Talk:Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:03, 10 September 2005

Revision as of 21:27, 20 September 2005

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I believe that the Hegel quotes in the article are a waste. I don't think that any "normal" Encyclopedia reader would be able to comprehend them. I have plenty of trouble with them myself, out of context in this way. I think that a paraphrase of his important ideas would be much better and more appropriate. The other WP philosophy articles I've looked at don't have chunks of difficult quotes like these sticking in the middle of them. [[User:Jjshapiro|Jeremy J. Shapiro]] 08:03, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

:Rereading these quotes and the interpretation of them again a few times, I've decided to take them out and place them here until we figure out what to do with the philosophical substance of this article, since I don't think any beginning reader will be able to make any sense of them at all. Plus the commentary confused metaphysics and the mechanics of history, talked about "absolute archtypes", etc. Here is what I removed:

<<In the introduction to The Philosophy of History (translated by J. Sibree) Hegel says: "Philosophy shows that the Idea advances to an infinite antithesis; that, viz. between the Idea in its free, universal form - in which it exists for itself - and the contrasted form of abstract introversion, reflection on itself, which is formal existence-for-self, personality, formal freedom, such as belongs to Spirit only."

So, breaking it down, there are two forms of the universal idea and they are always and infinitely the antithesis of each other. One form is the general principle of it and the other form is its specific application to the actual events in history. He continues to say: "The universal Idea exists thus as the substantial totality of things on the one side, and as the abstract essence of free volition on the other side."

and: "This reflection of the mind on itself is individual self-consciousness - the polar opposite of the Idea in its general form, and therefore existing in absolute Limitation. This polar opposite is consequently limitation, particularization, for the universal absolute being; it is the side of its definite existence; the sphere of its formal reality, the sphere of the reverence paid to God. - To comprehend the absolute connection of this antithesis, is the profound task of metaphysics."

Therefore, Hegel is stating, albeit in difficult turns of phrase, that metaphysics should be concerned with grasping the mechanics of how the thesis and antithesis are connected in each individual case. To do so would involve comparing examples of events of history with their archetypal forms and trying to understand both the similarities and the differences between them.>>

[[User:Jjshapiro|Jeremy J. Shapiro]] 21:27, 20 September 2005 (UTC)