The event of absolute freedom

Abstract

It is argued that the critique of the French Revolution that Hegel develops in the Phenomenology of Spirit can be fruitfully understood as exposing the problematic relationship that the revolution had to its own character as an historical event. Hegel’s critique of the revolution’s operative commitment to an abstract, ahistorical rationality is explored by way of a study of the significance of the revolutionaries’ attempt to institute a radical new calendar system: it is argued that the Republican Calendar provides an exemplary case for understanding the particular nature of the tension Hegel identifies between the domain of historical particularity and eventfulness, on the one hand, and the universal, timeless character of abstract reason, on the other.