The Basics of Philosophy

1. Moscow State Instituteof International Relations (MGIMO-University)School of Government and International Affairs& Alexander ShishkinDepartment of Philosophy The Basics of Philosophy Part VIThe Origins of Sociocentric Philosophy Lecture 16Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Absolute Idealism

2. Born on August 27, 1770 in Stuttgart Student at the University of Tübingen (1788–1793) Lecturer at the University of Jena (1801–1807) Headmaster of the Aegidiengymnasium in Nürnberg (1808–1816) Professor at the University of Heidelberg (1816–1818) Professorat the University of Berlin (1818–1831) Died on November 14, 1831inBerlin Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770–1831) Berlin Heidelberg Jena Stuttgart Nürnberg Tübingen

3. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770–1831) Principal Writings • Phenomenology of Mind(1807) • Science of Logic(1812, 1813, 1816) • Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences(1817)

4. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Absolute Idealism • Hegel’s System: The Structure of Absolute Reality • Reality as Self-Development • Logic as Mind in Itself • Nature as Mind in Its Otherness • Mind in and for Itself • Hegel’s Method: The Dialectic • The Identity of the Substance and the Subject • Cognition as Self-Development • Hegel’s Panlogism versus Classical Rationalism • The Essence and Laws of Hegelian Dialectic • The Ascent from Abstract to Concrete • The Unity and Conflict of Opposites • Transition of Quantitative Changes into Qualitative Changes • The Negation of the Negation • The System versus the Method

5. The Key Principles of Hegel’s PhilosophyReality as Self-Development The truth is the whole. The whole, however, is merely the essential nature reaching its completeness through the process of its own development. Of the Absolute it must be said that it is essentially a result, that only at the end is it what it is in very truth; and just in that consists its nature, which is to be actual, subject, or self-becoming, self-development. Georg Wilhelm Hegel. Phenomenology of Mind.

6. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself Being Becoming Nothing PureBeing Nothing is S red P Snow Fox Rose Grass PureBeing white green sly ginger is the opposite of is the same as is be-coming By its inherent contradiction Becoming collapses into the unity in which the two elements are absorbed. This result is Being Determinate. Pure Beingmakes the beginning, because… the first beginning cannot be mediated by anything, or be further determined. Nothing PureBeing is becoming

7. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself Think ofan animal Is itquadruped? I know,I know!It’sa cow! Why?A horse? I haveneverheard ofa horse! What questionshould I askto tell a horsefroma cow? Is itquadruped? Is ithorned? I know,I know!It’sa horse! Why? A dog? I haveneverheard ofa dog! What questionshould I askto tella dogfroma horse? Think ofa differentanimal

8. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself DeterminateBeing Other a cow A cow is likea horse,but horned A horse is not is like a cow, a cow but not horned Something Being-in-itself Being Becoming PureBeing Nothing

9. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself The in-itself, in which the something is reflected into itself from its being-for-other, no longer is an abstract in-itself but, as the negation of its being-for-other, is mediated through this latter, which is thus its moment. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.Science of Logic(translated byGeorge Di Giovanni).

10. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself Quality DeterminateBeing Other Determinate Beingis Being with a character or mode – which simply is; and such unmediated character is Quality. a cow A cow is likea horse,but horned A horse is not is like a cow a cow, but not horned Something Being-in-itself Being Becoming Being-foritself PureBeing Nothing

11. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself Quality DeterminateBeing Other Qualityis the determinate mode immediate and identical with Being. Quantityis a mode of Beingno longer immediately identical with Being. Something Being-in-itself A something is what it is in virtue of its quality, and losing its quality it ceases to be what it is . Quantityis, unlike quality,a mode indifferent and external to Being. Being Becoming Being-foritself One PureBeing Quantity Many Nothing

12. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself Being Quality Determi-nate Being When the measure of a thingis altered, the thing itself alters and ceases to be through the passing beyond its measure,that is increasing or decreasing beyond it. Measure is the qualitative quantum– a quantum, to which a determinate being or a quality is attached. Being Being-for-itself Measure Becomingof Essence Quantity PureQuantity SpecificQuantum Degree Quantum RealMeasure

13. The Structure of Absolute Reality Logic as Mind in Itself Logic Notion Object Measure, where quality and quantity are in one, is thus the completion of Being. Actuality is the unity, become immediate, of essence with existence. Subjectivenotion Idea Essenceis sublatedbeing. Essence Actuality Being Quality Ground of existence Measure Quantum Appearance

14. The Structure of Absolute Reality Nature as Mind in Its Otherness Absolute Mind MindObjective We began with Being, abstract Being. Now we have the Idea as Being; but this Idea which has Being is Nature. The development of Mind lies in the fact that its going forth and separation constitutes its coming to itself. MindSubjective AbsoluteMind Nature is the idea in the form of otherness. Nature OrganicPhysics Logic Being Mechanics Notion Essence Physics

15. The Structure of Absolute Reality Mind in and for Itself Mind ObjectiveMind Morality Natureis not aware of itself.Only man rises abovethe particularity of sensationto the generality of thought,to self-awareness and knowledgeof Self. In the Soul is the awaking of Consciousness: Consciousness sets itself up as Reason, and this Reasonby its activity emancipates itself to objectivity. Law Ethics The world produced and to be produced by Mind is Mind Objective. The unity of mind as objectivity and of mind as ideality is Mind Absolute. SubjectiveMind Reason AbsoluteMind Art Soul Philosophy RevealedReligion Con-sciousness

16. The Structure of Absolute Reality Mind in and for Itself AbsoluteMind Art Sculpture The sensuous externality attaching to the beautiful … at the same time qualifies what it embodies: and the God has with its spirituality at the same time… the so-called unity of nature and spirit – i.e. the immediate unity in sensuously intuitional form… It lies essentially in the notion of religion… that it be revealed, and, what is more, revealed by God. Knowledge(the principle by which the substance is mind)is a self-determining principle, as infinite self-realizing form – it therefore is manifestationout and out. Archi-tecture Paint-ing Poetry Music Philo-sophy CriticalPhilosophy RevealedReligion NaturalReligion Meta-physics AbsoluteReligion Religionof SpiritualIndividuality Empiricism

17. The Structure of Absolute Reality Philosophy Philosophy thus characterises itself as a cognition of the necessity in the content of the absolute picture-idea, as also of the necessity in the two forms – on one hand, immediate vision and its poetry, and the objective and external revelationpresupposed by representation, – on the other hand, first the subjective retreat inwards, then the subjective movement of faith and its final identification with the presupposed object. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.The Encyclopaediaof the Philosophical Sciences.

18. The Structure of Absolute Reality Philosophy The present standpoint of philosophy is that the Idea is known in its necessity;the sides of its diremption, Nature and Spirit, are each of them recognized as representing the totality of the Idea, and not only as being in themselves identical, but as producing this one identity from themselves; and in this way the identity is recognized as necessary. Georg Wilhelm Hegel. Lectures on the History of Philosophy.

19. TheDialecticCognition as Self-Development The truth is the whole. The whole, however, is merely the essential nature reaching its completeness through the process of its own development. Of the Absolute it must be said that it is essentially a result, that only at the end is it what it is in very truth; and just in that consists its nature, which is to be actual, subject, or self-becoming, self-development. Georg Wilhelm Hegel. Phenomenology of Mind.

20. The Dialectic The Identity of the Substance and the Subject If knowledge is the instrumentby which to get possession of reality, one must remember that the application of an instrument alters its object. Subject Object Object instrument It seems possible, knowing the way in which the instrumentoperates, to get at the truth by removing from the result the part that belongs to the instrument. Skeptical argument But this improvement would only bring us back to the point where we were before, i.e. to the object yet unknown. This skeptical argument only seemsirrefutable;in fact, it presupposes a great deal as truth what should itself be examined to see whether it is truth, Knowledge of the worldas self-knowledge Mind (Substance/Subject) Subject Object Subject Object viz.,the idea of knowledge as an instrument,as well as a distinction of ourselves from this knowledge.

21. The DialecticCognition as Self-Development • Hegel’s system of categories can be viewed as a sequence of forms of understanding superseding each other. • To Kant, forms of knowledge were a priori, universal and unchanging; they rendered our experience generally meaningful, allowing of the very possibility of science (so vigorously denied by Hume), but never reached “things in themselves”. • Kant’s principal innovation that distinguished his epistemological doctrine from those of his predecessors, be it Empiricists or Rationalists, was his emphasis on theactive role the subject of cognition played in the process of cognition and identification of the a priori forms of that activity. • Kant’s lesson concerning the importance of the subject’s activity in the process of cognition was fully learned. But the younger generation of German idealists went farther: forms of knowledge were, indeed, a priori, but a priori no longer implied universal and/or unchanging.

22. The DialecticCognition as Self-Development • To Hegel, the progress of knowledge is no mere accumulation of knowledge seen as acquisition of the ever greater amount of information by discovery of facts hitherto unknown, unnoticed, or unattended, revelation of linkages hitherto unimagined or unexposed, and explanation, on the basis of the newly discovered facts and newly revealed linkages, of things and developments hitherto inexplicable or unexplained. • The progress of knowledge is also, indeed primarily, development of our cognitive faculty, as manifest in the development of forms of our understanding, and hence development of the subject of cognition himself.

23. The DialecticCognition as Self-Development • The intrinsic dialectic of mind propels it up the spiral stairway of categories to ever higher levels of understanding as every new step in this ascent brings in new competence that enables the subject of cognition to conceptualise aspects of reality hitherto unfathomable and much too complex to be even aware of, least so understood, at lower stages of this dialectical process. • And since the mind, in view of the Identity of the substance and the subject, is identical to, or, at least, constitutes the core of reality, those complex aspects of reality could not, in fact, exist, or rather (respecting Hegel’s distinction between existence and reality) be real, unless duly comprehended (exit Kantian “thing in itself”), so that the progress of cognition turns out to be the progress, or, at least, the key to the progress, of reality itself.

24. The DialecticCognition as Self-Development The progress of knowledge is no mere accumulation of knowledge,it is also, and primarily, development of our cognitive faculty. Kant Hegel Forms of knowledgeare a priori,universalandunchanging;they render our experiencegenerally meaningful, but never reach things in themselves. Development of knowledge implies developmentof the forms of knowledgeand hence development of the subject of cognition. Knowledge of the world as self-knowledge Mind (Substance/Subject) Subject Subject Object Object

25. The DialecticHegel’s Panlogism versus Classical Rationalism ClassicalRationalism Hegel’sPanlogism Reason can understandthe world becausethe world isas reasonable as reason itself. Reason can understandthe world becausethe world is none other that Reason itself. The subjectand theobjectof cognition are subject tothe same laws. The subjectand theobjectof cognition are identical,theprocessof cognitionbeing but an aspect of thedevelopment of the worldas a rational entity.

26. The DialecticHegel’s Panlogism versus Classical Rationalism Spinoza’s Metaphysic Hegel’s Dialectic There exists butone substance, viz.God,orNature. Natureis but a stage in thedevelopment of theAbsoluteSubstance/Subject. Mind foritself Natureviewed as passive(Naturanaturata) Natureviewed as active(Naturanaturans) Natureviewed as active(Naturanaturans) Natureviewedas passive(Naturanaturata) inotherness initself

27. The DialecticHegel’s Panlogism versus Classical Rationalism Spinoza’s“Geometric Method” Hegel’sDialectic Method Formal logicalinference(deduction) The ascent from the abstracttothe concrete The majorpremise M P The thesis А is is M The minorpremise S The antithesis ~А is The conclusion S P The synthesis ~(~А) А1 ≡ is

28. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic The ascent from the abstract to the concrete is – in the dialectical tradition of thought analysis since Hegel – the mode of movement of theoretical thought toward the ever more inclusive, comprehensive and integral unfolding of its subject matter. In the dialectical tradition abstract ceases to be synonymous only to thought, just as concrete ceases to be synonymous to diverse sensuous reality. “Abstract” is understood here to refer to knowledge inasmuch as it is “poor”, undeveloped, and one-sided, whereas “concrete”, to refer to knowledge that is comprehensive, substantial, and fully developed. V. Shvyryov. The Ascent from the Abstract to the Concrete (from The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

29. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic Dialectic(Gr. διαλεκτική, the art of dialogue)is the logical form and the universal mode of theoretical reflection on contradictions relevant to the subject matter. Dialectic, the ability to argue with oneself, was recognised precisely as a method for uncovering the general principle common to the contradicting particular connotations of a concept. F. Mikhailov. Dialectic (from The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

30. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic To see that thought in its very nature is dialectical,and that, as understanding, it must fall into contradiction – the negative of itself – will form one of the main lessons of logic. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.The Encyclopaediaof the Philosophical Sciences.

31. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic It is customary to treat Dialectic as an adventitious art, which for very wantonness introduces confusion and a mere semblance of contradiction into definite notions. And in that light, the semblance is the nonentity, while the true reality is supposed to belong to the original dicta of understanding.<…>But in its true and proper character, Dialectic is the very nature and essence of everything predicated by mere understanding – the law of things and of the finite as a whole. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.The Encyclopaediaof the Philosophical Sciences.

32. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic Reflection is that movement out beyond the isolated predicate of a thing which gives it some reference, and brings out its relativity, while still in other respects leaving it its isolated validity. But by Dialectic is meant the indwelling tendency outwardsby which the one-sidedness and limitation of the predicates of understanding is seen in its true light, and shown to be the negation of them. For anything to be finite is just to suppress itself and put itself aside. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.The Encyclopaediaof the Philosophical Sciences.

33. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic It is of the highest importance to ascertain and understand rightly the nature of Dialectics. Wherever there is movement, wherever there is life, wherever anything is carried into effect in the actual world, there Dialectic is at work. It is also the soul of all knowledge which is truly scientific. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.The Encyclopaediaof the Philosophical Sciences.

34. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic Everything that surrounds us may be viewed as an instance of Dialectic. We are aware that everything finite, instead of being stable and ultimate, is rather changeable and transient; and this is exactly what we mean by that Dialectic of the finite, by which the finite, as implicitly other than what it is, is forced beyond its own immediate or natural being to turn suddenly into its opposite. Georg Wilhelm Hegel.The Encyclopaediaof the Philosophical Sciences.

35. The DialecticThe Essence and Laws of Dialectic • The cause of developmentis not some external influence, but the very nature of the developing entity, viz. theinterpenetration of its constituentopposites. • The course of developmentis accumulation ofquantitative changesresulting in a qualitative change. • The outcome of developmentis no mere negation of the past, buta negation of the negation,a kind of return to the initial state, albeit on a new and higherlevel. Genuine development isself-development.

36. The System versus the Method ... He was compelled to make a system and, in accordance with traditional requirements, a system of philosophy must conclude with some sort of absolute truth.Therefore, however much Hegel<…>emphasised that this eternal truth is nothing but the logical, or, the historical, process itself, he nevertheless finds himself compelled to supply this process with an end, just because he has to bring his system to a terminationat some point or other. <…> Friedrich Engels. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy.

37. The System versus the Method Namely, by conceiving of the end of history as follows: mankind arrives at the cognition of this self-same absolute idea, and declares that this cognition of the absolute idea is reached in Hegelian philosophy.But the whole dogmatic content of the Hegelian system is thus declared to be absolute truth, in contradiction with his dialectical method, which dissolves all dogmatism. Friedrich Engels. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy.

38. Questions?