Philosophy Weekend: Our Hegelian Times
by Levi Asher Saturday, November 17, 2012 10:39 am

History has a way of turning complex philosophers into simple cliches. Through the course of my philosophical education, I've only ever heard of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel as a target for refutation, a "straight man" from an earlier age of extreme rationalism, destined to be torn to shreds by the witty talents of Soren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Stuart Mill, William James. With skillful opposition like this, Hegel's legacy of crystalline idealism never stood a chance.
It also did Hegel's legacy no favors when Karl Marx built his advanced theory of utopian Communist society upon a Hegelian framework, though Marx explicitly stated that he was doing so by transforming Hegel's abstract intellectualism into a materialist system of thought, aiming for real-world results rather than theoretical conclusions. It's does not seem that Marx's Communism was a faithful friend to Hegelian idealism (Hegel died when Marx was 13 years old, so Hegel never knew about his most influential follower) -- but it is clear that Marx ruined Hegel's name for legions of anti-Communists. Once a bright light of the German renaissance, Hegel has taken such a terrible beating from the empiricists, existentialists, pragmatists, free market economists and philosophical libertarians who followed him that his reputation can barely be said to have survived at all, except as a symbol of obsolescence.
It also did Hegel's legacy no favors when Karl Marx built his advanced theory of utopian Communist society upon a Hegelian framework, though Marx explicitly stated that he was doing so by transforming Hegel's abstract intellectualism into a materialist system of thought, aiming for real-world results rather than theoretical conclusions. It's does not seem that Marx's Communism was a faithful friend to Hegelian idealism (Hegel died when Marx was 13 years old, so Hegel never knew about his most influential follower) -- but it is clear that Marx ruined Hegel's name for legions of anti-Communists. Once a bright light of the German renaissance, Hegel has taken such a terrible beating from the empiricists, existentialists, pragmatists, free market economists and philosophical libertarians who followed him that his reputation can barely be said to have survived at all, except as a symbol of obsolescence.
Levi, I hope you and family enjoy the fourth of July vacation. Speaking of Sappho did you know that the French singer (of Greek descent) Angelique Ionatos made an album of spectacular music out of Sappho's verses? I think you'd enjoy listening to it. Here's a link to a video I made featuring one of my favorite poems set to music by Ionatos, the one Sappho wrote for her little girl:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ClaudiaMoscovici#p/u/18/Tf-VytPhRcY
The spirit of the Greeks that is deplored here is also carried on by such phenomena as the Call of Duty videogames that portray violence as a self-glorifying pastime. What do you think?
PS: Please check out my blog, a place where philosophical meanings are extracted from books and applied to life, at http://meditationsofateenagephilosopher.blogspot.com/ Thanks!
.....that was a guy named kyle who waited patiently for over an hour to read and ended up being remarkable i felt Levi......
Combing through the Nytimes online and I saw this, which made me think of the discussion on altruism not too long ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/science/05angier.html?hpw
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