Samenvatting

How can the debate on the place of religion in society in relation to the state, that has reached a deadlock in unbridgeable opposites, be drawn afloat again? In this contribution a lance will be broken for a philosophical approach to this issue. In view of an analysis of the main religious- and legal-philosophical work of two philosophical giants, the 19th Century German Idealist G.W.F. Hegel, and the contemporary Discourse theorist Jürgen Habermas, a double perspective will be cast on the central question of this debate. It will show surprising deep structures and sorely needed prospects.