Read the biography of the philosopher thinker: facts of life, main ideas and teachings

GEORGE WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL
(1770-1831)

German philosopher who created the theory of dialectics on an objective-idealistic basis. Hegel's system, which completes the philosophy of the New Age, consists of three parts of logic, which considers the existence of God before the creation of the world, natural philosophy, which has the content of the alienation of God from his creation to himself in the human spirit. At the end, there is logic again - this time performed by God in man, but not differing in content from the first.

Major works "Phenomenology of Spirit" (1807), "Science of Logic" (1812-1815), "Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences" (1817, 1830), "Fundamentals of the Philosophy of Law" (1821), lectures on the philosophy of history, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, history of philosophy.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on August 27, 1770 in Stuttgart, in the family of a prominent official Georg Ludwig and his wife Mary Magdalene. Hegel's father, first secretary of the accounting chamber, then expedition adviser, according to biographers, "was distinguished by strictness of character and amazing accuracy."

In 1777-1787, Hegel attended a Latin school and gymnasium in Stuttgart. We learn about the multifaceted interests of the future philosopher from his extracts from what he read, diaries and scientific papers. Hegel studied literature, history, mathematics, philosophy, pedagogy, etc. with great interest. He read ancient Greek authors in the original. After graduating from the gymnasium, Hegel entered the Tübingen Theological Institute on October 27, 1788, where he attended a two-year philosophical and three-year theological course, passing the necessary exams in 1793.

However, Hegel owes his spiritual development mainly to independent studies and spiritual communication with friends - Hölderlin, who later became an outstanding poet, and Schegching, the future philosopher. Most of all friends were interested in philosophy. They carefully studied Plato, Kant and, of course, argued heatedly. However, young people were united not only by scientific, but also by political interests. The young men were inspired by the ideas of the French bourgeois revolution, which they enthusiastically welcomed; Jean Jacques Rousseau was their prophet at that time.

Friends entered the political club, where they read and re-read French newspapers and vividly discussed the events of the French Revolution. Hegel's student years coincided with major political events in France, the storming of the Bastille, the overthrow of the monarchy, the execution of Louis XV and the rise to power of the Jacobins. These events were greeted with enthusiasm by Hegel.

Together with Schelling and Hölderlin, Hegel participated in the symbolic planting of the "freedom tree" in 1791. About the French Revolution, Hegel later wrote "it was a magnificent sunrise. All thinking beings celebrated this era. At that time, a sublime, touching feeling prevailed, the world was seized with enthusiasm, as if only now had a real reconciliation of the divine with the world had come."

Hegel's enthusiasm for the French Revolution was most clearly manifested in his youthful article "People's Religion and Christianity", work on which began in Tübingen and was interrupted in Bern. After graduating from the theological institute, Hegel abandons his career as a pastor and goes to Bern, where he serves as a home teacher in the patriarchal family of Karl Ludwig Steiger. Here Hegel uses all his free time to read philosophical literature (Fichte, Schelling), to study the political and economic life of Switzerland, and also continues to closely follow developments in France.

The fall of the Jacobin dictatorship, the counter-revolutionary coup on 9 Thermidor, the formation of the government of the Directory, the rise of Napoleon - these are the main milestones in the political history of France, which had a strong influence on the entire German ideology and, in particular, on the spiritual development of Hegel.

In the years 1793-1796, Hegel acts as a supporter of the republican form of government, has a negative attitude towards the feudal-absolutist orders then dominant in Germany and the Catholic Christian religion, worships ancient democracy and preaches the need for active human intervention in public life for the purpose of changing it. Then he was an opponent of the policy of reconciliation with reality. This kind of sentiment was reflected in two manuscripts, The Life of Jesus (1795) and The Positiveness of the Christian Religion (1795-1796).

In 1797, Hegel returned to his homeland and, thanks to Hölderlin, received a position as a house teacher in the family of the merchant Gogel in Frankfurt am Main. He continues to deal with political, historical and philosophical problems, writes a brochure "On the latest internal relations of Württemberg, especially on the structure of the magistrate" (1798), which raises the question of the need for constitutional reforms in Württemberg.

In 1799 he completed his treatise The Spirit of Christianity and Its Destiny. Hegel's fascination with English political economy also belongs to this period. He writes a commentary on Stewart's An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy. Unfortunately, this comment has been lost. As you know, the English economists had a strong influence on the philosopher, as evidenced by the "Philosophy of Right", where Hegel again returns to the classics of English political economy.

In Frankfurt, Hegel gradually gives up his dreams of a republic in the spirit of the ancient polis. Hegel's rejection of republican ideals is due to the fact that the revolutionary upsurge in France was replaced by a recession. This is also due to the fact that the philosopher is now moving away from preaching the principle of active intervention in public life, which he put forward before. Hegel is more and more inclined towards the idea of ​​the necessity of reconciliation with the inevitable laws of historical destiny. Previously, he sharply criticized Christianity for preaching passivity. Now he appreciates christian religion. Most of all, the philosopher begins to occupy religious and ethical issues.

Dealing with philosophical problems during his stay in Frankfurt, Hegel sought to test his strength in the pedagogical field. The University of Jena was the most suitable place for this thanks to the activities of Reinhold, Fichte and Schelling. Jena became the center of progressive German thought of the era. Reingold had already popularized Kant's teaching here since 1787. As a follower of the Koenigsberg thinker, Fichte developed active work in Jena. Schelling lectured as Extraordinary Professor.

In 1800 Hegel moved from Frankfurt to Jena. This move coincided with important event- the conclusion of peace in Lunéville. During his six years in Jena, Hegel developed a vigorous teaching and literary activity. Here he lectures on logic, metaphysics, the history of philosophy, mathematics, writes a large number of articles where he tries to substantiate the system of objective idealistic philosophy. In 1801, Hegel defended his dissertation on the topic "On the Revolution of the Planets". Hegel's opponents quipped about the fact that, while the philosopher argued in his work, it was pointless to look for between Mars and Jupiter celestial bodies, the Italian scientist Piazzi, a few months before Hegel defended his dissertation, discovered Ceres between Mars and Jupiter.

Hegel begins his literary activity with the article "The difference between the systems of philosophy of Fichte and Schelling" (1801), directed against the subjective-idealistic philosophy of Fichte. Criticism of the philosophy of Kant, Fichte, Schleiermacher, Jacobi Hegel devotes a number of articles published in the Critical Philosophical Journal, which he published jointly with Schelling. Fichte's philosophy was also criticized by Friedrich Schelling. At first he himself stood on the Fichtean point of view. Then he moved to the position of the identity of the ideal and the real, that is, to the position of objective idealism. This position of the philosophy of identity was initially accepted by Hegel. However, differences soon arose between them. Schelling developed religious and mystical ideas during this period. Hegel did not agree with these ideas. The differences between Schelling and Hegel deepened more and more and with the publication of The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) led to a final break.

In view of the fact that the Napoleonic troops occupied Jena, classes at the university ceased, Hegel was forced to look for a new field for the application of his forces. Thanks to the patronage of his friend Nithammer, he receives the post of editor of the Bamberg Gazette. Hegel believed that editing a newspaper would give him the opportunity to participate in political life. But the severity of censorship, of which he had previously had a vague idea, soon dispelled his illusions. In letters to Nithammer, Hegel reports that he is weary of his work and considers it a waste of time. Nithammer again came to the aid of the philosopher, under his patronage, Hegel received the post of director of the gymnasium in Nuremberg. Hegel remains in this position from 1808 to 1816.

In 1811 Hegel married. The marriage was successful. Hegel passionately loved his chosen one. "Whoever has a goal in life and a good wife - he has everything" - he said. The couple occupied a small but decent apartment. Directly opposite the exit was the living room, to the right - Hegel's study, then the bedroom, the nursery. Everything was in order and neatness. They lived quietly and modestly, occasionally making small trips around Germany. The wife was engaged exclusively in housekeeping, but Hegel also found time to interfere in it. He was the "head and master" of the house in the full sense of the word. Thick bound notebooks have been preserved, in which the great philosopher neatly recorded all household expenses, not neglecting a single kreuzer or pfenning. He often repeated that living beyond one's means is a source of immorality and unhappiness.

The Nuremberg period of Hegel's activity coincides with the liberal reforms in Prussia (1807-1813). Military defeats prompted the Prussian noble monarchy to embark on the path of reforms, which were supposed to strengthen its internal position and restore military power.

At the Nuremberg Gymnasium, Hegel devotes himself entirely to pedagogical and scientific activities. At this time, his main work, The Science of Logic (1812-1816), was written, which gives a systematic presentation of idealistic dialectics. However, administrative activities in the gymnasium weighed heavily on Hegel, and he also wanted to have an audience more interested in philosophical knowledge than the students of the gymnasium. Hegel persistently sought an opportunity to return to teaching and research and received a place at the University of Heidelberg.

By that time, the political situation in Germany had changed dramatically. The collapse of Napoleon's empire was accompanied by the creation of the "Holy Alliance" of European monarchs to fight the liberation movements. In an introductory lecture delivered on October 28, 1816 at the University of Heidelberg, Hegel uttered the significant words "the Prussian state, in particular, is built on reasonable principles." The Prussian government appreciated the Heidelberg speech of the philosopher. In 1817, Baron Altenstein, Friedrich Wilhelm III's minister, invited Hegel to lecture at the University of Berlin.

In the autumn of 1818, Hegel, already well-known outside of Germany, took up a professorship of philosophy at the University of Berlin. The conservative aspects of Hegel's philosophy were especially sharply revealed precisely at this time. This is evidenced by his "Philosophy of Right", published in 1821, and lectures on the philosophy of religion, as well as on the philosophy of history, which he first began to read in Berlin and which were published after the death of the philosopher by his students. The seal of conservatism also lies on the lectures on aesthetics, which he first read back in Heidelberg. In his final lecture on the Philosophy of History, Hegel characterized the restoration period as a "fifteen-year farce."

“At last, after forty years of wars and endless confusion,” said Hegel, “the old heart could rejoice, seeing that the end of this situation had come and a state of satisfaction had come.” Hegel did not understand the meaning of the July Revolution of 1830 in France, but appreciated the fact that it ended the dark era of the Restoration. The Philosophy of Law, the most conservative work, at the same time contains some liberal ideas, the demand for a constitution, publicity of the court, etc.

In 1818-1831, Hegel continued to develop and improve his philosophical system. So, along with the courses already mentioned above on the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of history, Hegel lectures on logic, natural philosophy, anthropology, the history of philosophy, psychology, the philosophy of law, and aesthetics. The Hegelian system in the Berlin period reaches its full completion. The strengthening of conservative tendencies in Hegel's philosophy during the years of his work at the University of Berlin was also reflected in the fact that he began to pay great attention to questions of religion, directly pointing to the connection of his philosophical teachings with it.

During this period, the philosopher is actively engaged in publishing activities. On his initiative, the "Scientific Critical Journal" was published in Berlin, which existed until 1846. The great popularity of Hegel is evidenced by the fact that in the 1829-1830 academic year he was elected rector of the university. One should not exaggerate the benevolent attitude of the Prussian government towards philosophical ideas Hegel.

In this respect, Schulz, adviser to the Prussian Ministry for Higher Education, is of great interest. In a letter to Heim, he writes that it would not be difficult for him to prove on the basis of facts that Hegel never enjoyed a particularly favorable attitude on the part of the government here, that he was far from serving the reaction that had already begun at the Aachen Congress, and that he could not reproach him for having made his system the scientific refuge of the spirit of the so-called Prussian restoration. Most of Hegel's contemporaries claim that he remained true to the ideals of the French Revolution until the end of his life.

His negative attitude towards extreme reaction is also known. For example, he was at enmity with Schleiermacher, Haller, Savigny. It was because of the intrigues of the reactionaries that he was not elected to the Prussian Academy.

The philosopher's life was cut short unexpectedly. In the summer of 1831, a cholera epidemic spread in Germany. Hegel was one of her victims on November 14, 1831, he died. At Hegel's wish, he was buried next to Fichte's grave.

Hegel had two sons with his wife Maria Gucher and one illegitimate son Hegel's younger son Immanuel became a church official, the middle son Karl became a historian, the eldest illegitimate son Ludwig was a military man, he died before his father.

The most significant work of Hegel is devoted to the origin of dialectics, as well as to the disclosure of the principle of absolute idealism to the dominance of the world mind, the Absolute Idea, which in its progressive development gives rise to the surrounding reality. Consciousness in its movement develops from opposition to the subject to absolute knowledge, that is, to the concepts of science. Thus, Hegel tried to reveal the genesis of philosophical knowledge, which begins with sensory certainty. First, consciousness confronts an object that does not depend on it, and does not know either its own nature or the essence of the object. At the second stage, consciousness takes possession of its own social nature and is conscious of itself as a participant in historical events. When consciousness looks back on its own path, it rises to the third stage of its development and comes to absolute knowledge.

In the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel, considering historically the entire path of consciousness, applies the principle of historicism and gives an interpretation of the social nature of consciousness, speaks of the role of labor in its formation. It shows the historical necessity of the development of consciousness, which is expressed in various forms. However, at the level of absolute knowledge, the development of consciousness stops.

The main sections of the Hegelian philosophical system logic, the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of the spirit, the latter is joined by the philosophy of law, the philosophy of history, aesthetics, the philosophy of religion, the history of philosophy. Hegel argued that the content of religion and philosophy is identical, they differ only in form in religion - representation, in philosophy - concept. Hegel considers religion as a specific form of knowledge. Religion, according to Hegel, is removed by a higher form of knowledge - philosophy, which has the task of developing logical categories and is the science of sciences. Hegel connects philosophy with the historical conditions of its existence, considering each philosophical system as a comprehension of the contemporary era in the concept.

The history of philosophy is not just a list of opinions, but a natural process of achieving absolute truth. Hegel considered his philosophical system as the completion of the development of philosophy. Hegel's merit lies in the fact that he developed the dialectical method of understanding the world. Hegel worked out the questions of the relationship of movement, development and transformation of quantitative changes into qualitative ones, questions about the nature of theoretical thinking, about the logical forms and categories in which this theoretical thinking is carried out.

Hegel made a great contribution to the understanding of the method of science. The method, according to Hegel, is not a set of artificial methods invented by man and not dependent on the subject of research. The method is a reflection of the real connection, movement, development of the phenomena of the objective world. Hegel showed that knowledge is a historical process. Therefore, truth is not a ready-made result of cognition, forever given, it is constantly developing, the logical forms in which truth develops are of an objective nature.

* * *
You read the biography of the philosopher, the facts of his life and the main ideas of his philosophy. This biographical article can be used as a report (abstract, essay or abstract)
If you are interested in biographies and teachings of other (Russian and foreign) philosophers, then read (contents on the left) and you will find a biography of any great philosopher (thinker, sage).
Basically, our site (blog, collection of texts) is dedicated to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (his ideas, works and life), but in philosophy everything is connected and it is impossible to understand one philosopher without reading at all those thinkers who lived and philosophized before him...
... Representatives of the German classical philosophy- Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Feuerbach - realize for the first time that man does not live in the world of nature, but in the world of culture. The 19th century is the century of revolutionary philosophers. Thinkers appeared who not only studied and explained the world, but also wished to change it. For example, Karl Marx. In the same century, European irrationalists appeared - Arthur Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bergson ... Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are representatives of nihilism (the philosophy of negation) ... In the XX century, among philosophical teachings can be distinguished - existentialism - Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre ... The starting point of existentialism is the philosophy of Kierkegaard ...
Russian philosophy (according to Berdyaev) begins with the philosophical letters of Chaadaev. The first Russian philosopher known in the West is Vladimir Solovyov. Lev Shestov was close to existentialism. The most widely read Russian philosopher in the West is Nikolai Berdyaev.
Thank you for reading!
......................................
Copyright:

Great Soviet Encyclopedia: Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (August 27, 1770, Stuttgart - November 14, 1831, Berlin) was a German philosopher, a representative of German classical philosophy, the creator of a systematic theory of dialectics based on objective idealism. Born in the family of an official. In 1788-93 he studied at the Tubingen Theological Institute. In 1793-1801 home teacher in Bern and Frankfurt am Main. From 1801 he lived in Jena, engaged in scientific and literary work, in 1807 he edited a newspaper in Bamberg. From 1808 to 1816 director of the gymnasium in Nuremberg. From 1816 until the end of his life he was professor of philosophy at the universities of Heidelberg (1816-18) and Berlin (since 1818).
G.'s worldview was shaped under the influence of the ideas and events of the Great French Revolution and reflected the main contradictions of bourgeois progress. The implementation of bourgeois-democratic demands was conceived by G. in the form of a compromise with the estate-feudal system, within the framework of a constitutional monarchy. This tendency in Germany's views, due to the economic and political backwardness of Germany, also influenced the way he worked out specially philosophical problems, in particular the problems of dialectics, giving the last feature of tolerance to obsolete forms of life and thought and thereby weakening its revolutionary-critical character.
G. started as a follower critical philosophy”I. Kant and I. Fichte, but soon, under the influence of F. Schelling, he moved from the position of “transcendental” (subjective) idealism to the point of view of “absolute” (objective) idealism. Among other representatives of German. G.'s classical idealism stands out for his keen attention to the history of human spiritual culture. Already in early writings G. interprets Judaism, antiquity, and Christianity as a series of successive stages in the development of the spirit and epochs in the development of mankind, and tries to restore their historical appearance. G. considered his era a time of transition to a new one, gradually ripened in the bosom Christian culture, a formation in the image of which the features of bourgeois society with its legal and moral principles. In The Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807), G. deploys the basic principles of his philosophical concept. The spiritual culture of mankind was first presented here in its natural development as a gradual manifestation of the creative power of the "world mind". Being embodied in successively replacing each other images of culture, the impersonal (world, objective) spirit at the same time recognizes itself as their creator. The spiritual development of an individual briefly reproduces the stages of self-knowledge of the "world spirit", starting with the act of naming sensory-given "things" and ending with "absolute knowledge", i.e. knowledge of those forms and laws that govern from within the entire process of spiritual development - the development of science, morality, religion, art, political and legal systems. The "absolute knowledge" that crowns the phenomenological history of the spirit is nothing but logic. Therefore, the final chapter of the "Phenomenology of the Spirit" is a program for the critical transformation of logic as a science, implemented by G. in subsequent works, and above all in the "Science of Logic" (1812). In this sense, K. Marx called the "Phenomenology of Spirit" - "... the true source and secret of Hegelian philosophy" (Marx K. and Engels F., From early works, 1956, p. 624).
The universal scheme of the creative activity of the "world spirit" receives from G. the name of the absolute idea, and the "Science of Logic" is defined as the scientific-theoretical "self-consciousness" of this idea. The "absolute idea" is revealed in its general content in the form of a system of categories, starting from the most general and poor definitions - being, non-being, existing being, quality, quantity, etc. - and ending with specific ones, i.e. variously defined concepts - reality, chemism, organism (teleology), knowledge, etc. In logic, G. deifies real human thinking, which he studies in the aspect of universal logical forms and laws that emerge through the cumulative historical process. By declaring thinking a "subject", i.e. the only creator of all the spiritual wealth developed by history, and understanding it as an eternal, timeless scheme of creative activity in general, G. brings the concept of an idea closer to the concept of God. However, unlike the theistic god, the idea acquires consciousness, will and personality only in man, while outside and before man it is realized as an internally regular necessity.
According to G.'s scheme, the "spirit" wakes up in a person to self-consciousness, first in the form of a word, speech, language. Tools, material culture, civilization appear as later, derivative forms of the embodiment of the same creative power of the spirit (thinking), "concept". The starting point of development is seen, therefore, in the ability of a person (as a “final spirit”) to cognize “himself” through the development of all that “wealth of images” that were previously contained within the spirit as unconscious and involuntarily arising in it “internal states".
The central place in the dialectic of geometry is occupied by the category of contradiction as a unity of mutually exclusive and at the same time mutually presupposing opposites (polar concepts). The contradiction was understood here as a "motor", as an internal impulse for the development of the spirit in general. This movement ascends from the “abstract to the concrete”, to a more and more complete, diversely dissected within itself and therefore to a “true” result. Contradiction, according to G., is not enough to understand only in the form of antinomy, aporia, i.e. in the form of a logically unresolved contradiction: it should be taken together with its resolution as part of a deeper and more concrete understanding, where the original antinomy is simultaneously realized and disappears (“removed”).
With the help of the dialectical method he created, G. critically rethinks all spheres of contemporary culture (scientific, moral, aesthetic, etc.). On this path, he everywhere discovers a tense dialectic, a process of constant “denial” of each presently achieved state of the spirit by the next state ripening in its depths. The future matures within the present in the form of a concrete contradiction immanent to it, the certainty of which presupposes a certain way of resolving it. A sharply critical analysis of the contemporary state of science and its concepts is intertwined in G. with a critical reproduction and philosophical "justification" of a number of dogmas and prejudices of his contemporary consciousness. This contradiction permeates not only logic, but also other parts of the Hegelian philosophical system - the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of the spirit, which, respectively, make up the 2nd and 3rd parts of his Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences (1817). The philosophy of the spirit is developed further in the Philosophy of Law (1821) and in lectures published after G.'s death on the philosophy of history, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, and the history of philosophy. Thus, in the philosophy of nature, G., critically analyzing the mechanistic views of 18th century science, expresses many ideas that anticipate the subsequent development of natural science thought (for example, about the relationship and mutual transitions of the definitions of time and space, about “immanent expediency” characteristic of a living organism, and etc.), but at the same time denies nature its dialectical development. Considering the past only from the point of view of those dialectical collisions that led to the maturation of the "present", i.e. modernity, uncritically understood as the crown and goal of the process, G. completes the philosophy of history with an idealized image of the Prussian constitutional monarchy, the philosophy of law with an idealized image of bourgeois legal consciousness, the philosophy of religion with an apology for Protestantism, etc.
At the same time, Hegelian dialectics included the possibility of a revolutionary-critical rethinking of reality. This rethinking - from a materialistic standpoint - was carried out in the 40s. 19th century K. Marx and F. Engels.
K. Marx, emphasizing that his "... dialectical method is fundamentally not only different from the Hegelian, but is its direct opposite," noted: "the mystification that dialectics underwent in the hands of Hegel did not at all prevent Hegel from the first gave a comprehensive and conscious image of its universal forms of movement. Hegel has dialectics on his head. It is necessary to put it on its feet in order to open the rational grain under the mystical shell ”(Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd edition, vol. 23, p. 21, 22).
G.'s doctrine of the "objective spirit" developed in the "Philosophy of Law" had a tremendous impact on the subsequent development of sociology and social philosophy(with the criticism of this particular work of G., K. Marx began to develop a materialistic view of society and history - see ibid., vol. 1, pp. 219-368 and 414-29). "Objective spirit" covers G.'s sphere social life and is understood as a supra-individual integrity, which in its objective regularity rises above individual people and manifests itself through their various connections and relationships. The “objective spirit” unfolds in law, morality, and morality, and by morality G. understands such stages of objectification human freedom as a family, civil society and the state. G. notes the contradictions of bourgeois society: the polarization of poverty and wealth, the one-sided development of man as a result of the progressive division of labor, and so on. G. assigned a large place to the analysis of labor, which he considered the main factor in the process of becoming a person.
G. considers history as a whole as "the progress of the spirit in the consciousness of freedom," and this progress unfolds through the "spirit" of individual peoples, replacing each other in the historical process as they fulfill their mission. The idea of ​​an objective regularity that makes its way regardless of the desires of individuals found its false reflection in the Hegelian doctrine of the “cunning of the world mind”, which uses individual interests and passions to achieve its goals.
In aesthetics, G.’s meaningful interpretation of the beautiful as a “sensory phenomenon of the idea” turned out to be the most important for its subsequent development, and the emphasis in understanding the aesthetic was placed by G. on the fact that the idea is taken here not in its “pure”, logical form, but in its concrete unity with some external being. This determined the Hegelian doctrine of the ideal and the stages of its development (“forms of art”). The latter are differentiated depending on the relationship between the idea and its external image: in a symbolic artistic form, the external image only hints at the idea (G. refers Eastern art to this stage), in the classical one, the idea and its image are in balance and fully correspond to each other ( ancient art), in romantic - over the external form prevail spiritual element, the depth of the soul and the infinity of subjectivity (medieval and new European art that grew up on the basis of Christianity).
In lectures on the history of philosophy G. first portrayed the historical and philosophical process as a progressive movement towards absolute truth, and each individual philosophical system - as a certain stage in this process.
Bourgeois philosophy of the post-Hegelian era was unable to assimilate G.'s real gains in the field of logic. Hegelianism developed more along the line of cultivating the formal and mystical tendencies of Hegelian philosophy (see Hegelianism, Neo-Hegelianism). The formal apparatus of Greek dialectics had a strong influence on existentialism (J. Hippolyte, J.P. Sartre, M. Heidegger).
Critically revised from a materialist standpoint, the philosophy of G. is one of the theoretical sources of Marxist-Leninist philosophy - dialectical materialism. In this regard, G.'s works are still the best school of dialectical thought, as K. Marx, F. Engels, V.I. Lenin.

General characteristics of creativity and the main works of Hegel.

Hegel's identification of being and thinking. The absolute idea is the highest substance

and its alienation in the form of the surrounding world and man.

3. Dialectics - Hegel's fundamental philosophical discovery.

Philosophy of nature, philosophy of spirit and philosophy of history of Hegel.

Socio-political views.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770 - 1831) - professor at Heidelberg and then Berlin universities, was one of the most respected philosophers of his time both in Germany and in Europe, a prominent representative of German classical idealism.

Hegel's main contribution to philosophy lies in the fact that he put forward and developed in detail: the theory of objective idealism (the core concept of which is the absolute idea - the World Spirit); dialectics as a universal philosophical method.

The most important philosophical works of Hegel include: "Phenomenology of Spirit", "Science of Logic", "Philosophy of Law".

2 . The main idea of ​​Hegel's ontology (the doctrine of being) is identification of being and thinking. As a result of this identification, Hegel derives a special philosophical concept - the absolute idea.

Absolute idea - it is: the only true reality that exists; the root cause of the entire surrounding world, its objects and phenomena; world spirit possessing self-consciousness and the ability to create. The next key ontological concept of Hegel's philosophy is alienation.

The absolute spirit, about which nothing definite can be said, alienates itself in the form of: the surrounding world, nature, man.

And then, after alienation through human thinking and activity, the natural course of history returns to itself again: that is, the cycle of the Absolute Spirit occurs according to the scheme: World (Absolute) Spirit - alienation - the surrounding world and man - thinking and human activity - realization by the spirit of himself oneself through the thinking and activity of a person - the return of the Absolute Spirit to itself.

Alienation itself includes: the creation of matter out of thin air; complex relations between the object (the surrounding world) and the subject (man) - through human activity, the World Spirit objectifies itself; distortion, misunderstanding by a person of the surrounding world. Human in the ontology (being) of Hegel plays a special role. He - bearer of the absolute idea. The consciousness of each person is a particle of the World spirit.

It is in man that the abstract and impersonal world spirit acquires will, personality, character, individuality. Thus, man is the "final spirit" of the World spirit.

Through a person, the World Spirit: manifests itself in the form of words, speech, language, gestures; purposefully and naturally moves - actions, actions of a person, the course of history; cognizes itself through the cognitive activity of a person; creates - in the form of the results of material and spiritual culture created by man.

3 . Hegel's historical service to philosophy lies in the fact that he was the first to clearly formulate the concept of dialectics.

Dialectics, according to Hegel, the fundamental law of the development and existence of the World Spirit and the surrounding world created by it. The meaning of dialectics is that:

everything - the World spirit, the "final spirit" - a person, objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, processes - contains opposite principles (for example, day and night, heat and cold, youth and old age, wealth and poverty, black and white, war and world, etc.);

these beginnings (parts of a single being and the World Spirit) are in conflict with each other, but, at the same time, they are united in essence and interact;

the unity and struggle of opposites is the basis for the development and existence of everything in the world (that is, the basis of universal existence and development).

Development proceeds from the abstract to the concrete and has the following mechanism:

there is a certain thesis(statement, form of being);

this thesis is always antithesis- its opposite;

as a result interaction of two opposing theses it turns out synthesis is a new assertion, which, in turn, becomes a thesis, but at a higher level of development;

this process occurs again and again, and each time, as a result of the synthesis of opposing theses, a thesis of an increasingly higher level is formed.

As the very first thesis, from which universal development begins, Hegel singles out the thesis "being" (that is, that which exists). Its antithesis is "non-existence" ("absolute nothingness"). Existence and non-existence give a synthesis - "becoming", which is a new thesis.

According to Hegel, contradiction is not evil, but good. It is contradictions that are the driving force of progress. Without contradictions, their unity and struggle, development is impossible.

4 . In his research, Hegel seeks to understand: the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of spirit, the philosophy of history, and hence their essence.

Hegel understands nature (the world around him) as the otherness of the idea (that is, the antithesis of the idea, another form of existence of the idea). Spirit, according to Hegel, has three varieties: subjective spirit, objective spirit, absolute spirit. subjective spirit- soul, consciousness of an individual person (the so-called "spirit for itself").

Objective Spirit- the next step of the spirit, "the spirit of society as a whole." The expression of the objects of the new spirit is the law - given from above, originally existing as an idea (since freedom is inherent in the person himself) the order of relationships between people. Law is the realized idea of ​​freedom. Another expression of the objective spirit, along with law, is morality, civil society, and the state.

Absolute Spirit- the highest manifestation of the spirit, the eternally valid truth. Expression of the Absolute spirit are: art, religion, philosophy.

Art- direct reflection by a person of an absolute idea. Among people, according to Hegel, only talented and brilliant people can "see" and reflect the absolute idea, because of this they are the creators of art.

Religion- the antithesis of art. If art is an absolute idea, "seen" by brilliant people, then religion is an absolute idea, revealed to man by God in the form of revelation.

Philosophy- the synthesis of art and religion, the highest stage of development and understanding of the absolute idea. This is knowledge given by God and at the same time understood by brilliant people - philosophers. Philosophy is the complete disclosure of all truths, the knowledge of itself by the Absolute Spirit ("the world grasped by thought" - according to Hegel), the connection of the beginning of the absolute idea with its end, the highest knowledge.

According to Hegel, the subject of philosophy should be broader than is traditionally accepted, and should include: the philosophy of nature, anthropology, psychology, logic, philosophy of the state, philosophy of civil society, philosophy of law, philosophy of history, dialectics - as the truth of universal laws and principles.

Story, according to Hegel, the process of self-realization of the Absolute spirit. Since the Absolute Spirit includes the idea of ​​freedom, all history is a process of man's conquest of more and more freedom. In this regard, Hegel divides the entire history of mankind into three great eras: Eastern, ancient-medieval, German.

Eastern era(the era of Ancient Egypt, China, etc.) - such a period of history when in society only one person is aware of himself, enjoys freedom and all the blessings of life - the pharaoh, the Chinese emperor, etc., and all the rest are his slaves and servants.

Antique-medieval era- a period when a group of people (head of state, entourage, military leaders, aristocracy, feudal lords) began to realize themselves, but the bulk is suppressed and not free, depends on the "top" and serves it.

German era- the era contemporary to Hegel, when everyone is aware of themselves and everyone is free.

5 . You can also highlight the following socio-political views of Hegel: the state is a form of God's existence in the world (God incarnate in its strength and "capabilities"); law is the existence (embodiment) of freedom; common interests are higher than private ones, and the individual, his interests can be sacrificed to the common good; wealth and poverty are natural and inevitable, this is a reality given from above that must be put up with; contradictions, conflicts in society - not evil, but good, the engine of progress; contradictions and conflicts between states, wars are the engine of progress on a world-historical scale; "eternal peace" will lead to decay and moral decay; regular wars, on the contrary, purify the spirit of the nation.

One of the most important philosophical conclusions of Hegel about being and consciousness is that there is no contradiction between being (matter) and idea (consciousness, mind). Reason, consciousness, idea has being, and being has consciousness. Everything that is reasonable is real, and everything that is real is reasonable.

Introduction……………………………………......... 3

1. short biography Hegel …………………... 4-5

2. The doctrine of being………………………………….. 6

2.1. The doctrine of essence…………………………. 6-7

2.2. Teaching about the concept……………………………… 7-9

3. Pantheism in the philosophy of G. Hegel….…........... 9-12

4. Dialectics of Hegel ……………………………… 12-14

5. Philosophy of nature, philosophy of spirit …….. 14-17

6. Socio-political views of Hegel.. . 17-21

Conclusion ………………………………………. 22-23

References ……………………………… 24

INTRODUCTION

What is philosophy? Philosophy is rather an ideological form of consciousness. A worldview can be understood as a generalized system of views of a person (and society) on the world as a whole, on his place in it, understanding and evaluation by a person of the meaning of his life and activity, the fate of mankind; a set of generalized scientific, philosophical, socio-political, legal, moral, religious, aesthetic value orientations, beliefs, convictions and ideals of people.

Man has always experienced and is experiencing a spiritual need to have a holistic view of the world; he, according to S.N. Bulgakov, cannot agree to wait with the satisfaction of this need until the future science provides sufficient material for this purpose; he also needs to get answers to questions that go beyond the field of positive science and cannot even be conscious of it. Each science is a kind of scrap of knowledge, and all the sciences in their simple addition are the sum of the scraps.

Philosophy provides a system of knowledge about the world as a whole. In other words, it can be said that the subject of philosophy is not just one aspect of being. and everything that exists in the fullness of its content and meaning. Philosophy is not aimed at determining the exact boundaries and external interactions of parts and particles of the world, but at understanding their internal connection and unity.

Now, hardly anyone will dispute that the works of philosophers of a historical era remote from us can not be reproduced in full as they were created. Some of the works simply disappeared in the depths of time, some simply lost their relevance many years ago. But any great philosopher will always leave something that will be useful not only to his generation, but to all subsequent ones.

The philosophy of history occupies an important part of Hegel's philosophy. History is driven by contradictions between national spirits, which are thoughts and projections of the Absolute Spirit. When the Absolute Spirit has no doubts, it will come to the Absolute Idea of ​​Itself, and the history will end and the Kingdom of Freedom will come.

Starting to consider the “Philosophy of History” by Friedrich Hegel, I considered it necessary to make a digression-excursion into the prehistory of the subject itself, because the “Philosophy of History” is one of those works of the scientist that were not brought to the end by him and were not prepared and published by him personally.

This was done by students and followers of Hegel, students of his lecture courses at the University of Berlin in 1822-1831.

1. Brief biography of Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) - German philosopher, objective idealist, representative of German classical philosophy - one of the theoretical sources of Marxism - for the first time in the history of development philosophical thought on the basis of an idealistic worldview, which gave a systematic development of the dialectical way of thinking.

Hegel took as the basis of all phenomena of nature and society absolutely, i.e., a certain spiritual principle, designated by him in different terms: “world mind”, “world spirit”, “absolute idea”, which exists before the real world, nature and society. “... An absolute idea - absolute only insofar as he is absolutely unable to say anything about it - “alienates” itself (i.e., turns) into nature, and then in the spirit, i.e. in thinking and in history , - returns to itself again. This is his objective and absolute idealism. Hegel acted as a continuer of the line German philosophy, presented by Kant, Fichte and Schelling, in whose theories the problems of dialectics were already posed, but did not receive the systematic development that Hegel gave her.

Hegel was born in Stuttgart in the family of a high-ranking official. From 1788 to 1793 he attended two-year philosophical and three-year theological courses at the Tubingen Theological Institute, receiving a master's degree in philosophy and a candidate of theology. The revolutionary events in France were enthusiastically received by the future philosopher. At this time (1794-96), Hegel acted as a supporter of the republic, had a negative attitude towards the feudal-absolutist orders of Germany and the Christian religion, highly valued ancient democracy and preached the principle of active intervention in life. These ideas are reflected in the manuscripts: Folk Religion and Christianity, The Life of Jesus, and The Positiveness of the Christian Religion.

In 1797-1800. Hegel was a home teacher in Frankfurt am Main. Here he wrote a pamphlet "On the latest internal relations of Württemberg, in particular on the structure of the magistrate", raising the question of the need for constitutional reforms in Württemberg. In 1799 he completed his treatise The Spirit of Christianity and Its Destiny. Hegel's studies of political economy belong to the same period: he writes a commentary on Stewart's work "An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy".

Having received his share of the inheritance after the death of his father and having his own savings from pedagogical earnings, Hegel gets the opportunity to devote himself entirely to philosophical activity. In 1801 Hegel moved to Jena, where he began his academic career as a university lecturer.

Lectures at the University of Jena on logic, metaphysics, philosophy of nature, philosophy of mind, natural law, history of philosophy, Hegel gradually develops his original philosophical system. From the sketches of this system 1801-1802. and 1804-1806. The Phenomenology of Spirit is drawn up by the end of 1806, which, after writing an extensive preface, is published at the beginning of 1807.

In the Critical Journal published jointly with Schelling, Hegel published a number of articles directed against the philosophy of Kant and Fichte. The largest work of the Jena period is The Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807). Hegel edited the Bamberg Gazette for some time, from 1808 to 1816 he was the director of the gymnasium in Nuremberg, where he wrote his most significant work, The Science of Logic (1812-1816). Thus, the best works of the philosopher were created during the period when he stood in opposition to the Prussian order.

The pan-European reaction that was established after the fall of Napoleon was also reflected in the evolution of Hegel's views. In an introductory lecture (October 28, 1816) at the University of Heidelberg, Hegel declared: "... the Prussian state, in particular, is built on reasonable principles." From this moment Hegel's activity as the official philosopher of the Prussian government begins.

The short Heidelberg period (1816-1818) is important because here Hegel completed and published a new, final version of his philosophical system called the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences (1817). This work, which consists of three parts, includes an abridged and revised version of the Science of Logic (called "minor logic" in contrast to the original "great logic"), "Philosophy of Nature" and "Philosophy of Spirit". After Kant's Critical Philosophy, this was the first thoroughly developed philosophical system in Germany, the most important objective merit of which was its saturation with dialectical ideas. Hegel has rightly been recognized as the greatest German philosopher of our time.

In 1818 Hegel was invited to the University of Berlin, where he taught until the end of his life. The conservative aspects of his philosophy were sharply revealed precisely at this time, especially in the Philosophy of Right (1821), then in lectures on the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of history, which he began to read for the first time in Berlin (published after his death by students).

Despite Hegel's reconciliation with the Prussian order, he nevertheless positively assessed the French bourgeois revolution until the end of his life, and was at enmity with the reactionaries Schleiermacher, Haller and Savigny. It was thanks to the intrigues of the reactionaries that Hegel was not elected to the Prussian Academy. On November 14, 1831, the great thinker died of cholera and was buried next to Fichte and Solger. He passed away at the apogee of the authority of the philosophy he created, on the basis of which a whole school appeared - Hegelianism.

And before him they created integral philosophical concepts. He was not the first to speak about the world mind and its realization in material substance. The laws of dialectics were invented and introduced into philosophy long before the appearance of Hegel, but only he made dialectics the main law of development. Pre-Hegelian philosophers saw in contradiction a puzzle to be solved, or an annoying barrier to be overcome. Hegel saw here the engine of progress and the meaning of history. Being an idealist, he inspired revolutionaries whose ideas turned out to be no less idealistic. The efficiency of Hegel and the strength of his mind are still surprising. The professionalism of a modern philosopher is determined by whether he managed to defeat the old Georg Wilhelm. After Hegel, any other philosophical work will seem like the work of a schoolgirl.

Biography of the philosopher

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on August 27, 1770 in Stuttgart. Father Georg Ludwig was a serious man and took care of a good education for his son. The future philosopher did not get out of his studies, because after the public school private teachers were waiting for him. I must say that the boy liked this life. He fell in love with books, fell in love with studies, especially since his father paid for his success. School education passed on a tangent, without any special impressions, but he enjoyed spending all his free time in the library.

Hegel is interested in the history of science and philosophy. He fell in love with ancient authors, whom he reread until last days life. This is all the more strange because the philosopher did not take serious German literature, giving preference to any vulgarity. Perhaps the love of pulp fiction is somehow connected with studying at the theological seminary, where Hegel entered after graduating from the gymnasium? Serious theologians often see literature as a source of entertainment, a break from abstractions. However, Hegel never became a theologian, although he took a theological course at the University of Tübingen. Here he studies philosophy and defends his master's thesis.

He does not waste time on social life. He never grabbed a sword, fighting for offended honor. Hegel was not at all offended by caustic remarks. It seems that his dream is to get his own office, filled from top to bottom with books. But the events of the Great French Revolution seriously interested the future giant of thought. In order to be able to discuss them, Hegel enrolls in a student political club. He was not an ascetic, and even more so a saint, allowing wine, tobacco and cards into his life - in a moderate form.

Dialectic in his life

Having abandoned the career of a priest and theologian, Hegel is hired as a home teacher to a noble citizen of the city of Bern, Karl Steiger. The profession of a tutor made it possible to live comfortably and engage in self-education. The offspring of the patrician are not too distracting for George Wilhelm. He reads and writes a lot. His attitude to the events in France is twofold. On the one hand, he understands the progressive role of the revolution, but he does not like the terror of Robespierre. And meanwhile, any revolution is an excellent illustration of one of the laws of Hegel's dialectics - "the law of negation of negation." The revolutionaries rejected the power of the king in order, overcoming the instinct of destruction, to impose a new power. However, a people corrupted by freedom will never voluntarily enter the stall of statehood; terror is inevitable. In executions, the revolution denies itself, following the law of Hegelian dialectics. The revolution, like Saturn, devours its children - this was said by one nobleman in the face of the guillotine.

Once friends still managed to pull Hegel into the Alps. He wandered along the picturesque slopes with an alpenstock and did not understand why he was here. Georg Friedrich was interested in nature only in a philosophical package. At the beginning of 1797, he returned to his homeland to once again plunge into the realm of ideas. The following year, the first printed work of the philosopher comes out, and a year later his father dies, leaving a legacy of 3,000 guilders. Two antinomies - sad (the death of a father) and joyful (inheritance and financial independence) - turn into the thesis and antithesis of Hegel's logical triad, ending in synthesis. The scientist quits teaching to enter the field of university science.

His movement up the academic ladder is quite consistent with the "law of negation of negation." With difficulty, a young professor at the University of Jena finds a way to the souls of students. The language of his reasoning is complex and incomprehensible. After tiresome lectures, Professor Hegel retires to his office to continue work on the Phenomenology of Spirit. The first attempt to become a favorite of the students failed. In 1807-1808 Hegel was a newspaper editor in Bamberg, and from 1080 to 1816 he directed the classical gymnasium in Nuremberg.

It is hard to imagine that a person who has written so many heavy (literally and figuratively) books could marry for love. However, the "law of the transition of quantity into quality" explains this easily and simply. The number of years lived and the accumulated weight in society (the rector of the gymnasium) lead the scientist to the idea of qualitative change life, that is, about creating a family. He married Maria Helena Susanna von Tucher in 1811. The second attempt to develop into its opposite (and become the darling of the younger generation) was made by Hegel in 1816, when he began teaching at the University of Heidelberg. Apparently, The Phenomenology of Spirit brought him fame not only in scientific circles. The Universities of Berlin, Erlangen and Heidelberg wish to see him in their philosophy departments. In 1818 Hegel chooses Berlin. Soon the number of books read and his own conclusions shifted to a new quality, resulting in the "Philosophy of Law", published in 1821.

Here in Berlin, Hegel is finally becoming the darling of the student audience. Lectures on the history of philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of religion and aesthetics become his main occupation. Not only Germans from numerous states of the German world come to listen to him, but young men and women from other countries. The laws of dialectics hang inexorably over George Wilhelm until the end of his days. In 1830, he was at the pinnacle of honor, appointed rector of the University of Berlin. In 1831, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III adorned his chest with the Order of the Red Eagle, III degree, for his service to the Prussian state. Probably, following the law of “denial of denial”, in the same year Berlin was visited by cholera. The frightened philosopher flees the capital and settles in Kreuzberg. But the longing for his beloved students, and, perhaps, the thirst for new praise, drives him back. It seems to him that the epidemic has already passed. On November 14, 1831, the contradiction between life and death (due to infection with cholera or as a result of a disease of the gastrointestinal tract) reached an insurmountable stage, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel appeared before the World Spirit.

Only forward!

The mystical writings of Jacob Boehme had a great influence on Hegel. The fall of man was a necessary stage in the evolution of the universe, in which God must know himself. Hegel is read by Kant, Rousseau and Goethe. Modern society and culture seems to him filled with contradictions - between the subject and the object of knowledge, between man and nature, between "I" and "other", between freedom and power, knowledge and faith, Enlightenment and Romanticism. The philosopher is trying to reduce the tension of these contradictions to a comprehensive, developing and rational unity, which he, in different contexts, called the "absolute idea" or "absolute knowledge".

The main characteristic of this unity, according to Hegel, is the development and manifestation of oneself through contradiction and negation. These qualities are manifested in dynamics, in different spheres of being - in consciousness, in history, philosophy, art, nature and society, striving for a rational unity that preserves these contradictions as phases of development. Hegel calls this process conscious, because only the mind can see in these stages a movement towards self-knowledge. This unity is rational, since the same logical fundamental order of development lies in every sphere of being, being self-awareness, although full self-consciousness comes only at the last stage of development. The fullness of awareness is not somewhere outside of existing objects or consciousnesses. We can say that self-consciousness is completed in the philosophizing brains of individuals who, through awareness of themselves, carry out the process of self-knowledge in general. To remain the subject (active participant) of the historical process, a person must profess the philosophy of absolute negation.

The world after Hegel

By making contradiction the criterion of truth, Hegel placed a powerful weapon in the hands of scientists, evolutionists, and historians. By rationally explaining the revolution, he thereby justified it. Marxism, nurtured by the ideas of Hegel, reached Russia and brought about monstrous changes in its cruelty. His dialectic of history can be reduced to the usefulness of violence in the cause of historical progress.

They argue about him until they are hoarse, but only those who have found the strength to read and somehow understand Hegel. Some consider him the father of totalitarianism, others - the herald of reasonable freedom. He is credited with views that he did not express. But Hegel himself is to blame for this. If he wrote not for an abstract nerd, but for his students, there would be much more real readers of his writings. For most, it remains a symbol of academic scholarship, the approaches to which, perhaps, are blocked by our own laziness or ignorance.