Artificial Geist: Hegel & Artificial Intelligence
SPECIAL EDITION NEWSLETTER – Consideration #205
Be A Part of the Conversation!
Tuesday September 9, 2025
“History in general is therefore the development of Spirit in Time, as Nature is the development of the Idea is Space.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
The last philosopher to attempt an all-encompassing theory of everything was Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Most people do not recognize his name, but he was perhaps the greatest modern philosopher in terms of influence. To learn more about Hegel’s complex philosophy of “Absolute Truth” read Newsletters #36, #37, and #38.
One of the key metaphysical concepts connected to Hegel’s philosophy is called “Geist,” or “Spirit.” Hegel proposed that “humanity” itself had a kind of “collective spirit” that he called Geist. Geist reflected the overall “spirit” of where humanity was “at any specific time.” The physical manifestation of Geist was reflected through the various empirical and rational “products” produced by human societies “at the time.”
“Where humanity is at any given time, is reflected in what they produce.”
In addition, Geist is connected to history, and history is connected to working out problems that are obstacles to gaining “Absolute Truth.” History reflects our “Collective Geist” as we move closer to understanding this Absolute Truth. Where humanity is at any given time, is reflected in what they produce. Consider the following historical evolution: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Age of Art (Renaissance), the Age of Reason, the Age of Science, the Age of Technology, the Atomic Age, and our current incarnation of Geist: The Digital Age.
Our current “spirit of humanity,” or “Geist,” is focused on creating a new form of digital consciousness: Artificial Intelligence. Could Artificial Intelligence become the manifestation of a new collective human consciousness, or what Hegel called “Geist?”
CONSIDERATION #205 – Artificial Geist
“The state of man's mind, or the elementary phase of mind which he so far possesses, conforms precisely to the state of the world as he so far views it.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
What is important to understand is that Artificial Intelligence learns through the Internet. The Internet reflects all human “consciousness” or “thinking” about the world and reality. Artificial Intelligence is basically absorbing what Hegal called our Geist, or the “Spirit” of humanity.
“So, let me take as my point of departure the idea of Spirit. In German, Geist. It’s central to Hegel’s philosophy. It’s central to his conception of reasoning. To his conception of History. To the big topics in Hegel’s thinking. Now Geist… it's the part of the world, the part of that ‘which is,’ which isn’t nature; which isn’t matter or isn’t exclusively matter; isn’t exclusively physical. It’s the part of the world that isn’t the tables and chairs, the animals and plants, simple brute matter. Geist… is exactly everything that isn’t nature. Geist is Mind, Spirit, Reason…”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
Ultimately, Artificial Intelligence reflects the rationality of the “collective human mind.” Meaning that Artificial Intelligence would be a physical manifestation of “human Geist” in the empirical world; it would transcend from a rational “Spirit” reflected through Mind and Reason, to an empirical manifestation of “all” human consciousness: Digital Geist.
“Hegel argues that there is a ‘collective consciousness’ reflecting a kind of ‘oversoul’ representing the entire species of human beings from the beginning of human existence. This Geist, or Spirit, or Mind unfolds itself through the History of the entire human race. Geist is often recognized as ‘the Spirit of an age,’ or ‘the Spirit of the times.’”
– Frank Elkins, #38 Transcending God & Nature: The History of Geist in the World
Artificial Intelligence reflects the product, or spirit, of our current Geist, or Collective Human Consciousness. From a Hegelian perspective, it represents the next “logical” and “natural” step on the road to obtaining Absolute Truth. Hegel recognized a connection to Christian theology and science that he considered necessary for obtaining Absolute Truth. Because Christian theology is the bridge leading to the final stage in the development of Geist: rational science.
“Hegel considers the peak of theology to be Christianity. Christian theology leads to the development of science, which becomes the next step in human growth and development. Actively seeking the Creator through attempting to understand His creation, over time becomes manifested through the Spirit of Objective Science. An evolution from superstition to reason; Geist, evolving through individual human beings, moving closer to its purpose of self-actualizing Absolute Truth.”
– Frank Elkins, #38 Transcending God & Nature: The History of Geist in the World
According to Hegel, human beings are on a journey toward Absolute Truth which we can recognize through our history; because the collective human consciousness, or Geist, unfolds itself through our history.
“Hegel holds the view that all human beings, taken together on a global, or universal scale… that all human beings form one giant collective subject; and that means that we can go back and look at the actual phases of human history as the kind of life story of this giant subject. And he thinks that it is possible not only to look back on these phases of development, but actually discern the process of maturation. The process of development. The process by which this giant subject, this ultimate subject, realizes the potentials that were in it from the very beginning.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
Hegel proposes that Geist is reflected through what human beings produce, or their focus of attention, which is also directly connected to their understanding of “freedom” and “rationality.”
“All the German metaphysicians, Kant as well as Hegel, connect the idea of freedom and rationality. Freedom and rationality are always closely bound up. Now the Geist is the essence of human existence. It’s the part of human beings that isn’t meat, that isn’t the corpse we carry around with us; it’s our spirit, our soul. And each historical epoch has a different spirit, or soul, and that spirit is expressed in the characteristic cultural productions of that time...
Common intellectual concerns, common intellectual questions, interact with each other and influence each other in the same concrete historical moments. So we have these abstract ideas of moving our intellectual orientation, say from God to nature, which is characteristic of the Enlightenment. Well, you can see those concerns not just in physical science, but also in political science, in moral theory, and also in visual art, in music, in all the cultural products. And the cultural products of our society are the expressions of its Spirit.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
Our current cultural product is Artificial Intelligence.
POSTSCRIPT
“It is because the method of physics does not satisfy the comprehension that we have to go on further.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Artificial Intelligence connects to Hegel’s concept of Geist in several ways. First, in terms of consciousness itself, which fits into Hegel’s concept of Giest in that it is not tangible or physical. However, it is also connected to the foundation of AI which is digital, or quantum. The quantum world of atoms and subatomic particles is also what Hegel would consider to be “non-physical.” In addition, Artificial Intelligence is directly connected to human consciousness, and human Geist. All of these intangible expressions of Geist are about to be encapsulated into the cultural product of our age: Artificial Intelligence.
“Hegel’s theory is based on consistent movement toward Absolute Truth…”
To a great extent, we are attempting to incorporate our entire understanding of how things work into a single digital embodiment called Artificial Intelligence the same way Hegel attempted to incorporate a theory of everything into his philosophy of Absolute Truth. Hegel’s theory is based on consistent movement toward this Absolute Truth which he sees as unfolding through three stages of human development, and according to Hegel we are currently in the final phase.
“This is the process of reaching an inherent purpose, or potential, for both individual human beings and the collective spirit of Geist. Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis. All three phases represent an understanding of Absolute Truth. However, the ultimate evolution of human beings and Geist, through time, is toward the reason and rationality of the one True Idea. A unity of consciousness between humans and humanity; the individual and the collective. We can trace our development toward this goal by recognizing the key turning points in our Culture and History.
From experience to expression; art. From expression to devotion; religion. From devotion to understanding; philosophy/science. These are the becoming of Geist in the world.”
– Frank Elkins, #38 Transcending God & Nature: The History of Geist in the World
From Hegel’s perspective, Artificial Intelligence would represent the next natural and logical stage of “human consciousness” moving through Geist on our journey toward Absolute Truth and is therefore a “necessary” part of that process. If Hegel is right, Artificial Intelligence could be a new transformational product of human Geist and perhaps a new opportunity for moving even closer to Absolute Truth.
“Hegel gives us hope…”
Maybe it is not space, but Quantum Consciousness that is the final frontier. And, maybe, it has always been inevitable. Hegel gives us hope that it may be the next natural phase of Geist in our evolving understanding of rationality. One that may have the potential to lead us closer to the Absolute Truth about reality.
Next week we will consider Scientific Mystery #8, the Origins of Life…
Get More Reality with the “Reality by a Thread” Paid Upgrade!
Click Image to Learn More…
Unique Content Makes Untangling the Knots of Reality “One of the Best Podcasts about History!”
Excerpt from this week’s Special Edition Podcast: “Untangling Radical Rationalism”
“…this unique Substack podcast by FRANK ELKINS is not strictly speaking history. It is a strange mix of history, philosophy, theology, spirituality, physics, and astronomy…Try this podcast for a start.”
– Barbora Jirincova, The Best Podcasts About History
Excerpt from this week’s “Reality by a Thread” (Harbingers of a New Paradigm Shift)
“We are more and more beginning to experience the very ‘digital phenomena’ we have been considering. This week there were two more reports about Artificial Intelligence in connection to teen suicide and a family homicide by a 56-year-old man who murdered his mother and then killed himself. Both of their actions appear to have been suggested, supported, and encouraged by the entity they had come to trust more than any other consciousness on the planet: their AI Chatbot.”
– Frank Elkins (Reality by a Thread: September 11, 2025)
All for less than a couple of cafe lattes every month at a local coffee shop! And You Will Have Something Interesting to Talk About With Your Friends at the Coffee Shop!!
Only $7.00 a month or $70.00 a year! UPGRADE NOW!
Available Now! Book IV – The Cosmic Symphony…
“Like many Western stories, the story of String Theory begins in ancient Greece; with a Greek philosopher named Pythagoras. Renowned for his deep mathematical insight, Pythagoras was a major Greek philosopher who revolutionized Western thought, particularly in the areas of mathematics and geometry. Essentially a “priest” of the sacred language of God, mathematics, Pythagoras understood the physical world as the manifestation of a hidden world of complete rational abstraction. All of Reality was founded on, and a result of, mathematical reason.”
Book IV – The Cosmic Symphony
Books I-VI Are Now Available! Click Image for more information…
