'The real is rational and the rational is
real'. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) is a German Post-Kantian
Idealist philosopher. He is considered one of the most influential philosophers
of the nineteenth century. His philosophy is famously known as 'Absolute
Idealism'. He is in a sense the last great philosopher who really tried to
answer the big question of human existence like the purpose of human beings in
this universe. His ideas also cover many topics like History, Politics,
Religion, Arts, Metaphysics, Nationalism and many more. His most important
writings include Phenomenology of Mind and The Science
of Logic. He is notoriously famous for his complicated writing style.
His writings are poorly organized in German plus are very difficult to
translate in English because of their complexities. It makes him one of the
most challenging philosophers to understand. He inspired Karl Marx and many
other historical philosophers in the 19th century. But he himself was
influenced by Kant. Although he criticized Kant, his philosophy wouldn't have
existed in the absence of Kant.
Terminologies
Before we even dare to
unpack the philosophical mystery of Hegel, there are some important terms we
really (I mean really) need to understand because they are central to his
philosophy.
- Geist:
- It is a German word that means mind or spirit. This is not
the literal translation but the most likely one. Geist is
any subject that is not matter. It is the collective spirit of all human
species and not just only of an individual. The universal spirit is
the Geist. It dialectically progresses through history.
- National
Spirit: - It is the smaller version of universal spirit. This
spirit is imminent in the people of that nation saying that it is
reflected in the people of that nation. The people in each nation have
distinct characters or traits that are manifested or shaped through
culture of that nation. Like we know that Nepalese have the sense of
treating guests as gods.
- History:
- It is the development of the spirit or consciousness. This development
is rational and dialectical. According to Hegel, world history represents
the development of the spirit’s consciousness of its own freedom.
- Dialectic:
- A dialectical process is a rational unfolding of history. The
Geist becomes aware of itself by improving its knowledge by dialectical
process. It generally contains the triad i.e. thesis, antithesis and
synthesis. It starts with an argument which is the thesis and for a thesis
there is an antithesis, a counter argument. Synthesis is a conclusion
drawn from the combination of both. The synthesis again becomes a thesis
and the process is repeated. Each later stage of the dialectic contains
all the earlier stages, as if it were in solution; none of them is wholly superseded
but is given its proper place as a moment in the Whole. It is therefore
impossible to reach the truth except by going through all the steps of the
dialectic.
- Idea:
- It is the essence of spirit in a teleological sense, that
towards which the spirit is developing. Teleological meaning having a
purpose or having an end.
- Absolute
Idea: - It is the conclusion of the dialectic. It is is
something like Aristotle's God. It is the thought thinking about itself.
It means that there is nothing else to think about but itself because
absolute idea encompasses all reality. So what else is there to think when
all of reality is itself?
- Freedom:
- Freedom is the idea of the spirit. What Hegel means by that is
that freedom is the essence of spirit. It's the end towards which the
spirit moves. It is not the liberty to do anything. He rather terms that
'anarchy'. The meaning of freedom for Hegel is same as that for Kant. It
is autonomous meaning self-imposed laws. We as rational beings make laws
and acting according to that law is freedom. When the Spirit gives laws to
itself, it does so freely. Freedom can be actualized in a well-structured
society like a nation. For Hegel there is no freedom without law.
- Reason:
- "Reason," Hegel says, "is the conscious
certainty of being all reality". It is the very fabric of
existence. Reason, according to Hegel, is not a blind force; it’s
conscious. It’s aware of itself. It is reality itself. Reason is abstract
rationality, order or structure. It drives history, culture, and the mind.
Nature, however, is reason out of itself. It means that although nature is
rational it is not aware of its rationality. It obeys mathematical laws
rationally without being aware of it. The synthesis of those two is
spirit. Spirit in a sense that man is a natural animal but is aware of its
own rationality.
- Logic:
- It is the system of dialectic. The changes in the form of
thought through contradiction to a concrete thought.
- Owl
of Minerva: - It means that we are only aware of any historical
process after that process comes to an end. So we can comprehend what
happened in an epoch of history once it culminates.
- World's
historical individuals: - These are the individuals that alone
influence the drive of self-consciousness through history. Julies Caesar,
Napoleon, Alexander the Great are the great men. They emerge when the
nation's law doesn't fulfill the changing desires and aspirations and help
progress the world spirit forward. These men are generally military
conquerors. They represent the logic of that moment. Caesar does this
reform not because he thinks it is the right thing to do but he does to
gain power, to establish authority and to change history.
- The
cunning of reason: - We know that unfolding of history is a
rational process. We have seen in history the occurrence of wars, famines,
plagues which involve heavy loss in human lives and condition. But the
Geist moves forward regardless of it. This is the cunning of reason in a
sense that reason uses people to drive the spirit forward.
Absolute Idealism
Direct Realism, Indirect
Realism and Idealism are three approaches to Philosophy in understanding
reality. Hegel's philosophy falls under Idealism, specifically 'Absolute
Idealism'. An Idealist philosopher believes that whatever the reality is, it is
the manifestation of mind. There is no reality except for the mind. We know
from Kant's Transcendental Idealism about noumena and phenomena. Hegel
abolishes the ideas of things in themselves i.e. noumena and
says that everything can be known. He is different from other Idealist in a
sense that the mind is the all-inclusive Geist. Everything is
the manifestation of this whole, the Geist. Our consciousness
is just a part or a moment in this giant all-inclusive mind or spirit. This
spirit is all conscious, all knowledgeable and all free. It is important to
emphasize that it is purely spiritual, remember what we meant by Geist.
You can assign the term 'God' to it if you want to.
The whole is reality
Hegel believes in the unreality of separateness. Each unit that makes up
the whole are not self-subsistent. For Hegel, it is an illusion to assign value
in the individuality of things. He held the idea that nothing is ultimately and
completely real except the whole. But he conceived this whole not as a simple
substance like Spinoza did but as a complex system. The separate things have
greater or lesser reality but only when they are viewed as part of the whole or
reality, they can be rational. According to Hegel 'The real is rational and the
rational is real'. "That this 'Idea' or 'Reason' is the True, the
Eternal, the absolutely powerful essence; that it reveals itself in the world,
and that in that world nothing else is revealed but this and its honor and
glory--is the thesis which, as we have said, has been proved in philosophy, and
is here regarded as demonstrated." It means that the reality is the
creative manifestation of mind, which is how Idealism works, and the categories
of thought are the categories of reality. This is different from Kant because
his categories of understanding are purely subjective. The term 'real' is
different from how an empiricist interprets it. To Hegel, what an empiricist
considers facts to be irrational and only when they are seen as a part of the
whole they become rational. Hegel's view is that if any predicate is applied to
qualify whole of reality, it turns out to be self-contradictory. For example,
we can say that Alina is a aunt without any contradiction. But if I say that
Universe is an aunt it would be contradictory because to be an aunt a separate
person nephew is required. So, aunt cannot be the whole of reality. Only when
we cannot generate an antithesis to an argument it can be the whole. According
to Hegel, nothing is wholly false, and nothing is truly true. This happens
because we assign truth and falsity in separate pieces of information. For
philosophy, "The truth is the whole," and nothing partial is quite
true.
History and the Dialectic
We have already introduced this topic in the
terminologies section. So, the Geist progresses through
history improving its knowledge and consciousness. Hegel is a teleological
thinker meaning that history has an end and a purpose towards which it
progresses. The Geist is specific to a particular time in
world history which is reflected in the culture. It means that the Geist in
17th century in Germany has peculiar character, knowledge and it is influenced
by the society and culture. It is part of the whole but each epoch in history
has its features. The Geist become more knowledgeable in the
unfolding of the history. Each epoch in history contributes to it. The path to
which the spirit is heading is freedom. So, when the spirit has advanced to
such an extent that it is all conscious, all free then it has reached the
'Absolute'. So, the ultimate purpose of human existence is finishing this
project of improving knowledge and consciousness so that there is
reconciliation of human and God (divine consciousness, rationality). Yes, Hegel
comes from a Christian background. He has rationally discerned the ultimate
pattern of all human existence, all human culture, all the products of the
human mind and spirit. It gradually allows us to climb the ladder of
self-consciousness. So, all of history culminates in Hegel's writings because
we have finally understood the purpose of human existence. We finally
understand what we are and he's the one who did it, so he is the Geist for a moment,
and he is essentially ending human history. History ends when we finally
reconcile ourselves with the divine mind when we finally understand what
we really are and when we finally come to the culmination of the
development of freedom and rationality, and it finally happens when human
beings as a species become conscious of their own Entelechy (natural purpose,
potential).
Knowledge has its triadic movement. There are many triads,
but they can be summed up as thesis, antithesis and synthesis. Let's take an argument
that Ashesh is a father. A father cannot be the whole of reality because to be
a father you need children. So, a counter argument 'whole is children' is
taken. The synthesis of this is 'whole is father and children'. But again, to
have children you need a mother and now this has become thesis and the cycle
repeats. This is how through contradiction our knowledge improves. We realize
that when we have an argument whose antithesis cannot be generated then that is
the whole, the truth as it encompasses everything. In Philosophy the whole is
real. This is the dialectical process. Absolute Idea is the culmination of dialectic.
Nation/State
Nations, in Hegel, play the part that
classes play in Marx. Hegel believes that the spirit and culture of nation
drives the historical development. In every era Hegel says that one nation is
charged with the responsibility of carrying the world through dialectical
process. In his era, it was of course Germany. Philosophers in the Middle Ages
put the church above the state. The Protestant Reformation, particularly
in Lutheran regions, led to the development of Erastianism. Erastian believed
in the supremacy of the nation, putting it above church in hierarchy. Hobbes,
Spinoza, Rousseau and Hegel were protestant who believed nation as the supreme
organization. Hegel in his book Philosophy of History states
"the State is the actually existing realized moral life". A nation is
an objective spirit. Hegel believes that the state is the ultimate expression
of morality and ethical doctrines. A nation is not just a political
organization but a moral community where individuals find their moral purpose
and identity. The state has its laws and orders where we can exercise freedom.
By the participation in the state, individuals find their spiritual identity
because individuals connect to something larger than themselves. The state
embodies truth, reason and universal will. The laws of state are the expression
of universal will. For Hegel, the state is the culmination of historical
development and realization of absolute spirit. A nation is a 'visible
substantial will' that thinks, knows itself. Hegel rejects the liberal view
that a nation exists only for the interest of individuals. In fact, Hegel says
that the state has a higher purpose, to realize the objective spirit. He also emphasizes
the sovereignty of individual states.
Master-servant dialectic
The Master-Servant dialectic is just an alternate version of the philosophy of Hegel that states that reality is whole. A consciousness (human), becomes self-conscious only after viewing himself as part of the whole. According to Hegel, independent consciousness cannot become self-conscious. It is only after affirming yourself in relation to others or something larger than independent consciousness, you become self-conscious. The Master-Servant dialectic is just an exploration of this idea. The dialectic tells the story of two independent consciousness who encounter one another and engage in life and death struggle. They must struggle because each sees another as a threat so they must struggle with maximum effort to realize the extent of its strength in relation to other. A consciousness is only aware of itself and doesn't see itself in relation to other. Each consciousness must struggle to death because it can only be aware of its limits by exerting itself to maximum effort. The necessity for a conflict in Hegel's view is to obtain greater power and knowledge. Each consciousness has an internal drive to achieve much power, recognition so wars and conflicts are unavoidable. There is an external measure which each consciousness must test itself to become fully aware of itself. After the struggle a master-servant relation is established. Master is the one who spared the life of the other granting mercy and servant begged for mercy. But the master now thinks himself as independent, god like whereas the servant realizes his limitless, realizes his position in respect to this master. In doing so the servant becomes more aware of himself and his place in the universe in relation to the his mater. The master however doesn't realize that he is dependent upon the servant for recognition. If it wasn't for servant, the master would no longer have any identity. So, in fact the master is dependent upon the servant for his identity. This is ironical. So, this dialectic indicates that elf-consciousness can only be achieved through mutual recognition. Hegel believes that each individual life has dignity and significance insofar as the individual is aware of his place in the unfolding of the history. So, he says "The truth of the independent consciousness is accordingly the consciousness of the servant....being a consciousness repressed within itself, it will enter into itself, and change around into the real and true independence".
Metaphysics and Ethics
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