in his theory of absolute spirit. While this transition turns on the idea that the revealed religion mediates reason more adequately in virtue of its form, I argue that Hegel's account of the limitations of religious representational thought, when taken in conjunction with some of his ideas concerning Romantic art, suggests that he fails to demonstrate the necessity of the transition in question, thus undermining the triadic structure of his theory of absolute spirit.