Rosy Cross: Questions of Right, Power, Love and Freedom

The two-day event held on October 5th and 6th, 2024, under the title Rosy Cross: Questions of Right, Power, Love, Freedom, gathered a diverse set of speakers to engage with themes loosely associated with Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. While the conference was ostensibly framed as an exploration of Hegel’s political philosophy, the discussions often diverged from a faithful interpretation of his work, offering a wide array of speculative and contemporary takes that stretched the boundaries of Hegelian thought.

The first day opened with Cadell Last, whose talk on “Rosy Cross” seemed more focused on metaphysical and symbolic interpretations of the concept than on Hegel’s philosophy of law, freedom, and ethics. Dimitri Crooijmans followed with an abstract treatment of freedom, but his approach was far removed from Hegel’s analysis of legal and ethical institutions.

Several speakers on Day 1 ventured into niche topics that strayed from the Philosophy of Right. Eliot Rosenstock‘s presentation, “Spirit at the Limit,” leaned into existential and psychoanalytic themes, which, while tangentially related to Hegelian “Spirit,” did little to engage with his core ideas on rights and the state. Sahil Sasidharan attempted to tether Marxist theory back to Hegel with his talk on “Marx’s (Re)turn to Hegel,” but his focus on political economy bypassed the systematic logic that underpins Hegel’s work on ethics and law.

Max Macken’s exploration of Hegel’s critique of liberalism hinted at some familiar Hegelian critiques of individualism but lacked a deep engagement with Hegel’s intricate dialectic of civil society and the state. James Wisdom’s talk, “The Philosophy of Wrong,” seemed to take a playful or contrarian approach to Hegel’s ethics, but it ended up distorting Hegel’s careful distinction between abstract right, morality, and ethical life (Sittlichkeit). The remaining presentations, including Bram E. Gieben’s speculative discussion of technology and theology and David McKerracher’s idiosyncratic take on time and energy, further strayed from Hegel’s concerns.

The second day continued in a similarly eclectic vein, with some attempts to reconnect with Hegel’s framework. Quinn Whelehan addressed political crises and contradictions, which could have been a useful avenue for engaging with Hegel’s dialectical method, but his talk took a more postmodernist turn. Kalyani Vaishnavi explored the distinction between reason and understanding, touching on a classic Hegelian theme, but the presentation lacked a thorough connection to the ethical and political dimensions central to Philosophy of Right.

Cleo Kearns’ exploration of Hegel, slavery, and Afro-pessimism provided a critical rethinking of Hegel’s controversial remarks on slavery, though this contemporary critique was far from a neutral reading of Hegel’s original texts. Talks by Daniel L. Garner, Alex Ebert, and Daniel Tutt on power, meta-politics, and Marxist readings of Hegel further abstracted Hegel’s thought into modern political theory frameworks, often ignoring the text’s detailed structure regarding legal rights, ethical life, and the state’s role.

While the conference promised a reexamination of the themes of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, it frequently deviated from the original text’s rigorous dialectical analysis of right, power, and freedom. Many of the presentations projected contemporary concerns—postmodernism, Marxism, metaphysics—onto Hegel’s work without faithfully engaging with the methodical structure and systematic goals of Philosophy of Right. As a result, the event felt more like a speculative exploration of modern ideas loosely inspired by Hegel, rather than a rigorous analysis or extension of his political philosophy.

Saturday October 5th 2024

Cadell Last – Rosy Cross
Dimitri Crooijmans – On Freedom
Eliot Rosenstock – Spirit at the Limit
Sahil Sasidharan – Marx’s (Re)turn to Hegel: A Political Economy of Right?
Max Macken – Hegel’s Critique of Liberalism
James Wisdom – The Philosophy of Wrong
Bram E. Gieben – The Darkest Timeline: God From A Machine
David McKerracher – Timenergy Lack and Energytime
Benjamin Studebaker – Democratic Crisis Through Bird Metaphors