SPECIAL EDITION: Hegel's Philosophy of Three: Part 1
Absolute Idealism and The End of Rationalism & Empiricism (A Rebuttal to the Age of Reason)
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Tuesday, June 21, 2022
“The bud disappears when the blossom breaks through, and we might say that the former is refuted by the latter; in the same way when the fruit comes, the blossom may be explained to be a false form of the plant’s existence, for the fruit appears as its true nature in place of the blossom. The ceaseless activity of their own inherent nature makes these stages moments of an organic unity, where they not merely do not contradict one another, but where one is as necessary as the other; and constitutes thereby the life of the whole.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit
SPECIAL EDITION PART I – CONSIDERATION #36: “Absolute Idealism and the End of Rationalism & Empiricism” (A Rebuttal to the Age of Reason)
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
“Hegel is perhaps the last, and perhaps the greatest, of the synthesizers of the tradition of Athens and Jerusalem… What it really is, is a poetic attempt to explain to everybody what it all means. It’s what people think philosophers do for a living. Well, the last one that actually tried to do that for a living was Hegel. And for better or worse, we’re living with his legacy and will probably never get beyond it…”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
It could be argued that after Aristotle and Descartes, Hegel represents the most influential philosopher in Western history. Hegel’s attempt to unify all possible knowledge and understanding into one philosophical system shatters the foundation of Rationalism and Empiricism by questioning the reality of physical existence, reengages the metaphysics of Spirit as a focus in philosophy, and sets the stage for the bizarre possibilities suggested by Einstein’s theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. It could also be argued that Hegel represents the final possibility in philosophy; after Hegel, the search for a “theory of everything” shifts from the field of philosophy to the field of science. The next human being to unsuccessfully attempt it would be Albert Einstein.
“Hegel was the last of the great philosophical system builders of modern times. His work, following upon that of Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and Friedrich Schelling, thus marks the pinnacle of classical German philosophy. As an absolute idealist inspired by Christian insights and grounded in his mastery of a fantastic fund of concrete knowledge, Hegel found a place for everything—logical, natural, human, and divine—in a dialectical scheme that repeatedly swung from thesis to antithesis and back again to a higher and richer synthesis. His influence has been as fertile in the reactions that he precipitated—in Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish existentialist; in the Marxists, who turned to social action; in the logical positivists; and in G.E. Moore and Bertrand Russell, both pioneering figures in British analytic philosophy…”
T. Malcolm Knox, Britannica (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel)
From Socrates to Descartes, philosophers have sought to understand the truth about our reality and how we perceive it. By the Age of Reason, the main metaphysical challenge for philosophers regarding our perception of reality involved whether “a priori” knowledge from outside of our physical senses as translated through the Mind, or physical sensations connected to an accumulation of physical experiences as translated through the brain, was the essential factor in perceiving and understanding Reality. Empiricists insisted that all perception was a result of physical sensations that were interpreted by our brain. Rationalists argued that “a priori” knowledge beyond the physical senses provided the underlying foundation for our ability to utilize abstract reasoning to interpret reality, information accessible only through a metaphysical Mind. However, both camps believed in an underlying physical reality. Hegel questioned the rationality of that belief.
“…the gist of Hegle’s work was to break the limitations to understanding the physical and metaphysical principles of reality by breaking the limitations placed on philosophical thinking by Cartesian Duality.”
It would be impossible to capture all of Hegel’s philosophical implications in three volumes, much less three newsletters. However, the gist of Hegle’s work was to break the limitations to understanding the physical and metaphysical principles of reality by breaking the limitations placed on philosophical thinking by Cartesian Duality. Hegel accomplished this by acknowledging a deficiency in the theory of dualism, presenting an alternative possibility to fill the deficiency, and synthesizing both possibilities into a new, transcendental understanding of the original deficiency. Hegel’s philosophy is a philosophy of three, built on a structure of triads designed to transcend the previous limitations of dualism placed upon them. Hegel describes this overall process as a triad of three factors: Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis. He begins at the beginning, with the original misinterpretation of God.
CONSIDERATION #36 – Absolute Idealism: The End of Rationalism & Empiricism
Part-1 – Absolute Idealism and The End of Rationalism & Empiricism
“Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Hegel is primarily credited with solidifying a philosophical system known as Absolute Idealism. Considered the last “systems” philosopher, Hegel attempted to find a “philosophy of everything” that would transcend the dualism of the past, by unifying the physical and metaphysical incongruities of previous systems. According to his theory, Reality should not be considered in terms of an objective physical reality, but as a reflection of our own self-conscious minds. In addition, Reality is not only translated through everyone’s individual mind, but is also generated through a “collective mind” reflecting the evolution of Geist, often translated as Spirit or Mind, that resides within the entire “human race” and which we experience as “History.”
“Idealism for Hegel meant that the finite world is a reflection of mind, which alone is truly real. He held that limited being (that which comes to be and passes away) presupposes infinite unlimited being, within which the finite is a dependent element. In this view, truth becomes the relationship of harmony or coherence between thoughts, rather than a correspondence between thoughts and external realities. As one proceeds from the confusing world of sense experience to the more complex and coherent categories of science, the Absolute Idea, of which all other abstract ideas are merely a part, is approached.”
Brian Duignan – Britannica (Absolute Idealism)
Hegel’s concept of an Absolute Idea is very reminiscent of Plato’s concept of “The Good.” For example, Plato argues that “The Good” can be recognized by human beings in such metaphysical realities as “Beauty.”
“The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful.”
– Plato, Philebus
Hegel suggests that “Beauty,” through art, reflects the Geist, or Spirit of humanity. Both Plato and Hegel agree that “The Good,” or the “Absolute Idea,” represents the final phase of spiritual recognition and development in human beings, and for Hegel, in the Geist as well.
“In the knowledgeable realm, the form of the Good is the last thing to be seen, and it is reached only with difficulty. Once one has seen it, however, one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in the visible realm…”
– Plato, Parmenides
In Hegelian terms, both individual human beings and the collective human race are evolving toward the Absolute Idea, or The Good, which is reflected through our recognition and expression of Beauty. For Plato “Beauty” represents the last stage of development in the “visible” or physical world. For Hegel, “Beauty” represents the first step in recognizing and understanding the larger Spirit of Geist. Art represents our attempt to emulate and express that beauty through physical form. Therefore, art, being the recognition and expression of beauty, represents the first step toward Absolute Truth. We will consider this in more detail in part three.
In Empiricism and Rationalism both possibilities assume physical objects, at some level, to be “real.” This “real” object, or “thing in itself” is not completely perceivable to us because our senses are limited to specific physical sensations, whereas Reality has no such limits. Therefore, we, as human beings, never perceive the complete “thing in itself,” called “noumena,” but only the aspects of it that we are capable of perceiving, which is called “phenomena.”
“…this ‘object within itself’ (noumena) produces physical sensations that we can interpret as Reality through the phenomena that we perceive…”
According to Empiricists and Rationalists, this “object within itself” (noumena) produces physical sensations that we can interpret as Reality through the phenomena that we perceive, however we cannot perceive noumena in its totality. For example, we cannot perceive ultraviolet light, even though we know it exists. The information, or physical sensations, produced by the noumena, or “thing in itself,” are filtered through our senses, interpreted by our brain or mind, and then manifested into the phenomena we think of as reality.
However, that reality is based on there actually being a “real thing in itself” to perceive in the first place. Although we are limited by our senses to being able to perceive and experience only phenomena, there is a “real” noumena that originally generated it. This was the basis for believing in a real objective reality, even if we could not perceive and experience it in its entirety or completeness.
“For Hegel, there is no duality of physical and non-physical realities.”
Hegel questioned the idea of noumena. According to Hegel, there is no real proof or evidence for any “thing in itself” anywhere. Although Hegel does not deny the possibility of such an existence, he simply maintains that there is no rational or empirical evidence or proof to support it. There is no Realm of Forms, Realm of Mind, or any other metaphysical location outside of time and space that exists separately and independently from Reality in its own unique eternal dimension. For Hegel, there is no duality of physical and non-physical realities. Reality is a combination of both acting in unison to manifest our experience of reality that directly reflects the current evolution of the non-physical reality called Geist, or Spirit.
“We, as individuals and as a collective race, are the self-conscious beings reflecting the evolution of the ‘Absolute Idea’…”
Unlike the Deists of the past, Hegel’s Spirit did not create reality, or the universe, and then just step away from it. Geist is the “living” Spirit, or expression and manifestation of Reality, seeking to reach its ultimate purpose through human beings; both as individuals and as a collective race. We, as individuals and as a collective race, are the self-conscious beings reflecting the evolution of the “Absolute Idea” which manifests itself, seeks to know itself, and attempts to fulfill itself by realizing its purpose, through us. It is what the Apostle John called The Logos. For Hegel, the original misconception about God and our purpose in existence was the result of categorizing Reality into the dualism of “being” and “non-being.”
Previous philosophers basically saw Reality as an expression of being and non-being. This limited view unwittingly also limited the concept of God to “being.” God was responsible for bringing “Being” into existence. This is the premise behind Aristotle’s “Unmoved Mover.” However, according to previous theories, once the universe, or reality, was brought into existence God retreated from the scene of Reality. God essentially set into motion the parameters, or universal laws, necessary for reality to occur and then left the “machine” to run on its own. However, according to Hegel, they missed the critical point. The essence of God, or Spirit, or Mind, is not about being or non-being; it is about Becoming.
“It is not a series of things moving from being to non-being; it is one single process of becoming.”
Hegel uses the analogy of a plant to express the problem with looking at the world, or reality, through the lens of dualism. A plant begins as a seed. However, the seed is not “the plant,” it is part of the process of “becoming” the plant. From a dualistic perspective the seed cannot be the “thing in itself” because the seed is not “the plant.” It is part of the evolutionary process of becoming “the plant.” In dualism, the seed goes “out of being” and is replaced by a sprout that “comes into being.” The sprout grows and brings flowers into being, then they go out of being and are replaced by fruit that comes “into being.” However, at no time is there ever “the plant in itself.” Hegel points out that the plant is essentially always in an active state of “becoming” the plant. There is not a seed that is replaced by a plant that produces flowers that are replaced by fruit. It is not a series of things moving from being to non-being; it is one single process of becoming. This is true for God, or Spirit, as well.
“In Hegel’s philosophy the concepts of being and non-being are transcended into the existential experience of becoming.”
God is not about being and non-being. God, or Spirit, is about the process of becoming. We are the expression, instrument, or vehicle, for God’s (Geist) becoming. Dualism does not allow for this possibility. Hegel attempts to transcend the limitations of dualism by understanding the Power of Three. The essential structure for this transition consists of Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis. In this example, “being” represents the thesis, “non-being” represents the antithesis, and “becoming” represents the synthesis. In Hegel’s philosophy the concepts of being and non-being are transcended into the existential experience of becoming. Hegel explains how this process works in his book, The Phenomenology of Spirit.
POSTSCRIPT
There are three critical concepts in Hegel’s philosophy that should be understood clearly at this point. First, Hegel argues that Reality may have no objective physical reality of its own outside of the mind. All Reality, not just mental abstractions such as mathematics and God, is an abstraction of the mind. There is no objective Reality.
Second, therefore, understanding Reality is about understanding the nature of Mind, or Spirit, as opposed to understanding the nature of things. We cannot be sure that things are real, or even exist objectively on their own. However, as demonstrated by Descartes, we can establish that the mind, or Descartes’ “I,” does existentially exist and is therefore, real.
“To an even greater extent, we are the essence of God’s experience of Reality.”
Third, God, or Spirit, is not a “Being” outside of our Reality. God, or Spirit, is the essence of our Reality. To an even greater extent, we are the essence of God’s experience of Reality. Although Hegel’s interpretation of Reality is often criticized as being a somewhat mystical interpretation, it is important to remember that it is the only philosophical interpretation that can easily coexist with the challenges of both Einstein’s theories of relativity and the advent of Quantum Mechanics.
“These metaphysical triads show up as ‘Father-Son-Holy Spirit’ in Christianity, ‘proton-electron-neutron’ in science, ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ in politics…”
Another key factor in Hegel’s philosophy is the recognition that dualism is transcended by the Power of Three. Important triads for Hegel include “thesis-antithesis-synthesis,” “being-nothingness-becoming,” “immediate-mediate-concrete,” and “abstract-negative-concrete.” These metaphysical triads show up as “Father-Son-Holy Spirit” in Christianity, “proton-electron-neutron” in science, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in politics, while also expressing itself in historical events such as the American Revolution becoming the “Declaration of Independence-Constitution-Bill of Rights,” or the French Revolution as “French Revolution-Reign of Terror-Constitutional State.” Hegel recognizes the limitations of dualism and understands that the only way to transcend them is through the Power of Three.
Next week we consider Hegel’s understanding of God’s Mind; experienced in the physical world as History, which he explains in his groundbreaking work “The Phenomenology of Spirit.”
P.P.S.
Excerpt from Tomorrow’s First Podcast!
“Reality, is a very strange thing. It is something that everyone knows so well, people navigate it daily with very little thought or concern. However, it also represents an unreachable itch that we have attempted to scratch for centuries. The experience of Reality reflects a dualism of the knowable, and the unknowable. We have come to think of Reality not as a whole, but as two Realities: An Objective Reality, and a Subjective Reality.
Eventually, our obsession with Objective Reality would lead us to an investigation of the physical world, which we call science. However, our Subjective Reality would lead us to an investigation into the unknowable and abstract concepts of God, mathematics, and theology. We generally now think of our Subjective Reality as being a Reality of the Mind. And our Objective Reality, as a Reality of the senses. This now seems to us a very logical distinction. However, this was not always the case.”
Excerpt: “Untangling the Knots of Reality” Podcast One: A Lot of Explaining (Free Download Tomorrow)
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