Abstract

The thesis of this study is that Hegelian historicism plays a foundational role in the thought of several postwar American conservative intellectuals, in particular Will Herberg, Karl Wittfogel, Eric Voegelin, Frank Meyer, and James Burnham. It is a peculiarly anti-Hegelian Hegelianism that Gottfried has in mind. He describes it as “residual,” “unacknowledged,” “subterranean,” and “disguised.” For his heroes hardly ever identify themselves as either Hegelians or historicists. More frequently, their public comments on Hegel are negative. “But the evidence of their debt to Hegelian and other forms of historicism is both abundant and clear”.