Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - Research Paper Example

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel In what ways is Hegel a global thinker While Hegel was not revolutionary, he was not conservative of legend either. Hegel was one of a group of philosophers who attempted to illuminate Germany’s path after the French Revolution (Hegel 85). Like other global thinkers before him such as Goethe and Holderlin in Germany, Hegel attempted to grasp what developments were in store socially for Europe. By studying James Stuart, Adam Smith, and Adam Ferguson, Hegel was able to gain a view of a world where individual self-interest ruled and where fragmented and atomized masses of humans were condemned to dehumanizing labor. He saw the problems that were prevalent in Scotland and England and considered whether these problems could be avoided in Germany. In addition, he showed concern as to what had happened to the European promise of enlightenment. Because of Germany’s perceived backwardness, Hegel was able to see a distinctive angle to most of these questions. After studying the works of the Scots, he contended that the two countries were outside and inside a developing civil society. Vital for him was a comparison with an idealized view of the Polis in Greece where there was harmony contrasted with the modern world’s discord (Hegel 85). Hegel was particularly enamored with Ferguson who had pointed out clear parallels between the Greek Polis, the Native North Americans, and the Scottish highland clans, which Hegel found to contrast with civil society favorably. Hegel, rather than choosing to ignore the bourgeois class’ repulsive forms that were appearing throughout the continent, chose to reconcile these with humanity and its advance to freedom. 2. Does Hegel see reality as static or dynamic Hegel disputes reality’s static nature as proposed by Aristotle, choosing to view it as essentially dynamic. This was because reality tends to pass into nothing by its nature, before going back in the higher concept of itself and becoming again (Hegel 87). This contrasts with Aristotle’s view that nothing was ever more certain than what was the same as itself and that everything was the exact way it was. If that would be a table, according to Aristotle that was the entire truth of the table. However, for Hegel, reality was dynamic and another truth was equally essential about the table; it will become ashes and was previously a tree. Therefore, dynamism and becoming is reality’s best expression, rather than being. Becoming is the best expression of thought since when we become, we get the best knowledge, especially because one knows what it is, what it was, and what the thing will be and the way in which it developed. Hegel contends that mind and life appear when one advances in the development scale, just like nothing and being develop to become, to appear as the process’ third term, which, in turn, develops to higher concepts and forms (Hegel 87). 3. Give an example of the Hegelian Dialectic Hegel gave an outline of his dialectics and gave its purpose as the study of things as they are, as well as their movement, in order to give a demonstration of the finite nature of partial understanding categories. An important principle in his dialectics was the transformation of quantity into quality (Hegel 89). Hegel termed this as a measure, which is the qualitative amount and the amount is quantity’s existence. The identity that exists between quality and quantity that is in the measure is only implicit at first. The two categories that are united by measure have a different and independent authority. While it is possible to alter the existing features of quantity sans any effect of on quality, the diminution and increase, even if immaterial, has limits that when exceeded causes the quality to suffer. When the present quantity in a specific measure goes past a particular limit, the corresponding quality will also suffer. However, it does not negate quality, only definite quality. Hegel uses water’s aggregation whose temperature is not a consequence to its liquidity at first. However, changes in the liquid’s temperature caused the liquid to reach a point that makes it cohesion suffer qualitative alterations and convert it to ice or steam (Hegel 89). He also mentions that it can reach a point where addition of one wheat grain can make a wheat heap. 4. How does Hegel's logic differ from ordinary logic Through considering logic as a thinking science, it is possible to understand this thinking as constituting cognition as a mere form with logic abstracting from content and the constituent belonging to cognition in the form of matter, which must come from another place (Verene 34). In addition, because this matter is not dependent on logic, logic provides formal conditions of cognition and cannot contain truth or even act as a pathway to finding the truth because the truth’s content is outside logic. However, it is also inept to view logic as abstracting, from content, to reach rules of thinking sans referencing what one thinks or considering its nature. This is because as thinking and its rules are meant to be logic’s subject matter, they are directly constitutive of their peculiar content. Unlike ordinary logic, Hegel’s logic consists of a second constituent known as matter whose concern is the nature of it (Verene 35). 5. What are some examples that argue to a continuing rise of consciousness According to Hegel, consciousness has various stages of development, although this must not be taken to signify temporal genesis order. One example of this is immediate certainty of sensation (Verene 58). All sensations are referred to as this and, although they appear as particular, concrete, and certain, this is only an abstract character to the experience of sensation. This is because this contrasts to that and, therefore, abstractly can be referent to anything. Thus, this is too abstract and does not have any particular content to reference. “This”, therefore, only contains the sensed thing’s being. While this knowledge of sensation appears with immediate certainty, on careful examination philosophically, this knowledge is very abstract, one-sided, and fragmented in its awareness of the sense’s immediate experience. Consciousness, thus, moves to another stage called perception. Perception involves concrete consciousness of sensation with the total sensation’s total content becoming a characteristic that is common to the perceived object. Rather than pointing out a sensation as “that” or “this” with immediate certainty, knowledge gives one a view of commonness among numerous “this”, beginning to view them as “numerous appearances” of the same object or sensation (Verene 58). Beyond the immediacy of sensation, persons will know objects using their names and, on this level, it is possible to distinguish them using their names. 6. How can two things, such as a slave and master, be related according to Hegel? In Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, the dialectic of master-slave is a common name of a popular passage (Verene 73). The original translation from German of this passage is Lordship and Bondage. This passage is considered as a vital element in his philosophical system and was responsible for influencing numerous philosophers. Hegel describes the self-conscious development in an encounter involving two self conscious and distinct beings. Hegel’s dialectic essence involves motion or movement to recognition where the other as self-conscious constitutes the two through recognition. The movement becomes a struggle when taken to its extremes where, one being becomes a master of the other after which it finds that this mastership recognizes what had been seen as impossible because the slave cannot offer it. Self-conscious truth can only be achieved if both things live with the recognition, which is given to one by the other giving both self-certainty and objective truth that they need for self-consciousness. Therefore, in the case of a master and slave, they enter a relationship to preserve, each other’s recognition (Verene 74). The slave recognizes him/herself via the master and vice versa. However, a distinction comes up because the slave, for the master, is an object that he can make do what he/she wishes, and the master, for the slave, is self-consciousness, which is independent. 7. Why is Hegel's philosophy known as absolute idealism? To understand Hegel’s idealism, it is important to understand that of Kant. Kant contends that there is known and unknown truth or knowledge, i.e. phenomenon and noumenon. ‘Noumenon involves using one’s reason to envision things bigger than oneself like moral while the phenomenon is an event of cause and consequence that can be explained via logos or intellect, as well as empirically (Gadamer 66). Kant contends that because an individual is a reasonable thinker, how can the individual think in absolute terms of greater things than oneself? Hegel, however, claims that truth that cannot be known does not exist because everything is rational is also real. Therefore, the truth is that an individual knows because they can reason and that one’s brain answers Kant’s question about how one knows what they are not supposed to know. It is possible that he could have thought that gods or some supernatural being had an effect on what happened in one’s brain. Hegel, however, answers that because man is made in this manner, his/her brain allows them to discern. People are their own consciousness, and if they were not alive or did not have a brain, they would not know that they existed (Gadamer 68). 8. Two philosophers who reflect or were influenced by Hegelian views Johan Phillip Gabler Johann Eduard Erdmann Karl Friedrich Goschel 9. Name one work written by Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit 10. If God is developing as spirit, what are some logical implications, which follow? Hegel’s logic with regards to God’s development of thinking before creation is known as heavenly logic. Unlike usual logic, however, Hegel does not deal with usual laws of thought. While it seems as God’s thinking’s development, it also attempts to deal with laws of reality and universal definitions (Gadamer 88). God, as a spirit, is absolute, although he has a desire to know and manifest himself. Thus, part of his essence is to become real in individuals and use them in history and for a change. As God develops as a spirit, he becomes active and present in the modern world and acts via humans, knowing him via humans. Therefore, individual humans are God’s main agents of change while states and the masses become the embodiment of every phase of his development. In Hegel’s case, Germany was God’s, development’s highest wave carriers and the bureaucracy was the state’s highest form (Gadamer 88). Works Cited Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Hegel's dialectic : five hermeneutical studies. New Haven : Yale Univ. Press, 2009. Print. Hegel, Georg. "Mind of Matter." Kreyche, Gerald F. 13 thinkers--plus : a sampler of great philosophers. Lanham: University Press of America , 2010. 83-90. Print. Verene, Donald Phillip. Hegel's recollection : a study of images in the Phenomenology of spirit. Albany : State University of New York Press, 2012. Print. Read More