You'll have noted that the main source of this article is Eric Vöegelin, for whom the present writer has particular enthusiasm. Vöegelin has well acknowledged Hegel's towering genius, as for instance here:
In the construction of [Hegel's] system, it is true, the Second Reality ... prevails and badly deforms the existence of the philosopher and spiritualist. But Hegel does not always construct his system. He can write brilliant commonsense studies on politics, as well as literary essays which reveal him as a master of the German language and a great man of letters. Moreover, the systematic works themselves are filled with excellent philosophical and historical analyses which can stand for themselves, unaffected in their integrity by the system into which they are built.Elsewhere Vöegelin states that the Phänomenologie ought to be required reading for every doctoral candidate in philosophy.
In short, Vöegelin is an admirer of Hegel. He takes him to task, however, for the "magical" aspects of his work, which Hegel himself put there of course. And so, Vöegelin comes to characterize Hegel as "the coexistence of two selves, as an existence divided into a true and false self holding one another in such balance that neither the one nor the other ever becomes completely dominant. Neither does the true self become strong enough to break the system, nor does the false self become strong enough to transform Hegel into a murderous revolutionary or a psychiatric case." ["On Hegel: A Study in Sorcery," p. 217.]
I don't think Vöegelin has thrown Hegel under the bus. Neither was that the intent of the present writer.
Thanks ever so much for writing, MadDawg!
Didn’t Eric Vöegelin write a book about the history of the idea of progress?
Yeah. The ones that survive not only get a doctorate but a medal for endurance AND treatment for PTSD.
Okay. So he wasn't trashing him as badly as a I thought. I've been doing polemics too long. Time for another retreat.