Hegel’s Constellation of the Feminine between Philosophy and Life. A Tribute to Dieter Henrich’s Konstellationsforschung

The poetic constellation of the feminine that can be glimpsed in Hegelian philosophy is very articulated and luminous. There are in fact numerous female figures that cross and accompany Hegelian reflection: from the more traditional ones, like Mary, to the more perverse and ambitious ones like Lady Macbeth; from the mysterious and disturbing sphinx with female face and animal body to the naive Shakespearean creatures – the beautiful souls, Julia and Miranda; from the subversive Antigone to the good bourgeois woman. At the same time, these poetic, mythological and literary figures reflect and intersect with female figures that truly marked Hegel’s existence for a short time or in a much more radical way in a lively and virtually unexplored synergy between philosophy and life.