EXAM 2
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WeekSixPPT.pptxG. W. F. Hegel
Development of INR Week 6
Hegel: Preliminaries
Hegel (1770-1831) – German “idealist” philosopher
Influenced by Kant but moved substantially away from him.
One of the most profound modern philosophers in human history.
Redefined the way we should understand reason, history, temporality and, by implication, the political.
Master works: Phenomenology of Mind; Philosophy of Right
Spirit (Geist)
Spirit – developed a philosophical principle in which actualizes itself through various stages of history.
Grasped reality not through intuition or “Reason” as Enlightenment thinkers proposed:
Spirit organically unifies elements and moments of reality in a historical process into a larger whole.
Temporality is not linear progressive:
Actualization through stages involves a teleological causality
What Hegel is attempting to think through is the totality of human history and reality through a temporal sequence.
Dialectics:
First moment: initial understanding of the world – world appears as fixed in its meaning.
Second moment: dialectical or negatively rational – sublimation of meaning or the recognition of instability and to the opposite meaning.
Third moment: speculative – unification of opposites
Dialectical Materialism (Marx)
Ethical Unity & The State
1) Family Life (Thesis) – the initially whole in which individuals presents themselves to others:
Tension between individuality and the unity of family.
Ethical idea is narrowed in the proximity of the other family members.
Formation of autonomous individuals.
2) Civil Society (Antithesis) – Consciousness of the whole:
Individuals interact with different individuals seen as potential rivals.
Interactions are governed by law (public administration)
Competition always presents a risk to civil society.
3) The State (Synthesis) – Reconciliation of individuals to each other:
Realization of universal spirit and self-consciousness of individuals to spirit
Establishment of the constitutional state (Rechtsstaat)
Constitutional monarchy
International Relations
Self-consciousness of the Nation-State relative to others (International Law)
War as an “ethical moment”: “Sacrifice on behalf of the individuality of the state is the substantial tie between the state and all its members and so is a universal duty" (¶ 325).
