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Hegel was a known admirer of Jacob Boehme , a German mystic who used Hermetic ideas. From Boehme, Hegel likely drew the idea of a "dark ground" or negativity within God that drives the movement of the dialectic (thesis, antithesis, synthesis).
The relationship between and the Hermetic tradition is one of the most fascinating "hidden" chapters in the history of Western philosophy . While Hegel is often presented as the ultimate rationalist, scholar Glenn Alexander Magee famously argued in Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition (2001) that Hegel’s system was deeply influenced by mystical and occult currents. 1. The Core Argument: Rationalizing the Mystical Hegel and the hermetic tradition
Critics of this theory argue that Hegel used mystical terminology only as metaphors. However, Magee points out that Hegel’s library was full of Hermetic texts, and he even used in his private notebooks. Even the term "Speculative Philosophy" carries the weight of the speculum (mirror), reflecting the Hermetic idea of the world as a mirror of the divine. Conclusion Hegel was a known admirer of Jacob Boehme
The Hermetic goal is gnosis —total, transformative knowledge. Hegel’s "Absolute Knowing" at the end of the Phenomenology of Spirit functions as a secularized version of this mystical union, where the distinction between the knower and the known finally vanishes. 3. Hegel’s "Magic" Language While Hegel is often presented as the ultimate
In the Hermetic tradition, the universe is a process of through creation. Hegel mirrors this in his concept of Geist (Spirit or Mind). For Hegel, history is the process of Spirit alienating itself into the material world and then returning to itself through human consciousness. 2. Key Overlaps