The Impact on Christianity in Europe in the 19th Century - Research Paper Example

Hegel and Kierkegaard – Theories and Philosophies “Not curiosity, not vanity, not the consideration of expediency, not duty and conscientiousness, but an unquenchable, unhappy thirst that brooks no compromise leads us to truth”. These are the words that were once famously spoken by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). Hegel was a famous German philosopher of the late 18th century and 19th century. His famous works include theories on “absolute idealism”, negativity, “spirit”, ethical life, and “dialectic”. Hegel gave his views on the relative status of religions in 1820. He wrote about Christianity and other religions from the then prevailing European thoughts and views and preferred Christian theology over others. His belief was that Christianity was the best form of religion practiced amongst all others and the Lutheran sect of Christianity was of a higher form when compared to Catholic, Puritan or Anglican sects. The main idea of Hegels dialectic is that all things and notions have internal contradictions. From Hegels point of view, understanding a thing or a notion will show that beneath the facade of an apparently simple view lies an inner contradiction. This inner contradiction would dissolve the simple form to a higher level, complex thing or idea that would properly withhold the contradiction. The triadic form of Hegel (being-nothingness-becoming/ immediate-mediate-concrete/ abstract-negative-concrete) describes this movement from inner contradiction to higher-level integration or unification ultimately gaining self realization which is the “absolute idea or knowledge” of mind and spirit or the closest, one can come to God. Hegel had given the need for dialectics and stated it is required to study things as they are and from there to show the bounds of partial classes of understanding. He referred to his dialectic as “the experience of consciousness” and its phenomenology as “the science of the experience of consciousness” (qtd. in Beiser 20). At the time of German idealism which was started by Hegel along with Fichte and Schelling he borrowed Kants theory of immanent ism and made it more radical or fundamental. Kant had modified enlightenments dogmatic emphasis on the world that is empirical and Hegel approved of it. However Kant had progressed till the “idealism of the finite” and according to Hegel it was not enough. Hegel wanted to develop idealism further so that faith and knowledge are inter-related and gelled together in the Absolute. He said that the traditional age old evidences of Gods existence were the true signs of the finite souls urge to uphold itself and become one with the God. According to Hegel, in Christianity religion this urge to become one with the god manifests itself through feelings which in turn go through conflict and opposition internally which is not only subjective. The urge to be one with god moves into the feeling of the man and then from this urge or content the feeling would get its will of deciding or determining. So if faith is once seeded into a mans soul it can be defended and protected by the internal spirit of honesty or truth. So Hegel tried to rationalize Christianity by empirically proving god by saying that God exists in everything and everything is god itself (pantheism). Everything that exists, though different from each other owing to natural needs, is actually a part of God itself and has no existence outside it. Hegel says that there is only one god or being and all things are a definite part of it. All soul and nature become one in God. Faith becomes only a way of showing finiteness when looking at it from the rational overview of the infinite and it is only a way or a medium by which one can attain absolute knowledge or God. Ethics - Hegel when discussing ethics theorized that, ethics to be in its purest form must be free from all dictatorial and dominating spirit. It should be free from usage of any power or force. So the original Gospel about Jesus, according to Hegel, being a teaching of Ethics and morals was nothing but a religion that preached freedom without any hint of any authoritarian spirit. Any form of authoritarian nature hampers the spirit of freedom and in turn destroys the philosophy of Ethics. According to Hegel from his point of Ethics, authoritarian spirit in religion cannot be the real form as the true form of virtue can only emerge from free one. His examination of the moral side of the good and the conscience has concluded that coming together of the objective good and subjectivity of ones own will is not possible to achieve at personal morality level. This can happen only at the level of ethical life which according to Hegel is the very concept of freedom and self realization or consciousness. So ethical level of life will have both the objectivity(state and other institutions) which will be relying entirely on the self realization or consciousness of its citizens and their freedom and also subjectivity which will be the ethical will (not moral will) of the individual citizen ready to perform its objective duties through the internal feeling of universality. So a complete ethical life signifies that the people should be aware of the authority of ethical rules and regulations and also act for the ethical good. This authority should be like an identity of the ethical order. As Hegel claims “for the subject, ethical substance, its law and powers... possess as object...an absolute infinitely more solid authority and power than the being of nature” (qtd. in Hinchman 97). In doing ethical duty one will get freedom from impulsive urges and also from vague subjectivity. When ethical order is followed an individual will show virtue. When ethical life becomes a normal way of living and ethical practices a norm of life then all the self will and conscience of the individual disappears. However one does not lose the right to free activity and be satisfied in their pursuits. But the right is there only when one belongs to an ethical order objectively. So an individual living in an ethical order will have rights and duties both. The formation of a family is ethical is an immediate and natural forming. It has love and unity and here all are the members of a family and not an individual. Civil society is formed by individuals who all are not united as in a family but come together for mutual benefit. At the end is the formation of a political state which will bring in some form of unity with the feeling of whole or universal well being and will also bring in individual freedom. According to Hegel Christianity is completely related to his stand on Ethics. For Hegel the true essence of ethics is the core of true Christianity. So according to Hegel becoming a true Christian is a matter of practicing ethics to the core and to the ethical order to which he belongs and following their rule and regulation out of his own ethical will. As Hegel frames it “The living ethical world is Spirit in its truth”(Hegel 265). Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813- 1855) who was a founder member of existentialism was also a well known religious thinker. Brought up and studied under the Hegelian influence he however later undertook an anti Hegelian stance in his ideas and thoughts as was evidenced from his writings, as he once said “Great men try in vain to mint new concepts....- it is of no avail; they are used only for a moment.....and simply help to make things worse” (qtd. in Hannay 77). He brought in the view that faith and reason have one meaning. As Hegel had asked for religion within the limits of reason and faith only but opposing it Kierkegaard opted for reason within the limits and bounds of religion. He bought in the famous “leap of faith” which demanded that faith take risks. According to Kierkegaard for proving god empirically all arguments that reason can deduce will fall back in a vicious circle. Only for an object that one assumes is already there and exists, then only one can reason about its existence. According to Hegel faith and only faith could be raised to the level of absolute knowledge or objective certainty. Kierkegaard dismisses this view saying that only radical trust is the highest level of virtue one can attain anything else would certainly prove to be a trap and a failure. According to Kierkegaard an existing individual will be related to all the necessary knowledge in an intrinsic manner. He proposes three forms of life, in defiance to Hegels triads, which can be followed by an individual in his famous work “Either/Or”. These are the aesthetic, ethical, and ethico-religious forms. Aesthetic life looks for pleasure, fulfilling duties is followed by the ethical life and in the ethico-religious form truth will take shape in the genuineness of the relation between an individual and the object of his attention. The first two forms do not fulfill the true individuality of ones existence. In the ethico-religious form, the genuineness or authenticity relies on the "how" and not the "what" of knowledge. Here sincerity and intensity towards ones commitment is the most important part that leads to subjective truth. Defying Hegel, Kierkegaard claims that faith can never be referred to as objective certainty as it does not have any understanding of probabilities and is not a matter of intellect and remains beyond the grasping power of reasoning. Kierkegaard opposed Hegels system of thought that could given an explanation of the reality as a Whole and his “dialectics” that analyses history, religion and faith leading to this Whole. Hegel had said that an explanation of the theories and history of the Christian religion could be given, as one unfolds and understands, rationally, the natural world and his own place within this world. Here again Kierkegaard made an objection. He did not consider Hegels explanation of Christianity as an important and necessary era of the history of the world to be correct, and labeled it as a misunderstanding of human reasoning. He gave his own explanations stating that many theories of Christianity including that of the “incarnation theory” is not rational and remains to be a logical paradox that cannot be explained. Hegel theorized that by doing ones ethical duty one can attain the ultimate knowledge and it is the duty of every Christian to follow one ethical order and do their duty accordingly. Kierkegaard uses the story of “Abraham” in his writing “Fear and Trembling” to reveal what Hegel said was wrong and that ethics is not the ultimate, there exists a goal that is higher than that of ethics. Hegel had also said that Christianity can be simplified and rationally explained by philosophy refuting which Kierkegaard said that Hegelian ethics failed to explain faith to its fullest form. He dismissed Hegels notion that every Christians duty is to fulfill ethical demands. He also argues that an individual and society is held together by a delicate bond which has to be reaffirmed from time to time, whereas in the Hegelian system all the problems between the world and an individual are completely solved. Kierkegaard also criticized Hegels followers because of the general manner in which they tried to popularize and explain everything by using Hegelian thoughts and ideas in Denmark which is evident from his remark “I was not surprised when my bootmaker found that it could be applied to the development of a boot”(qtd, in Bogen 372) Both Hegel and Kierkegaard were great philosophers and religious thinkers in their own rights. They had both exerted immense influence on their contemporaries and latter day philosophers and still continue to do so with their works and thoughts. As Taylor aptly puts it, “While Hegel is the genius whose vision inspires recent forms of socialism; Kierkegaard remains the greatest theoretician of contemporary individualism. From this perspective Hegel and Kierkegaard define the poles between which most moderns are destined to journey to selfhood” (Taylor 10). Citations Beiser, C, Frederick. The Cambridge Companion to Hegel. Cambridge University Press. 1993. 20. Bogen, James. “Remarks On The Kierkegaard – Hegel Controversy”. “Synthese”. SpringerLink. December 1961. Retrieved on 22nd march 2009 from http://www.springerlink.com/content/v8141h7368223975/ Hannay, Alastair. Kierkegaard : A Biography. Cambridge University Press. 2003. 77. Hegel, F, W, Georg. Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A.V. Miller. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. 1998. 265. Hinchmann, P, Lewis. Hegels Critique of the Enlightenment. University Press of Florida. 1984. 97. Taylor, C, Mark. Journeys to Selfhood - Hegel and Kierkegaard. Fordham University press. 2000. 10. Other texts and materials read Absolute Astronomy.com “ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel”. Retrieved on 22nd march 2009 from http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel#encyclopedia Provost, Wallace. God Science and Reason. “Kierkegaard”. Retrieved on 22nd march 2009 from http://www.geocities.com/~n4bz/gsr10/gsr1002.htm Schellhase, Peter. A Critique of Basic Theistic Existentialism. September 2006. retrieved on 22nd March 2009 from http://originalsoapbox.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/a-critique-of-basic-theistic-existentialism-assignment/ Soren Aabye Kierkegaard Biography and List of Works. Litweb. Retrieved on 22nd march 2009 from http://www.litweb.net/biography/275/Soren%20Aabye_Kierkegaard.html Stewart, Jon. Kierkegaards Relation to Hegel Reconsidered. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. June 2004. Retrieved on 22nd march 2009 from http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=1447 Trejo, Paul. “Was Hegel Christian or Atheist?”. Retrieved on 22nd march 2009 from http://eserver.org/philosophy/hegel-christianity.html Read More