Ryan Johnson, associate professor of philosophy, traces the influence of German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel in the work of American philosophers in “Three American Hegels.”
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy Ryan Johnson published his seventh book this fall, an exploration of three seminal American philosophers who shaped national thought by incorporating the work of German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel.
“Three American Hegels,” published by Rowman and Littlefield, examines the lives and work of American philosophers Henry C. Brokmeyer, Henry Horace Williams and John William Miller. Overlooked until now, each contributed to a uniquely American philosophy — pragmatism — that stemmed from their interpretation of Hegel’s ideas.
“These three thinker-practitioners seeded American philosophy in ways that the discipline often ignores but that shaped philosophy as a practice on this continent — through translations of Hegel, founding the first English-language journal of philosophy, and especially teaching and mentoring generations of thinkers,” said Johnson.
Johnson was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend and the North Caroliniana Society’s Archie K. Davis Fellowship to complete research for the book, which included archival studies of Brokmeyer’s, Williams’ and Miller’s lectures and letters. Johnson also uncovered Brokmeyer’s unpublished manuscript of an English translation of Hegel’s “The Science of Logic.”
Brokmeyer, Williams and Miller used Hegel’s philosophy as a guide to life as much as — or more than — they wrote about his work, which is part of the reason the story of their relationships to the German philosopher’s work have been obscured, Johnson said.
What drew you to explore these three American thinkers, in particular?
Each of them came to me at different times and from different derations, yet they all shared that emphasis on seeing Hegelianism as lived and practicable. I learned of Brokmeyer in a roti shop in Toronto, of Williams at an art show in his still-standing house in Chapel Hill and of Miller through a mentor who noticed something Millerian in my pedagogy while I was teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
What are key aspects of Hegel’s philosophy that influenced them or their lives?
Most readings of Hegel cast him as the most abstract, far from everyday existence, philosopher ever. But these three American thinkers run headfirst and with abandon in the opposite direction. For them, what matters, what is most Hegelian, is grappling with the complicated demands of one’s concrete circumstances, wherever one is. Brokmeyer thought the best place for understanding key Hegelian concepts was hunting squirrel, Horace Williams said he saw Hegelianism most vivid on the streets of Chapel Hill and Miller practiced Hegel’s dialectics in letters and personal relationships.
What do you hope readers and thinkers take from “Three American Hegels”?
I hope readers glean many things. First, to learn about these fascinating yet overlooked thinkers and want to learn more. Second, to discover a kind of Hegelianism that is very much distinct from the traditional interpretations and to see more rich philosophical traditions in the U.S. besides just pragmatism. Finally, to see a type of philosophy that does not shy away from the personal but also does not fetishize individualism: to see the whole in the part and the part in the whole. In this book, I try to cast philosophy as a process of working out of history by working history out. At the end of the day, I am an American philosopher, and the lived Hegelianism I value compels me to work out what that means today so that American philosophy will be better tomorrow.
—
This is Johnson’s second book examining Hegel’s work. The first, “Phenomenology of Black Spirit,” co-authored with Biko Mandela Gray, explored the relationship between Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit” and Black thought in America.