Hegel and 'The Phenomenology of Spirit'

and subsequent reinvestment of capital, is an end that both Weber and Marx reach in their analyses of society and agree on in definition. However, while Marx tells us that phantoms of the brain i.e. morality, religion, ideology, cannot develop independently of material production or influence it, Weber argues that ideas and religion can indeed determine life and the processes of life, namely our material production. The key difference between the two is their scope of factors that can cause historical development. Marx only allows for one factor, productive forces and the economic conditions resulting from them; Weber, on the other hand, acknowledges that while ideology and religion can support the economic relations as a driving factor, they can also develop independently and become a factor, a force on its own that can alter production, economic conditions, and thus history. By accounting for the multiple ways in which a society can be altered, Weber provides a more complete and applicable understanding of historical development and the powerful concept that an idea from an individual or group of individuals can have a legitimate and significant effect on the direction of society.

Karl Marx was born in Prussia on May of 1818 to a middle class Jewish family. As an adult, Marx attended school in Berlin where he discovered the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel. Hegel’s main concept was the idea of dialect, which can be explained as the process of logical argumentation and refutation. Marx was greatly influenced by Hegel, which is shown in Marx’s belief that history evolves through a series of predictable conflicts (A+E Television Networks, LLC. 2013). Marx also believed social divisions and civil unrest were due to the increase in industrialization and the widening gap between rich and poor.

Hegel's philosophy of History, on of the greatest in the philosophy cannon, is the great philosophers greatest body of work. The philosophy of History is based on such ideals as the idea that Reason rules history. George Hegel used Immanuel Kant's system of

German philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 – 1831) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) have traditionally been viewed as polar opposites in terms of their philosophy. Hegel has been dubbed an idealist and a systematic philosopher who identified various different types of History, theoretical entities and concepts. Nietzsche, on the other hand, is seen to be a counter-Enlightenment and counter-systematic philosopher who penned the well-known text, ‘Genealogy of Morals’. In this essay, I aim to bring to light the underlying similarities between the two thinkers that have previously been overlooked, as well as to identify the differences in Hegel and Nietzsche’s ideologies and presuppositions.

Even with the same goal of improvement in society, Karl Marx, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes had three different ways to reach to the same destination. Karl Marx claimed that "History is economics in action". John Locke's political theory advocates for common people can protest against an unjust ruler. Thomas Hobbes's "Leviathan" illustrates administration of natural and civil laws, as it powers many individuals who make themselves its people. "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways – the point is to change it." – Karl Marx

Hegel’s critique of Kant’s philosophy is quite prevalent throughout the unfolding of Hegel’s own dialectical philosophy. Several of Hegel’s critiques of Kant’s work can especially be seen in one of his earlier works, “The Phenomenology of Spirit.” This is particularly established once Hegel begins to undertake the developing of Spirit within his Phenomenology. Here, Hegel makes several attacks on Kantian philosophy principles, and at some of the foundations of Kant’s use of pure reason in philosophy. There are several passages within the section where Hegel gives criticism of Kant’s work; critiques that strike at the very heart of what Hegel himself is trying to elucidate through his own dialectic, while discounting one of the greatest German philosophers.

The way freedom develops itself is though the phenomenon of history. Freedom is essentially an internal idea, but it manifest itself externally thoughout history. It may seem that many of the actions throughout history are from mens needs, passions, and desires, but Hegel says that while some actions in history do come from these things, they are relatively small in comparison to the whole canvas of history. Hegel says that passions, private aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires are what have really driven most men throughout history and there powers are that they respect none of the limitations which laws and morality would impose on them. These passions, private aims, and selfish desires are actually closer to our own human nature then the artificial and troublesome discipline that tend to move to order, self-restraint, law, and morality.

George Hegel introduced to the world to the theory of ideas, known as the Hegelian dialectic, and it is quite astonishing as it contemplates and assesses contradicting ideas and ultimately generates a new idea. Hegel believes that all human ideas (thesis) are often in heated confrontations with their similar counterparts (antithesis), in which both may be equally feasible for a society. Hegel believes that these issues must be resolved through the synthesis of a new idea.

Much attention has been paid to the notion of Recognition in the Master-Slave dialectic. However, the beginning of the path towards true recognition is marked itself by the recognition of finitude or death. The very freedom from embeddedness in natural origins of which self-consciousness is capable is intimately tied to its confrontation with the "absolute Master," death. In this dialectical move, Hegel has articulated one of the most profound and paradoxical truths of human existence, namely that an awareness of death and finitude is the inception of man's potential differentiation of self from his natural origins and the beginning of man's self-consciousness. Not only that: by the cunning of reason man's mortality is the vehicle through which natural Life redeems itself from its incarceration 'in-itself.' Thus, the very actualization of man's differentiation of self from nature which takes place in work is, as I shall show, a kind of internalization and transformation of that very finitude. Only as such, can self-consciousness realize its true self.

Marx rejected Hegel’s dialectics based on a movement of human thought and ideas, and argued that dialectics involved contradictions based on an economic system, otherwise known as dialectical materialism. Therefore, the dynamic for change eventually created by a process of dialectics lies in the conflict between two opposing factors (Lee and Newby 2000, pp. 114 - 119).

Before one is able to consider this quote, the concept of materialism and consciousness must be dissected. According to Marx, materialism is not only the way people’s beliefs are conditioned by material activities, but also the fact that people’s ideologies are conditioned by history and the powers of production. Consciousness plays a large role in his definition of materialism, because they are inherently connected. For example, “The production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness is directly interwoven with the material activity and the material relationships of men; it is the language of actual life” (Marx, 111). Marx also defines consciousness as an economic process; in other words, economic determinism defines consciousness and even history itself. This differs greatly from Hegel’s idea that consciousness is a process called the dialectic, which includes distinguishing between thesis and antithesis in order to come to a conclusion. Although Marx utilizes the dialectic to analyze materialism and consciousness in The German Ideology, he goes even further than Hegel and uses this dialectic thinking to challenge Hegel’s own concepts.

The introduction of The German Ideology can be attributed to the intellectual influences Karl Marx received from the philosophy of George Friedrich Hegel (“Karl Marx”, par, 2). Hegel’s philosophical concept was based on the idea of the dialectic, which was initially used to describe the procedure of logical argumentation and refutation. While earlier philosophers had treated this signature concept as a process of generating accurate ideas, Hegel argued that these ideas develop based on a constant procedure of disagreement and resolution. He

Marx’s entire theory stated in The German Ideology borrows from his own teacher, Hegel, who he himself argued that consciousness is a continual process called the “dialectic between oppositions” (thesis and antithesis). This is familiar to us due to the “Hegelian Philosophy”. For Marx however the process is instead economic and is amid those with money and

     Georg Wilhelm Hegel aspired to find a philosophy that would embody all human experiences with the integration of not only science, but also religion, history, art, politics and beyond. Hegel’s metaphysical theory of absolute idealism claimed that reality was the absolute truth of all logic, spirit, and rational ideas encompassing all human experience and knowledge.

The servant, however, is truly Hegel’s main focal point because the servant is really where the meat of the self conscious lies. It lives in fear of the master, working in servitude to produce many things. First, the servant wants to please the master with ideas and inventions so that it can be recognized also. It endures some of this torment out of fear, but also so that it can be recognized. The servant produces these inventions, and over time, realizes itself because it can produce. It becomes aware through suffering. The servant is really the powerhouse of the self consciousness, although the balance of master and servant is still even.