An Analysis of "Unhappy Consciousness" in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (original) (raw)
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From Self-Consciousness to Reason in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
International Philosophical Quarterly, 2013
The transition from self-consciousness as the unhappy consciousness to reason as the critique of idealism is among the most important in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Yet this transition is implicit and not readily discernible. This paper investigates (1) whether we can discover and describe any roadblock that the unhappy consciousness is able to knock down, or despite which it is able to maneuver, and so become reason; or (2) whether the unhappy consciousness arrives at an impassable dead end and either manages to create a detour around it or just begins again, unexplained and unexplainably, almost ex nihilo, as reason; or (3) whether, despite its implicitness, there exists a continuous, tenable, and unimpeded path from self-consciousness to reason.
Unhappy Consciousness and the Structure of Hegel's Argument
An interpretation of Hegel's study of what he calls "Unhappy Consciousness" that argues (in the tradition of Jean Wahl and Jean Hyppolite) that this figure is the key to understanding both the logic of the chapter on self-consciousness and the structure of the Phenomenology of Spirit as a whole.
Readings of " Consciousness " : Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
This paper walks through four different approaches to Hegel's notion of Consciousness in the Phenomenology of Spirit. Through taking four different approaches our aim is to explore the multifaceted nature of the phenomenological movement of consciousness. The first part provides an overview of the three chapters of the section on Consciousness, namely Sense-Certainty, Perception and Force and the Understanding, attempting to unearth the implicit logic that undergirds Consciousness' experience. The second part focuses specifically on the shape of Sense-Certainty, providing an analysis of the movement from Sense-Certainty to Perception from a neuroscientific view. Thirdly, we consider an inferentialist reading of the chapters on Consciousness which has been made popular by Robert Brandom. We think that while this view elucidates the connection that Hegel draws between meaning and use, it fails to account for the vital place of immediacy in each of the shapes. Finally, the fourth part suggests that Hegel's notion of Consciousness improves the reading of tragedy he develops in chapters 5 and 7 of the Phenomenology. While many critics have noted that Hegel fails to do justice to tragic experience, Consciousness contains an epistemology that develops analogously to the heroes of ancient tragedy. Each approach in this paper comes at Hegel's description of the journey of Consciousness from a different angle, and together they paint a multi-layered picture of a highly important part of Hegel's corpus.
The Evolution of Consciousness and the Hegelian Dialectic in "Phenomenology of Spirit" G.W.F. Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" is a seminal work in Western philosophy, exploring the evolution of consciousness and self-consciousness through various stages, culminating in the realization of absolute knowing. This text is crucial for understanding Hegel's philosophical system and his concept of the dialectic. In this essay, we will examine key ideas from the books of author D.P. Verene, as well as look at the main concepts surrounding Hegelian philosophy, including the notion of Geist, the master-slave dialectic, the Hegelian dialectic, and the transition to Absolute Spirit, demonstrating how these concepts contribute to a comprehensive understanding of human consciousness and historical development, leading finally to the development of self-consciousness and the realization of the Absolute.
Proceedings of the Hegel Society of America, 2013
Why does Hegel change "Dreaming Soul" to "Feeling Soul" in the 1830 edition of the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit? By tracing the content of the Dreaming Soul section, through Hegel's 1794 manuscript on psychology, to sources such as C.P. Moritz's Magazin zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde, the paper shows how the section embraces a late Enlightenment mission: combating supposedly supernatural expressions of spiritual enthrallment by explaining them as pathological conditions of the soul. Responding to perceived attacks on the 1827 edition of the Encyclopedia by Schleiermacher, Hegel alters the section and its heading, thereby including the pastor's religion of feeling in the pathology of Schwärmerei. Between the second, 1827 edition of his Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences and the ultimate 1830 edition, Hegel made a number of what might be considered minor changes, particularly in comparison with the extensive revisions undertaken between the first, 1817 edition and the second, "mature, if penultimate formulation", as Robert Williams writes. 1 One change that does occur between 1827 and 1830 takes place in the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit (PSS) 2 , where Hegel changes the section heading at §403 from "The Dreaming Soul (Die traümende Seele)" to "The Feeling Soul (Die fühlende Seele)." This paper explores the significance of this revision, which, although apparently minor, is hardly superficial. In fact, by calling attention to the original title, the change from "dreaming" to "feeling" invites us to investigate the origins of Hegel's thought on this crucial section, whose insights into the particularities of the human soul remain largely unchanged, in spite of the heading change. The first object of investigation will
Re-reading Hegel: Meaning and Subjectivity in the Phenomenology of Spirit
Standing at the apex of the late 18th– early 19th century German Idealist tradition, contemporary thought has all but universally dismissed the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel. Against this current this paper travels with those select few who today call for a serious re-examination of Hegel as the sought after theoretical foundation for true radical critique. To that end we unabashedly utilize Žižek's persuasive work to organize a re-reading of the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel's most well-known and arguably single greatest work. We begin with its first chapter on sense-certainty to find that Hegel's discussion of language is still highly relevant; then travel through its key third chapter on the understanding to put it to use to undermine our continuing and highly counterproductive obsession with deep meaning; only to end with the mother of all Hegelian topics, Absolute Knowing, to find that it is not some absurd egotistical stance but quite possibly the most modest position a modern subject can assume. Stopping along the way to reconsider a few other 'figures of consciousness', this strategy – organized as it is under the twin topics of meaning and subjectivity – amounts to a non-hermeneutical phenomenological approach to the Phenomenology which simultaneously endeavors to theorize such a textual approach in general.
The Revised Introduction to HEGEL'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT - complete, in 9 Lectures and 36 Videos
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This is an important and detailed REVISION of my previous publication of "An Introduction to Hegel’s PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT, complete in 9 Lectures and 36 Videos." The PHENOMENOLOGY is Hegel's Introduction to his System of Absolute Science. My Introduction to this famous work is based on a series of lectures I gave during the Spring semester of 2019 at St. John’s University and which also contains LINKS to the 36 videos that accompany my lectures. This module will contain 9 LECTURES with 4 parts to each lecture. LECTURE ONE will be an Introduction and Overview, including Hegel’s famous “Introduction” to the Phenomenology; LECTURE TWO will treat “A: CONSCIOUSNESS”; LECTURE THREE “B: SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS”; LECTURE FOUR “C: AA: REASON: A: Observing Reason”; LECTURE FIVE “C: AA: REASON: B: Active Reason and C: Practical Reason”; LECTURE SIX “C: BB: SPIRIT: A: True Spirit and B: Self-Alienated Spirit”; LECTURE SEVEN “C: BB: SPIRIT: C: Spirit Certain of Itself”; LECTURE EIGHT “C: CC: RELIGION: A: Natural Religion, B: Religion in the Form of Art, and C: The Revealed Religion”; and lastly LECTURE NINE “C: DD: ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE.
Idealistic Studies, 2010
Hegel indicates toward the end of his Phenomenology of Spirit that there would be a parallelism in the categories of his later system to the various configurations of consciousness in the Phenomenology. Some general correspondences have been indicated by Otto Pöggeler and suggested by Robert Grant McRae, but I argue in this paper that there are at least four important and more specific parallels, bringing out simultaneously a similarity of content and a difference of approach and methodology in the two works: 1) in the philosophical construal of "categories"; 2) in the conceptualization of a "phenomenology"; 3) in the analysis of the dialectical relationship of religion and art; and 4) in the relationship of the history of philosophy to the Absolute.