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In his essay "Das literarische Erbe Hegels" ("The fate of Hegel's literary legacy", 1931) Lifshits addressed the fate of Hegelianism in the first third of the 20th century. He observed a struggle surrounding Hegel's heritage between Marxism on the one hand, and Neo-Hegelianism or "the Hegel renaissance" on the other hand and came to the conclusion that the only legitimate Hegel heir is—Marxism. According to Lifshits, Neo-Hegelianism exploits the "Hegelian state" to justify the modern power state by illegitimately shifting the meaning of the Hegelian concept of the state. Thanks to Kojève's philosophy, a diffuse yet profound Neo-Hegelian influence continues to have an impact on modern thinking, which gives cause in this essay to examine Lifshits' verdict on the illegitimacy of the Neo-Hegelian Hegel heritage by confronting his argumentation with Kojève's Neo-Hegelian concept. So, this essay will update Lifshits' perspective on the fate of Hegelianism and broaden it beyond the horizon that was available to Lifshits.

DOI: 10.1007/s11212-016-9267-4

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