hegel project handout final

8/2/2019 Hegel Project Handout FINAL

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Georg Wilhelm FriedrichHegel

Born 1770 – Died 1831

~ Jannelle Garcia

~ Lucas Snow-Llerena

Hegel’s Biography –

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, was a German

philosopher and one of the creators of German

Idealism. He was born on August 27, 1770, in

Stuttgart in southwestern Germany, and died on

November 14, 1831. He attended German school at the age of three, and went on toLatin school at the age of 5. At the age of eighteen, in 1788, Hegel attended a

Protestant seminary University; the records showed he was deficient in philosophy,

but in reality he was not terrible at it, he just didn’t take many courses. In 1793

Hegel became a tutor to a prominent family, and later on taught classes, lectured on

philosophy and accepted the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin. Over the

years Hegel developed a philosophy of his own, while completing a draft of his book,

“Science of Logic”. Hegel’s contribution to the journal, “Critical Journal of Philosophy”

founded by him and his old friend Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, showed the

Hegel was an original thinker. At the age of 37, Hegel published his first major book,

“The Phenomenology of the Mind” in 1807. Hegel’s works are known for their

difficulty and for the breadth of topics they attempt to cover, but is his later writings

it is shown that he was trying harder to communicate with his audience. Hegel died

from either cholera or gastrointestinal disease. Hegel was towering intellectual

figure, and a great influence over the development of philosophy through his lectures

on law, religion, esthetics, and history, including the history of philosophy,

“Philosophical thought develops like a vast dialogue, different philosophies represent

different positions, none can compete for a claim in the truth, they build on one

another’s insights. Behind the entire process is reason trying to express itself.”

(Hegel).



Syllabus Questions

Who were the three people that Hegel influenced?

o Three people whom Hegel had greatly influenced were Karl Marx, Soren

Keirkegaard, and Jean Paul Sartre.

What are three themes running through German Idealist?

o 1. The self or subject is central; subjectivity has a rational objective structure,

Knower and Moral Agent,o 2. Nature of knowledge and of reason, and

o 3. The importance of religion, the rationality of reality.

What was Hegel’s response to Hume and Kant regarding “How can we know?” and“What can we know?”

o We must first discover whether knowledge is possible, before we set out to

know – knowing before you know. Hegel believed you could know by utilizing

your rationality over and against ones emotions and passions. He also believedman can know everything.

Parts and Whole or Particulars and Universals: Does Hegel give up a hope of finding aunity of knowledge?

o No, he believes there is a tension between them because they are not the

same, yet the contradiction is the moving force of the Dialectical process whosetask is to preserve the difference between them, yet at the same time unifythem, Hegel claims these opposites must be brought together, the Particularsand the Universal are united in the individual.

Explain Hegel’s view of how knowledge begins and how it advances.

o Knowledge begins by apprehending existing objects in their specific

differences; the process in knowledge is affected from one scientific truth toanother, the full truth that embraces both sameness and difference.

What are the three stages of Hegel’s Dialectic?



o Stage 1 – A Beginning

o Stage 2 - An Advance

o Stage 3 - A Resolution.

Hegel’s Dialectic

Hegel believed that there was a Negative and Positive Dialectic. In the NegativeDialectic, the opposites work against each other to produce a stalemate, a situationwhere no progress can be made or no advancement is possible, rather than workingagainst each other to produce a new, better and higher reality. The Positive Dialecticis reason, the organic and constructive form of all philosophical thinking. Wherever

there is movement there is life, wherever anything is carried into actual affect in thisworld, their Dialectic is at work. The first step of the Dialectic is The Beginning, whichis being. Being is the concept implicit, is has two sides. The first side is theimmediate content of direct experience, and the second side is the implicit content(rationality) that “being” embodies, which Hegel call’s the Universal. The second stage of the Dialectic is called The Advance. All details about the objectare brought out and expressed in concept, the stage of Particulars, contradictionemerges – a tension between the Particulars and the Universal, they’re not the same. The development of being and knowledge is led to the pair of opposites – thecontradiction is the moving force of the Dialectical process, whose task is to preservethe difference between them yet also unify them. Hegel claims these opposites must

be brought together; the Universal and the Particulars are united in the individual. The move to the individual is in the third step in the Dialectic, The Resolution. Wenow grasp the subject as that individual who is the unity of that unique set of Particulars, we now know explicitly all that is connected, and the rational pattern isthe form of the entire system. Dialectic is not a form imposed by the thinker, it’s therational form of reality itself as it develops.He also believed that the Dialectic has two sides. The first side of the Dialectic is thatit is the rational pattern that determines all growth in the world. The second side isthat the Dialectic is the logical form of reason as it grasps this rational pattern andsets it forth as a coherent system both sides are together. Hegel believes theDialectic to be an organic development that leads to positive results. The Dialectical

process includes both subject and object, only this process can give us the kind of knowledge that makes us self conscious beings. Dialectic is an essential phase in thedevelopment of positive reason. Hegel’s Dialectic has given man a new way of viewing history and a new way of determining what is true.

Would you say that Hegel’s system is based upon Thesis and Anti-thesis?



o No, it is based upon Synthesis. Thesis and Anti-thesis contradict one another,

so they must find and settle on a compromise, which is the Synthesis. Yetthrough this settlement the Synthesis turns once again into a Thesis and thewhole chain reaction starts up again with no end in the form of a triangle,leaving Truth no longer absolute but questionable. That is one of the reason’sFrancis Schaeffer called Hegel’s Philosophy the doorway to despair, becauseman can no longer have a basis for truth. The Thesis, Anti-thesis, and

Synthesis theory is extremely important in Hegel’s philosophy and greatlyemphasized in textbooks yet in reality Hegel didn’t use this concept. He usedhis Dialectic more, which in a way is a further thought out, technical, specifiedversion of the Thesis, Anti-thesis, and Synthesis theory

Explain Hegel’s understanding of the relationship between man and Nature.

- Hegel saw Nature as a living embodiment of the same spirit that is manifested in us,Mankind. The Reason that is in nature is a mirror in which we see our rationality, we

are in a world where we are at home, “The mind shall recognize itself in everything inheaven and on earth.” (Hegel).

According to the Biblical World View what is this relationship?

According to Hegel how is the mind and spirit related?

o To achieve a connection between mind and spirit, one must recognize their own

self consciousness by being recognized by other self-conscience beings.

Contrast the thoughts of Hegel and Marx on freedom.

o Hegel taught that society must be organized through free institutions, and

these institutions encourage people to view everyone as equals.o Marx on the other hand, believed that the working class should be exploited

Hegel taught that government intervention is necessary to overcome the manyproblems facing a society. He cites 3 evils that arise from a free market economy.What were the 3 evils?

1. Poverty – endless desire for material goods causes poverty2. Class Antagonisms based on social and economic inequalities3. Alienation of the disinherited



Do you Agree with Hegel?

Compare Kant and Hegel on their understanding of God. Talk with Hegel about his understanding of the Trinity.

o Kant believed that man can have no knowledge of God, He is both the sum total

and the ground of all reality.o Hegel explains that God Creates His Son done to the form of universreality.

Mankind becomes the spirit of creation developing until it calls for redemption,and finally the Son enters the world as mediator.

Explain Hegel’s view of reason and understanding, religion and philosophy.

o All these are concrete spiritual formso Philosophy alone attains the concept of absolute mind

o Art and religion are limited because they rely on sensible materials

Reason is a living process that unites and integrates all that has been fragmented byunderstanding. Reason is need to comprehend faith. Religion can rejectunderstanding that disintegrates things. Philosophy can recognize its own forms inthe categories of religious conscience

Hegel spoke of “Organic Development” – an ongoing process – the growth of

becoming. What do the statements mean?

o Hegel thought of history as a flow of powerful events which I believe is the

meaning of “Organic Development” – history unfolds under new andmeaningful events.

Hegel’s thinking of a flow of events rather than cause and effect thinking changed theworld. Hegel shifted thinking from cause and effect, to a combination of thesis andantithesis – a synthesis.

Explain Hegel’s Position of History.

o History is a dynamic order of novel and creative events – time flows in a

straight line, not in a circle. History has a purpose.

What is his belief about mankind?

o Evil is found in pride and self deception. Spirit is supposed to be free, but this

opens the door to evil.



o The very concept of spirit is enough to show that man is evil by nature.

Do you agree with Hegel?

Do we live in a normal or abnormal world?

o Hegel says the world might be as it ought to be (normal world),

but who are we to judge what is normal or abnormal?

The Teachings of Hegel arrived at just the right moment of history forhis thinking to have its maximum affect.

hegel project handout final

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