G.W.F. Hegel And German Idealism

The epistemological Origin of German Idealism Kant’s doctrine of “das Ding an sich” is not satisfying for this reason: Kant thinks that the thing in itself causes sensations in the phenomenal world. But how do we know that, if ‘das Ding an sich ‘ is unknowable? So, according to the idealists Kant takes a dogmatic position in his doctrine of the thing in itself. So, the idealists erase ‘das Ding an sich’. This position implies that the reality is not the object, but the subject in itself.

Reality is the Subject in it self It means that the whole reality (the real) is not material, but spiritual, mental, or ideal. The table in front of us is our idea that is external to us like the picture as the externalization of the idea of a painter. So, the real is coextensive with the rational. The subject in it self has some names: 1. The pure I (Fichte) 2. The absolute identity (Schelling) 3. The Spirit or Idea (Hegel)

How do we know the pure ego (Fichte)? Think the I. Then think the I that thinks a wall. Later think the I that thinks the I that thinks a wall and so on. In this process of reflection ad infinitum we get the pure I. This pure I is the reality par excellence. In other word the reality is the thinking subject or EGO

Young Hegel and Alienation Young Hegel is interested in the theology and history of Christian religion. His concern is the theme of “alienation”. The primal church is a ethical community that live the faith not as something external. But then the Christian faith is rationalized and dogmatized. God is alienated from man. In the Catholicism this alienation of faith is reconciled through sacraments and symbolisms.

Hegel’s Project: To Find the Unity of the Opposite or the Synthesis In the daily life we always experience contradictions, dualities, oppositions, like bad and good, body and soul, culture and nature, spirit and matter etc. According to Hegel the fundamental interest of our reason is to unify these contradictions, i.e. to reach the absolute. The absolute is the state in which the thinking is coextensive with its object. So, there is no difference between subject and object.

What is “Spirit” or “Idea”? Hegel writes “Was vernuenftig ist, das ist wirklich; und was wirklich ist, das ist vernuenftig” [The rational is real and the real is rational] It means that the whole reality isn’t material, but ideal, i.e. it is all that we can think. The reality is the idea

Reality is Idea The things in front of us, e.g. trees, tables or glass, are not so real as the definitions of these things. The definition or concept is the essence that we think. This essence is more real than the actual thing.

The Idea and History The history is a dynamic process toward realization of the essence or idea of all thing. The human history is a development of mankind toward its end, i.e. freedom. Hegel says that the reality or idea realizes itself in space and time. The real is not being (Sein), but becoming (Werden).

The Reality as Development of Idea According to Hegel the reality moves toward its end, i.e. knowing itself or self-consciousness of reality. Imagine the whole reality as a subject that thinks about himself. The object of his thought is the material world and the history of mankind. What for is this thinking? To know himself. So, the development of reality is a process of becoming toward self-knowledge of reality: The Idea knows its own content. Also, what is reality? The reality is the spirit that knows itself through itself.

Diary of Spirit [or Reality] The Ego of the diary writes his experience in order to know himself. In the diary the Ego writes about the contradictions and crisises of his life. He finds solutions and reconciliation of those contradictions so that he enters in the new phase of his life. What is the purpose of this writing of the diary? To know himself. So, we can imagine the reality as the Ego that writes a grand diary [or history of nature and mankind] in order to know himself [in the end of history].