Philosophy is defined by Webster as "Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline" or "Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods." This essay is a general look at those who pursued that intellectual means, those who investigated, even those who reasoned Reason. Because volumes could be written and this is a rather quick, unworthy paper: apologizes.
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
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For example, a thesis of "red" and an antithesis of "blue" would combine to form a synthesis or "purple." Complex conclusions can be realized by reusing the synthesis as a thesis for a new problem.
The entire subject of philosophy, according to Hegel, consists of the study of the history of the world and the creation of truth. When man first became aware of objects, he viewed everything in the context of death or negation. When the self encounters other people, its first reaction is to view them as objects and risk its life to kill them. After that comes the master/slave relationship, where certain people rise to the top of society and exercise control over others. Ironically, the slave actually has a more stable means of self-validation. The slave identifies with his work, which is never-ending, while the master identifies with his control over the slaves, which could end at a moment's notice. Another ideal, which we derive from Hegel, is that of "stoicism." Stoicism, defined as the recognition of the self as sovereign and independent. The individual tries to lead a self-contained life of reason but is still susceptible to the psychological residue of the master/slave relationship as well as nature's eternal mastery. After this stage comes skepticism, which is an extreme form of stoicism where the self becomes completely rational and destroys nature by doubting it. The self is still limited by the master/slave
1.Hegel is a pantheist, meaning that he believes that everytng toeather comes to being God. Subsequently he believes that everythenig is one, menatin gtat reason and reality actually are the same thing, fuirtheremore Hegel believst that reality is reason, this is his "first Principle". In contrast to this Kant believes that all we really know are our persc=eptions of the real (Nominal world) and tat we cannot really knowanything aobut the real world. So our reason, though it lets us perceive reality it in fact changes reality, so our reason is not our reality. This is why Kant believes that reason isn't our first principle, and that we cannot in fact know the true first principle.
Hegel, though agreeing with the necessity of both approaches, emphasizes the decisive role of philosophy, because according to him the absolute spirit reaches it's highest level only in the pure form of thought, while religion is the presentation of spirit as mere feeling. As opposed to these two thinkers, who hold that religion and philosophy are two independently legitimate ways of recognizing truth, there are other philosophers (such as Thomas Aquinas), who are of the opinion that philosophy can only prove certain principles while other principles can only be proven by revelation. And finally there are those thinkers who espouse a complete dichotomy between the theological and philosophical approches.
Two approaches to the “Quest for Wisdom” that I enjoyed are Walden, by Henry David Thoreau and Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl. Both of the authors took similar approaches by using narration of a main segment of their lives to explain their philosophy and how they arrived at their conclusions. Though both conclusions represent individualism they are strikingly different. Thoreau values the doctrines of Transcendentalism, seeking ones inner self through Nature, while Frankl Existentialism values the interpretation of individual experiences and responsibility of ones actions.
Hegel believed that this was the case because the State, the democratically elected, equally represented State, exists for one reason only: to provide and improve the freedoms of the individual citizens within it. The State is created and owned by all the people that it rules, “The State, its laws, its arrangements, are the rights of its members” (Hegel 346). As a result, Hegel believes that there can be no further progression of society, as there is no longer a class to oppress another. There will be no more class struggle, no more uprisings, no more revolution for all changes will now be made within the State. Change will occur, but history, as Hegel has described it, will no longer progress. By stating that history has ceased and that we have reached our perfect method of achieving freedom, Hegel has essentially proposed a perfect, overly idealistic world; a world which we have no indication that we have reached, and if we still have yet to improve, he makes no mention of where improvement much occur. In essence, this leaves those following a Hegelian view of society without any real path to follow, and no set objective to achieve. Conversely, Marx lays out not only what is required of the world in order to attain our perfect societal state, but also what is required in order to arrive there.
First, Bertrand Russell was a British theorist who lived during the late 1800’s. In his piece, “The Value of Philosophy,” he describes the importance of studying philosophy. He argues that the subject is studied for “enlargement of self” (Russell). Russell is accurate with this statement. Studying thought accentuates people’s wholesome qualities;
The word philosophy means “lover of wisdom” (pg11) Great minds such as Socrates set out to find that wisdom is important for achieving happiness, and not accept something that is true and what you feel to be true (pg11.) This leads to the idea that it is okay to question. This can lead to self-knowledge and enlightenment. This is also known as self-actualization (pg. 15). People who are describes as being enlightened realize it is a life long process and devote their lives to find the values. Philosophers have an open mind and question what they belief and that of others (pg15). They can not accept beliefs as they are shown.. They approach it with skepticism until it can be
For Hegel, this development is marked by conflict and struggle, rather than smooth nonstop progress, and is displayed for the most part in political developments; World-historical events such as the French Revolution, world-historical “heroes” such as Alexander the Great and Napoleon, and in the achievements of several peoples and powerful nations. According to Hegel, the goal of history is the actualization of freedom in the life of the modern nation-state. He claimed that history was a rational process of improvement and that it could be understood and made understandable for anyone willing to look at it reasonably, which means observing as it holistically and as an endeavor of the World Spirit with a noticeable purpose. Moreover, he attempted to show that history put on a display a real progress toward the final goal of freedom and that the modern period, the time in which he lived until his death in November 14, 1831. This philosophy of history has been both highly effective and debatable and it is essential to any general study of the philosophy of
When reading Hegel’s, Reason in History: A General Introduction to the Philosophy of History, one can certainly see that Hegel was influenced by Plato’s Theory of Forms and his Theory of Opposites. Hegel’s Master Slave Dialect is a good theory contemporarily as to why people with privileges are not able to see the issues of the underprivileged. For Example, by applying this theory, one can understand how only the underprivileged would be aware that they are not privileged; while the privileged remains in blissful ignorance. Hegel takes great pains in his writing to explain that every positive in life has a negative aspect to it that provides balance (Hegel, 38). Hegel calls this opposition theory a, “reflection in itself,” where God is the ultimate thesis and the atom is the ultimate antithesis (Hegel, 67). Hegel goes on to break these reflections down into
The introduction of the article states that Hegel's essay is an attempt by the author to come to terms with modern individuality in terms of individual subjectivity. What this means for his analysis of Christianity is that Hegel seeks answers to the question of the relative
Hegel’s views on religion in the state cannot be sufficiently aligned with that of Hobbes or Locke, and Hegel’s views are very much his own. In a sense, he combines elements of both of these two writers, and takes aspects that make it difficult to draw a final conclusion that his ideas are more like one than the other. Hegel’s views on religion in relation to politics greatly differ from that of Hobbes and Locke, but he believes that religion can play a vital role in creating ethical political communities. Practicing your faith can provide information on morals to live by, ad create a stronger society.
Finally, i have come to believe that modern day philosophy is more important to us today. Ancient philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle trusted in their instinct of what realism is and abstracted ideas, for instance anger, love and kindness. Having side that, contemporary developments tened to tackle the moralistic and political view of realism. Therefore modern philosophy has a leading role of differentiating facts and the personal experiences and values. To give an illustration, this leaves the world around us a playground of not only ideology thinking that guides our decisions but political rationalization. On the other hand the Medieval ages and Renaissance were the raise of church, and the increase of nations and the raise of different countries.
The Hegelian Dialectic. A process where the contradiction between the Thesis and Antithesis resolves to a higher level of truth, the synthesis. Also knows as the Problem, Reaction, Solution.
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German Philosopher who was born in Stuttgart in 1770. As a young man, he studied theology, but was also impelled to explore philosophy due to the upheaval of this treacherous time in history. The Reign of Terror and French Revolution had a huge impact on Germany and Europe, and Hegel became caught up in the fervor and outrage of the period and wanted to take a deeper look at the events that were occurring. His look and analysis of the French Revolution is what began his reflection of history.
Against this approach, Rorty advocated for a novel form of American pragmatism, sometimes called neopragmatism, in which scientific and philosophical methods form merely a set of contingent "vocabularies" which people abandon or adopt over time according to social conventions and usefulness. According to Rorty, analytic philosophy may not have lived up to its pretensions and may not have solved the puzzles it thought it had. Yet such philosophy, in the process of finding reasons for putting those pretensions and puzzles aside, helped earn itself an important place in the history of ideas. By giving up on the quest for apodicticity and finality that Edmund Husserl shared with Rudolf Carnap and Bertrand Russell, and by finding new reasons for thinking that such quest will never succeed, analytic philosophy cleared a path that leads past scientism, just as the German idealists cleared a path that led around empiricism. Martin Heidegger encouraged Rorty to process permanence. For the history of western. They both underlyed persisted from plato. Rorty agreed with Hegel about the quest for clarity. They attempted to escape for times than not. Rorty and Hegel looked at philosophy as a way of life. They both understood eachother in a way no one else could. Philosophy was their life, what they lived and breathed. All philosophers had different views on all things. Rorty says there is no gap between human psychology and biology than chemistry and biology. His beliefs follow easily from Deweyan take on Darwinism. When they accept the pragmatism then they will disguise between human and the natural. Rortys writing was an overall view of Philosophy. A way to cope with, and achieve our purposes and desires. Rorty says there is a difference between natural than from social. For Rorty, some results of merging was the truth of dropping realist, anti-realist, and issues. Rorty
Compromised largely in Kant 's ideas, Hegel 's systemic philosophy of the State and analysis of historical summit of the body politic provides the foundation of Marxism and alike. Hegel declares the concept of state as superior to the individual. In his book Philosophy of History, he establishes Reason as the "rational" manifestation of world history which subsists in both natural and spiritual realms; "But the Spirit, and the course of its development, is the substance of history" (20). Reason as the core of Spirit is the self-contained existence of itself as that which is free and autonomous. Thus the Idea is that world history is Spirit attempting to find its own nature. Hence, the union and harmony of the Idea and human private