Free to follow every thread. No paywall, no dead ends.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | HearLore
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on the 27th of August 1770 in Stuttgart, the capital of the Duchy of Württemberg. His father worked as a secretary to the revenue office at the court of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg. His mother died of bilious fever when he was thirteen years old. He and his father both caught the disease but narrowly survived. At age three, Hegel entered the German School. Two years later, he began attending the Latin School where he already knew the first declension from lessons by his mother. In 1776, he enrolled in Stuttgart's Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium. During his adolescence, he read voraciously and copied lengthy extracts into his diary. Authors he studied included the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and Enlightenment writers like Christian Garve and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. His biographer Karl Rosenkranz described this education as belonging entirely to the Enlightenment regarding principle and classical antiquity regarding curriculum. Hegel graduated with a speech titled "The abortive state of art and scholarship in Turkey." At eighteen, he entered the Tübinger Stift, a Protestant seminary attached to the University of Tübingen. There he shared a room with two future philosophers: Friedrich Hölderlin and Friedrich Schelling. The trio disliked the restrictive environment of the Seminary and became close friends who mutually influenced each other's ideas. They all greatly admired Hellenic civilization. Hegel steeped himself in Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lessing during this time. They watched the unfolding of the French Revolution with shared enthusiasm. Although the violence of the 1793 Reign of Terror dampened Hegel's hopes, he continued to identify with the moderate Girondin faction. He never lost his commitment to the principles of 1789, which he expressed by drinking a toast to the storming of the Bastille every fourteenth of July.
Jena And The Phenomenology Of Spirit
In 1801, Hegel came to Jena at the encouragement of Schelling, who held the position of Extraordinary Professor at the University of Jena. Hegel secured a position as a Privatdozent after submitting an inaugural dissertation titled De Orbitis Planetarum. Later that year, he completed an essay called The Difference Between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy. In 1802, Schelling and Hegel founded the journal Kritische Journal der Philosophie. They contributed to it until the collaboration ended when Schelling left for Würzburg in 1803. By 1805, the university promoted Hegel to the unsalaried position of extraordinary professor. He wrote a letter to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe protesting the promotion of his philosophical adversary Jakob Friedrich Fries ahead of him. The following February marked the birth of Hegel's illegitimate son, Georg Ludwig Friedrich Fischer, from an affair with his landlady Christiana Burkhardt née Fischer. With finances drying up quickly, Hegel was under great pressure to deliver his book, The Phenomenology of Spirit. Napoleon engaged Prussian troops on the 14th of October 1806 in the Battle of Jena on a plateau outside the city. On the day before the battle, Napoleon entered the city of Jena. Hegel recounted his impressions in a letter to his friend Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer. He saw the Emperor riding out of the city on reconnaissance. Hegel described this as seeing "the world-soul on horseback." He noted that such an individual concentrated at a single point reaches out over the world and masters it. Although Napoleon spared the University of Jena from much destruction, few students returned after the battle. Enrollment suffered, making Hegel's financial prospects even worse. In 1807, he had to move to Bamberg since his savings were exhausted. There, he became the editor of a local newspaper called the Bamberger Zeitung.
When and where was Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel born?
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on the 27th of August 1770 in Stuttgart, which served as the capital of the Duchy of Württemberg.
What major historical event did Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel witness during his time at the University of Jena?
Hegel witnessed the Battle of Jena on the 14th of October 1806 when Napoleon engaged Prussian troops on a plateau outside the city. He described seeing the Emperor riding out of the city on reconnaissance as observing the world-soul on horseback.
Which university did Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel choose to join after receiving offers from Erlangen and Berlin?
Hegel chose Heidelberg where he moved in 1816 before accepting the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin in 1818.
How did Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel die according to official records?
Physicians pronounced the cause of death for Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel as cholera though it is likely he died from another gastrointestinal disease. He passed away by the 14th of November 1831 after returning to Berlin despite an ongoing epidemic.
What are the three main parts of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophical system?
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel divided his philosophical system into the science of logic, the philosophy of nature, and the philosophy of spirit. This structure was adopted from Proclus's Neoplatonic triad and the Christian Trinity.
In Bamberg, Hegel edited a pro-French newspaper where he extolled the virtues of Napoleon. He often editorialized against Prussian accounts of the war. As editor, he became an important person in Bamberg social life. He visited with local officials and pursued passions for cards, fine eating, and local beer. However, Hegel bore contempt for what he saw as old Bavaria, frequently referring to it as Barbaria. After being investigated in September 1808 by the Bavarian state for potentially violating security measures, he wrote to Niethammer pleading for help in securing a teaching position. With Niethammer's assistance, Hegel was appointed headmaster of a gymnasium in Nuremberg in November 1808. He held this post until 1816. While in Nuremberg, Hegel adapted his recently published Phenomenology of Spirit for use in the classroom. Part of his remit involved teaching a class called Introduction to Knowledge of the Universal Coherence of the Sciences. In 1811, Hegel married Marie Helena Susanna von Tucher, the eldest daughter of a Nuremberg senator. This period saw the publication of his second major work, the Science of Logic across three volumes between 1812 and 1816. Two sons were born during these years: Karl Friedrich Wilhelm in 1813 and Immanuel Thomas Christian in 1814.
Heidelberg And The Berlin Chair
Hegel received offers from the Universities of Erlangen, Berlin, and Heidelberg before choosing Heidelberg where he moved in 1816. Soon after, his illegitimate son Ludwig Fischer joined the household having spent time in an orphanage after the death of his mother Christiana Burkhardt. In 1817, Hegel published Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic Outline as a summary of his philosophy for students. It was also while in Heidelberg that Hegel first lectured on the philosophy of art. In 1818, Hegel accepted the renewed offer of the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin. Here, Hegel published his Elements of the Philosophy of Right in 1821. He devoted himself primarily to delivering lectures on fine art, religion, history, and the history of philosophy which were published posthumously from student notes. Despite his notoriously terrible delivery, his fame spread and attracted students from all over Germany and beyond. Meanwhile, Hegel and pupils like Leopold von Henning and Friedrich Wilhelm Carové were harassed by Prince Sayn-Wittgenstein, the interior minister of Prussia. In the remainder of his career, he made two trips to Weimar where he met with Goethe for the last time. He also traveled to Brussels, the Northern Netherlands, Leipzig, Vienna, Prague, and Paris.
The Final Decade And Death
During the last ten years of his life, Hegel did not publish another book but thoroughly revised the Encyclopedia across second and third editions in 1827 and 1830. In his political philosophy, he criticized Karl Ludwig von Haller's reactionary work claiming laws were unnecessary. A number of other works on history, religion, aesthetics, and philosophy were compiled from lecture notes and published after his death. Hegel was appointed University Rector of the university in October 1829, but his term ended in September 1830. He was deeply disturbed by riots for reform in Berlin that year. In August 1831, a cholera epidemic reached Berlin and Hegel left the city taking lodgings in Kreuzberg. Now in a weak state of health, Hegel seldom went out. As the new semester began in October, Hegel returned to Berlin in the mistaken belief that the epidemic had largely subsided. By the 14th of November, Hegel was dead. Physicians pronounced the cause of death as cholera, though it is likely he died from another gastrointestinal disease. Heinrich Heine wrote that Hegel's last words were "There was only one man who ever understood me, and even he didn't understand me." Some have described these words as apocryphal. He was buried on the 16th of November in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery next to Fichte and Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Solger.
The Lord And Bondsman Dialectic
The fourth chapter of The Phenomenology of Spirit includes Hegel's first presentation of the lord-bondsman dialectic. This section has been most influential in general culture. What is at stake in the conflict Hegel presents is practical recognition or acknowledgement of the universality of each of two opposed self-consciousnesses. Readers learn what the self-consciousnesses do not yet realize: recognition can only be successful and actual if reciprocal or mutual. Recognition of someone you do not recognize as properly human cannot count as genuine recognition. Hegel criticizes the individualist worldview of people and society as a collection of atomized individuals. Instead, he takes a holistic view of human self-consciousness requiring the recognition of others. People's views of themselves are shaped by the views of others. The ensuing dialectic is long and hard. Hegel describes it himself as a path of despair where self-consciousness finds itself over and again in error. It is the self-concept of consciousness itself that is tested in the domain of experience. Where that concept is not adequate, self-consciousness suffers violence at its own hands and brings ruin to its restricted satisfaction. For Hegel, one cannot learn how to swim without getting into the water.
Logic And The Structure Of Reality
Hegel's philosophical system divides into three parts: the science of logic, the philosophy of nature, and the philosophy of spirit. This structure was adopted from Proclus's Neoplatonic triad and the Christian Trinity. Although evident in draft writings dating back as early as 1805, the system was not completed in published form until the 1817 Encyclopedia. Historian Frederick C. Beiser argues that the position of the logic with respect to real philosophy is best understood through Aristotle's distinction between order of explanation and order of being. For Hegel, the universal is always first in the order of explanation even if what is naturally particular is first in the order of being. With respect to the system as a whole, that universal is supplied by the logic. Scholar Michael J. Inwood states that the logical idea is non-temporal and therefore does not exist at any time apart from its manifestations. To ask when it divides into nature and spirit is analogous to asking when twelve divides into five and seven. The question has no answer because it predicates upon a fundamental misunderstanding of terms. The task of the logic is to articulate what Hegel calls the identity of identity and non-identity of nature and spirit. Books one and two of the Logic are doctrines of Being and Essence together comprising Objective Logic. Book three discusses the doctrine of Concept which reintegrates categories of objectivity into an idealistic account of reality. Categories of Being pass over from one to another as thought-determinations extrinsically connected. Categories of Essence reciprocally shine into one another. Finally, in the Concept, thought shows itself fully self-referential so its categories organically develop from one to next.
The Philosophy Of Right And State Theory
Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right was published in 1821 and has been controversial since its original release. It is not a straightforward defense of the autocratic Prussian state but rather a defense of Prussia as it was to have become under proposed reform administrations. Michael Inwood distinguishes three senses of Recht: a right or claim, justice, and law collectively. Beiser observes that Hegel's theory attempts to rehabilitate natural law tradition while taking into account criticisms of historical school. Analyzing the structure of Hegel's argument shows achieving political autonomy is fundamental to his analysis of state and government. Abstract Right treats principles governing property, transfer, and wrongs against property. Morality treats rights of moral subjects and responsibility for actions. Ethical Life analyzes principles and institutions governing central aspects of rational social life including family, civil society, and state. Hegel describes the state of his time as a constitutional monarchy rationally embodying three cooperative elements. These are democracy ruling through legislation by many, aristocracy applying laws by few, and monarchy heading power as one. This mixed form prevents any single power from dominating others. Hegel binds the monarch to the constitution limiting authority so he can do little more than declare what ministers decided. Although he insists upon importance of public participation, Hegel severely limits suffrage following English bicameral model. Only members of lower house commoners and bourgeoisie are elected officials. Nobles in upper house inherit positions like the monarch.