Half Hour Hegel: The Complete Phenomenology of Spirit (Preface, sec 7-9)

In this fourth video in the new series on G.W.F. Hegel's great early work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, I read and comment on the seventh, eight, and ninth paragraph of the text, from the Preface. In these sections, Hegel begins to discuss the present estranged status of Spirit and Consciousness in a new age, and the corresponding danger of lapsing into a philosophy of intuition, which only restores the feeling of the lost unity, not its notion. We finish these chapters by distinguishing between an edifying approach and a scientific approach to Philosophy.

In this video series, I will be working through the entire Phenomenology, paragraph by paragraph -- for each one, first reading the paragraph, and then commenting on what Hegel is doing, referencing, discussing, etc. in that paragraph.

The introductory music for the video is: Solo Violin - BWV 1004 - Partita for Violin No. 2 - Recorded in Brooklyn June 26, 2011 specifically to be dedicated to the Public Domain

#Hegel #Phenomenology #Philosophy #Idealism #German #Dialectic #Spirit #Absolute #Knowledge #History

[thebeautypart]

You can have True Detective. I've found my new favorite show.

[GregoryBSadler]

Next installation of the Half Hour Hegel series.  People are getting rather excited about these course videos -- lots of questions and comments -- but keep in mind that, with this guy, matters hopefully start to become more clear as we progress on through the sections!

[zarathustra]

My good sir, thank you so much for these videos. Your channel is definitely one of my favorite places to visit on the internet and I only discovered it when I accidentally stumbled upon your Sartre's Nausea videos. I am now hooked on this Half Hour Hegel series, as the clarity of your speech together with the deep exploration of Hegel's words, always make for an interesting and extremely insightful probe. If I had you as a professor, I wouldn't skip any of your lectures, that's for sure. Please, keep up the excellent work! Best regards, from a Portuguese man, studying in Cambridge.

PS: Since you mentioned the "transcendentalists" on this one, perhaps you could do one of these days, a couple of videos about Thoreau or Emerson? "Walden or The Life in the Woods" is definitely one of my favorite books, it would be interesting to see it dissected and interpreted by you.

[mttwmacneil]

Dr. Sadler,

Thanks for the (surely) massive amount of work for the undertaking of explaining Hegel, in depth. Very enjoyable stuff and very well explained. Your passion for the text comes through from the first video!

[Hesham-kwsu]

I cant stress how thankful and greatful i am, really appreciate the effort and the great exceptional project you have done to yourself and to the other, thank you.

[kevincrouch]

Going thru the phenomenology as I recover from open heart surgery. I would say Professor Sadler is the Bill Nye of philosophy but that would be giving Bill too much credit.

[ZootTM]

In addition to the contemporary examples such as mindfulness, it is also useful looking at the 'modes of Spirit' Hegel might have in mind. I'm far from being an expert on this, but the following poem by Novalis, one of the leading figures of German Romanticism, written seven years before the Phenomenology, may illustrate the world of Hegel's adversaries:

"When figures and numeric shapes,
No longer show us moons or apes;
When those who merely kiss and sing,
Trump scholars taught in everything;
When to free life the world retreats,
And in the world this free heart beats;
When then anew by light and shade,
True clarity will be displayed;
When we in fairy tales and verse,
See history from its first birth;
Then at One secret word's delight,
This whole wrong being will take flight."
-Novalis, 1800

It would also be interesting to see what Hölderlin, Hegel's roommate has written. He is also a major point of reference for Heidegger, but I haven't read any of the poet's works.

[abdallahac]

Just got into Hegel and I cannot emphasise how much I was in need of a playlist like this.
Thank you!

Watching this video whilst sitting in the library with a pencil, underlining as I read a copy of Hegel’s PoS.

[mannycaves]

Thanks for sharing the wealth my friend.

[g.boychev]

Paragraph 8 somehow reminds me of Zarathustra's call to "remain true to the earth, and believe not those who speak unto you of superearthly hopes".

[olgajaworska]

Thank you for your PHENOMENAL work! It really helps me with my exam prep

[JohnGough]

Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to do these - absolutely critical absolutely wonderful - much appreciated

[jajaperson]

spending an hour and a half watching and summarising each day so hopefully about six months from now I will be a fully initiated hegelian

[leonardorodrigues]

Mr.Sadler you're a hero. Someday I'll put a nice poster of yours in my room as a tribute to "the guy who teach Hegel to thosands of people"

[wxyxx]

Dr. Sadler, your explanation and commentary are absolutely amazing. Thank you so much! As a philosophy newbie, I would never find myself reading and understanding any philosophic works (definitely not Hegel because his ideas are poorly and densely laid). I got attracted to Hegel's idea because I felt very confused about the way how people do things in current social science fields of study such as economics, political science, sociology. In the realm of social science, a theory is the only tool we can understand the world, and contradictions among different theories are everywhere, and it feels like the entire field somehow lacks the "synthetic" process (in Hegel’s term). I am not saying these theories are bad; in fact, I agree with most of the thought process and reasoning behind each theory that a theory with its premises is the best tool we can offer given current circumstance. Every theory is built on premises or assumptions. For example, neoclassical economics assumes people are self-interested actors, supply and demand will meet at an equilibrium etc. What this way of thinking produces are cheap stuff that don’t lead us to the truth because I can easily disregard and change a theory through discrediting and modifying its premises. I think we need to understand the world through the notion of “overdetermination that each aspect of society is approached as the combined effect of all the other aspects of that society” not the notion of reductionism that everything can be explained in a cause-and-effect relationship or through a general theory. Hegel makes a clear distinction between seeking truth through notions/concepts and seeking truth through intuitions. Do you consider a theory in the social science as a notion or as an intuition?

Also, Hegel previously says that philosophy should "be providing edification rather than insight" but in this chapter, he tells people to not only rely on edification. Why?

[spencertubbs]

It seems to me that 'movement' is one of the crucial themes in the "Phenomenology of Spirit". I am reading the term 'edification' in the sense of its static nature, which is opposed to the ceaseless movement of Spirit. In other words, in the process of edifying, one loses touch with Spirit because they are in the past, they have ceased moving, they have become the corpse that Hegel speaks of. How do you feel about this reading?

[gregothy]

It's funny, when I first met Hegel's words, I considered them so beyond me, that they fit into this place of intuition, the divine. They seemed so un-parsable that they were just some distant divine. But with this series, they're moving toward complex, thorough ideas. Thanks!

[abcrane]

That first opening quote reminds me of this book The Churching of America .

[adocentyn]

'restoring the feeling of essential being' reminds me of something i read once in Monk's work 'On the Sublime'. Maybe hegel read some of cassius longinus' writings.

[georgee]

RE 7 "The 'Beautiful', the 'holy', the 'eternal', 'religion' and 'love' are the bait required to arouse the desire to bite ..." A number of questions. 1) Do those items exist without scare quotes for Hegel? 2) bait arousing the desire to bite seems to be some kind of fishhook and fishing metaphor. If we are the fish, who are the fishers? Entrance into a higher realm does no good for the fish. "Turning away from the empty husks and confessing it lies in wickedness..." A prodigal son comparison? What are the terms? Inheritance, wasting, dereliction, return, reconciliation, what are the parallel terms?