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hello and welcome to philosophy vibe the

channel where we discuss and debate

different philosophical ideas today

we're going to be looking into the works

of the german philosopher george wilhelm

hegel and his ideas around the dialectic

and absolute idealism fascinating now

just a quick note on hegel's works

although seen as one of the greatest

modern philosophers hegel's work is very

profound but also very complicated and

at times confusing there is fierce

debates among philosophers as to how to

interpret hegel this video will give a

brief surface level view on hegel's work

yet i'm sure even this video will bring

philosophers to the comments to

challenge or clear up my explanation i

welcome all comments and ideas

particularly from those who speak german

as a first language and can better

translate his work now back to the video

the primary focus will be around hegel's

absolute idealism and how his dialectic

fits into this theory a bit of

background on idealism idealism is a

long-established philosophy and its core

principle is that the only things that

truly exist are ideas

george barkley's idealism in the 1700s

completely rejected the material world

and said that mata does not exist all of

reality is solely in the mind and

nothing exists but ideas

kant later developed this theory into

what is known as transcendental idealism

he claimed that there does exist such a

thing as a material world and material

objects can't refers to this as the

lumina what is described as being the

things in and of themselves however we

only perceive representations of the

pneumonia our minds create ideas of the

pneumonia through a spatial temporal

lens what we perceive is termed as the

phenomena so we can never perceive the

things in themselves but only our ideas

of the things we can only perceive the

phenomena we never have direct access to

the numenor i see building off of the

work of kant hegel is seen as an

idealist in his book phenomenology of

the spirit hegel claims the rational

alone is real this puts hagel firmly in

the idealist category as he is claiming

that the real is the rational in other

words our reality is our ideas however

hegel strongly criticized kant's

transcendental idealism mainly rejecting

the claim that we have no access or

knowledge of the numenor if we are so

detached from the pneumonia how can we

ponder explain or even believe in such a

thing hegel was not satisfied with this

version of idealism and so he developed

another version what we now refer to as

absolute idealism interesting so then

what exactly does hegel mean by the

rational alone is real

unlike barclay who believes every object

we see is an idea or camped who believed

time and space were ideas hegel pondered

ideas in a different perspective i want

you to consider ideas and concepts such

as culture traditions society

these are not objects these are not

things in themselves yet they do not

belong solely in our minds like pain or

taste they seem external and shared by

everyone

these types of ideas are then different

and they deserve their own category

hagel believed this third type of idea

belongs in all of us they are shared

ideas that exist in all people across

all of time hegel refers to this as the

spirit the ideas that are a part of us

yet separate and also belong to everyone

i see

so we are finite minds and there does

exist an external world beyond our mind

reality is not solely ideas however how

we perceive this reality is shaped by

our ideas the concepts we have is how we

understand the world and these ideas are

the product of the spirit shared ideas

across all people that shapes our

perception of reality and so

what is real the world around us is

determined by our ideas hegel claims the

world is a reflection of our ideas and

therefore only the rational is real and

all reality is spirit i understand hegel

believed the spirit is constantly

evolving and its goal is to reach the

absolute the absolute hegel describes as

the spirit that which is present to

itself in the certainty of unconditional

self-knowing

the way the spirit evolves to the

absolute is through what he refers to as

the dialectic now a dialectic is known

to be a conversation one person raises a

point another challenges this is them

rebutted and back and forth back and

forth until a truth is found or at least

edged closer to

this hegel believes is how the spirit

evolves and has always evolved

throughout time our cultures and

societies traditions beliefs norms and

values these are always evolving through

the dialectic they are shaping our

perception of reality and always

progressing to reach the absolute truth

hegel explains that at some point

someone will raise a thesis this is a

point or an idea about the world this

will contain a flaw or a contradiction

and so it will give rise to the

antithesis contradicting the original

idea as the dialectic goes back and

forth eventually a resolution will be

made and the synthesis will be reached

this is the better more evolved idea

than the original thesis this synthesis

now becomes a new thesis and of course

this will have some sort of flaw and

give rise to another antithesis and back

and forth back and forth until the new

synthesis is reached once again this new

synthesis will become a thesis and so on

and so on this is the dialectic and the

evolution of our ideas constantly

changing moving the spirit to the

absolute truth and changing our reality

brilliant we see proof of this in our

societies across the years we see how

social attitudes change how cultures

change how things that were once common

and accepted are no longer accepted laws

change customs change and people change

and this is down to the dialectic and

the spirit evolving yes indeed in

addition to the absolute spirit evolving

so too can the individual human hegel

believe this to be a process of

self-consciousness and

self-actualization

and this too will follow the dialectic

method

a person undergoing this

self-actualization will see themselves

as who they are they are conscious

beings and they will have ideas as to

who they are but we share this planet

with other conscious beings and other

conscious beings will also have ideas as

to who you are

self-consciousness then means to try and

see yourself as others see you how you

see yourself is the thesis how others

see you is the antithesis and the

process of the dialectic will hopefully

allow the individual to reach

self-consciousness as to who they truly

are and reach the absolute hegel used

the example of a master and a slave the

master sees himself one way the thesis

but for him to be a master means there

must be a slave and the slave must exist

for the master to be a master and so the

slave will have an idea and a perception

of the master the antithesis i see

so then according to hegel we have the

subjective mind and through the

dialectic we can reach

self-consciousness and

self-actualization

we then have the objective spirit the

collective spirit of all finite minds

and together through the dialectic the

spirit also grows and evolves all of

this together becomes the absolute or

the absolute spirit and for hegel this

absolute spirit is a kind of god it is

the totality of our reality all the

conscious minds and the complete spirit

the finite participating and evolving

through the infinite through the

absolute god is not a separate entity

god is the absolute our

self-consciousness is us participating

in god our collective spirit is the

collective participating in god we are

all part of this absolute we are the

subjective mind the spirit is the

objective mind and the mind of god is

the absolute and so we have absolute

idealism a truly fascinating theory and

a remarkable extension of the

traditional idealist beliefs it blends

the metaphysical with the social to give

us this absolute philosophy on our

reality in our relation to it indeed but

of course there are big problems with

hegel's absolute idealism and his ideas

around the dialectic like what focusing

first on the absolute spirit this as you

have explained is a type of god this is

the absolute of all minds and of reality

of the subjective self and the objective

spirit to me this makes hegel's idealism

sound more like a version of pantheism

the idea that we are all part of god and

that god is the absolute so god is

reality and we are part of god

schopenhauer raised a similar point

absolute idealism seems to be a fancy

and somewhat more complicated form of

pantheism and so it is open to all the

criticisms of pantheism i see what

you're saying most equate hegel's

idealism with monism so the belief that

everything is one and this would be the

absolute spirit sure but this still

leaves problems for the theory

particularly around free will how can

one be seen to be their own agent their

own person yet still be part of and

united with the whole monism raises a

lot of problems for agency i see myself

as a distinct separate entity with my

own mind and my own consciousness and my

own free will i do not feel like i am

one with another but you are part of

this universe and you do constitute part

of the whole so you are very much still

part of the whole but if my reality is

completely determined by the absolute

spirit then where does that leave free

will how can i have agency and freedom

to act and choose if my reality is

completely shaped by the spirit this

leaves a deterministic reality where i

am just a tiny mind moving along with

the greater spirit i don't then see how

we can derive self-consciousness and

self-actualization when we are just part

of the greater spirit i do not see a

self in monism just a oneness and so i

find the idea of the absolute spirit and

self-consciousness to be a complete

contradiction either we are part of the

absolute spirit and the only reality is

the absolute or we have agency i am my

own being and i can achieve

self-consciousness it can be only one or

the other but it cannot be both yes i

see your argument

further problems with hegel's idealism

is around the external world the world

outside of the concepts and ideas and

spirit i do not feel hegel gives a solid

account of what the material world is

and how nature itself can fit into

absolute idealism

berkeley rejects the external world

altogether kant posited the pneumonia

hegel leaves this huge area pretty much

untouched and it seems unsatisfactory

he criticizes kant's transcendental

idealism for his ideas on the numenor

and how it is too far removed from the

human experience i believe the same

criticism can be made on hegel's

absolute idealism how far does nature

and the external world play a part in

our reality and in our perception how

does the spirit and the physical

interact these points really do need to

be addressed hmm

moving on to the dialectic i would

challenge the argument that the

dialectic always evolves their concept

or idea closer to an absolute truth

throughout history we have seen

regressions in civilized societies we

have seen cultures destroy themselves

through bad ideas we have seen nations

adopt appalling practices that were

previously unexamined or not allowed

this has all happened through the

dialectic i would therefore argue that

the dialectic by no means always reaches

the absolute truth and involves the

spirit the dialectic can actually have

the complete opposite effect good point

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