{"id":2897,"date":"2014-10-07T18:04:10","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T18:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2019-08-25T06:23:54","modified_gmt":"2019-08-25T06:23:54","slug":"notes-on-taylor-hegel-ii-stoicism-to-iii-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/10\/07\/notes-on-taylor-hegel-ii-stoicism-to-iii-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes on Taylor “Hegel” II.Stoicism to III.Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"
————–<\/div>\n
B.IV.B. Stoicism et al.<\/div>\n
————–<\/div>\n

Re. stoicism:<\/p>\n

“The retreat towards inner self-identity\u00a0cannot bring freedom for an embodied subject whose real freedom must\u00a0thus be externally expressed in a way of life. Stoicism is thus in contradiction\u00a0with itself, it is a putative realization of freedom which is, in fact, its negation.\u00a0As such it must go under. The core intuition, that conceptual thought is at\u00a0the root of things, this is a permanent gain, but the claim to inner freedom\u00a0collapses.” p159<\/p>\n

Re. skepticism:<\/p>\n

“As fast as we call this changing reality into question in order to\u00a0experience ourselves as immutable and self-identical, our own inner emptiness\u00a0forces us to accept that we are embodied in the mutable and\u00a0self-external.” p159<\/p>\n

{?Is the difference btw stcsm and skptcsm that the former holds *explicitly* that determinateness exists outside, whereas the latter holds the same but *implicitly*? Perhaps what seems to be significantly different, viz. “i am master of thoughts, vs “all is thoughts”, is (and this, more than those summaries, is my point) actually a subtle difference}<\/p>\n

{Is the question for this subsection “B.IV.B” freedom; what is freedom, or, are you free, or how do you know that you are free?<\/p>\n

———————
\np160 re unhappy c.
\n———————<\/p>\n

(i) Is a duality of “both the [1] immutable self-identical subject of thought and [2] the individual who is subject to the changeable world” [p160].<\/div>\n
(ii) But “[1] identifies himself as particular with the inessential and mutable.” Whereas “[2] The immutable is projected into a beyond.” [p160]<\/div>\n

(iii) Thence, that (ii) division is felt as a loss, yearning to be reunited with the immutable. But qua individual\/particular, he could never possibly be united with the unchanging.<\/p>\n

This relationship with the transcendental, viz. striving to be united to, is read by H like a religious one. And Taylor notes that the origin can be seen, here, of Feuerbachian and Marxian conception of religious consciousness as alienated (nb. those two had a different conception of religion than H, as they anthromorphized Geist into a generic man).<\/p>\n

This section refers implicitly to stages of Christian history. E.g. crusades are an attempt to reunite with Jesus, but whom qua particular must always recede, and that leads men to seek unity with God via religious community.<\/p>\n

Then medieval church: fails to unify man\/god. Hierarchical nature of church reflects subordination of men, for whom the universal is beyond, but that servitude leads men to realize the universal within themselves. T notes that it is informed by H’s 1790’s religious writings.<\/p>\n

T only gives unhappy c. p160. 161 says that now a “higher phase” is reached by c., but I am not sure what H calls this. T says that H seems to identify it with the renaissance and the insight that rational thought is what underlies all reality (the world and the self), thus inducing a larger integrity (and realizing the aims of the stoic). And now, H says, the end of the chapter of S.C. has been reached.<\/p>\n

————————————–
\np161 re. ch V “REASON”
\n————————————–<\/p>\n

T will only devote a little to this. {Relative to its size}<\/p>\n

“Its starting point is as we saw where men reach the\u00a0intuition that rationality, i.e., the principle of their own thought, determines all\u00a0reality, and hence they are certain to be ‘ at home ‘ in the world. Or as Hegel\u00a0puts it in a lapidary phrase, ‘ Reason is the certainty of consciousness that it is\u00a0all reality ‘ (Phg 176) \/\/<\/p>\n

The chapter ends in a transition in which the individual consciousness is\u00a0shown to be an inadequate vehicle for spirit, and this grounds a basic shift in the\u00a0PhG, which will follow henceforth supra-individual embodiments of subjectivity,” p161<\/p>\n

3 parts to this chapter.<\/p>\n

—I—<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

part 1 parallels the chapter on “C” – seeks to see things as rationally determined. It follows empirical science (first through the observations of regularity, and eventually searching for laws of nature) as it tries to find the rational necessity that underlies nature, first in inanimate, animate – science finds laws but they are contingent and unexplainable (except by speculative phil) – and (nb. the progression is due to its instinct as to where it will fine self-maintaining form) then man, but ultimately fails when it treats man exclusively as object (cf. man as given plus as self-made {cf. unhappy c}).<\/p>\n

All it found was contingencies, which are fine (for science) but don’t fulfil the hunger of observing reason.<\/p>\n

—II—<\/p>\n

\n

part 2 parallels chapter on “SC”. And just as reason was confident in finding rational necessity in nature, so rational SC is confident that it will find satisfaction in the world.<\/p>\n

– Starts with the seeker of pleasure. This ego is evolved*, so already expects to find itself in the world (cf. slave’s discovery). The paradigm is sexual, wherein the other is not consumed but only has its nature of “other-being”** removed.<\/p>\n

*{This is confusing for me, since in the intro to Reason it sounded like the past was virtually forgotten}<\/p>\n

**{Origin? T cites PhG263}<\/div>\n

– H has in mind the Enlight. idea that natural man can find right within his desires (viz. pleasure) (per nature qua harmonious whole, nb. per the principle of Reason), and this suits H.<\/p>\n

– But this man acts as an individual (seeking his own pleasure), even if he thinks in universals, hence his fulfilment is only a particular one.<\/p>\n

– H links pleasure and death:<\/p>\n

“Man who defines his fulfilment as that of pleasure experienced by him as a particular faces his inevitable demise as total annihilation.” p163<\/p>\n

– It would require man to see himself qua something larger for death to not be a total annihilation. Such a reconciliation between man and fate, H writes, is a condition in which “consciousness . . .w ould recognize . . . its own goal and doing in fate, and its fate in its own goal and doing, would recognize its own essence in this necessity ” (PhG, 265).<\/p>\n

– – Whereas for the particularity man, there is only “a pure leap into the opposed term” [op cit]\n

– The next step is to join the universal and particular: to make the man’s desires a desire for general good.<\/div>\n
– – Nb. Out of the Enlight. idea of (a) man as naturally good in his naive egoism (per “harmony of interests” p164), came (b) man as naturally good in being spontaneously altruistic (cf. Rousseau, Schiller’s ‘Robbers’).<\/div>\n
– But if man is naturally good then the world’s ills must be due to constraints placed upon him. BUT, that would first require educating men and lifting them to the level of universality, ie. so that they see\/k the general good.<\/div>\n
– – But: (a) men all believe their hearts to be true, so that a world of fanaticism would result; (b) even if the structure of society was good\/rational, given #a, it will be perceived as unjustified external constraints.<\/div>\n
– – Thus the belief in following your heart gives contradiction:<\/div>\n
“It desperately tries to\u00a0blame the evil in the world on priests and despots, and hence to reconcile\u00a0universal wrong with the supposedly good heart. But the feebleness of this<\/div>\n
explanation just shows up the underlying contradiction. In fact it has to\u00a0recognize in the world order ‘ the law of all hearts ‘ , the net result of the\u00a0struggles of all to realize their aspirations.” p165 {Is that ‘law of all hearts’ from H?}<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That gives rise to another dialectic reversal: If the world order is the ‘law of all hearts’ then it expresses the universal and therefore the individual should morally negate himself (thus becoming the universal). H (derisively) calls this aim “virtue”. cf. stoicism.<\/div>\n
– But man cannot suppress his particularity and become only a vehicle of the universal – the universal cannot find expression except via embodiment in particulars.<\/div>\n

– T notes that this is the 2nd time this situation has arisen. First with uhc, and third will be end ch.VI on evil\/forgiveness (where it transits into absolute k.)<\/p>\n

“the consciousness of virtue is portrayed as a knight,\u00a0a sort of Don Quixote, who cannot effectively combat the world of egoistic\u00a0actors, precisely because this world provides the only conditions of realization\u00a0of the universal in the name of which he fights.” p167<\/p>\n

Next step = “a figure of self-consciousness which knows itself as\u00a0realizing the universal in its actions.” p167<\/p>\n

—III—<\/p>\n

part 3: Individual by now perceives the unity of reality and his own goals, via the common root of reason.<\/p>\n

H tarries in this part to explore other ideas, incl. responding to ideas\/people contemporary (e.g. Kant)<\/p>\n

This unity comes about in Geist reflected in the life of a people, which H calls “ethical substance”. The individual is a manifestation of this. (Nb. H is moving the focus, for the next chapter, towards the supra-individual, with the individual as an emanation thereof).<\/p>\n

“The ‘ ethical substance’ (sittliche Substanz) can be\u00a0thought of as ‘ the essence of self-consciousness, but this, in turn, is the reality\u00a0(Wirklichkeit) and determinate existence (Dasein) of the substance, its self and\u00a0will’. (PhG, 3 1 2).”<\/p>\n

The Geist of a people can only be real via individual subjects, but if they are not aware of this, then it is less developed consciously, like the Greek states. The development requires the individual being able to see themselves in the laws\/structures of their state. H believes that this is occurring around him.<\/p>\n

One of the positions H regards is (unnamed yet) Kantian, as ‘law testing reason’. Basically argues against deontology, since it is not enough to reason laws, they must be due\/derived from the social Geist (pull of society T calls it). Thus K is only a steppingstone of development.<\/p>\n

FIN ch.V\/\/p171<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

————– B.IV.B. Stoicism et al. ————– Re. stoicism: “The retreat towards inner self-identity\u00a0cannot bring freedom for an embodied subject whose real freedom must\u00a0thus be externally expressed in a way of life. Stoicism is thus in contradiction\u00a0with itself, it is a putative realization of freedom which is, in fact, its negation.\u00a0As such it must go under. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,198,302,242,18,20],"tags":[],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-book-review","category-classicalphilosophers","category-evernote-entries","category-hegel","category-philosophy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":112,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/09\/27\/reading-hegel-part-4-on-stoicism-and-skepticism\/","url_meta":{"origin":2897,"position":0},"title":"Reading Hegel [part 4] on “Stoicism” and “Skepticism”","author":"Pala","date":"September 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit for the first time. Here I've read the first part of section B \"Self-consciousness\", chapter IV \"The truth of self-certainty\", part B \"Freedom of self-consciousness\". That elaborate indexing adumbrates the topic matter: Hegel's studying a self-conscious entity, whose basis for truth is its certainty of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3631,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/10\/22\/hegel-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":2897,"position":1},"title":"Hegel Index","author":"Pala","date":"October 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an index for all my posts on Hegel. The order of publication is indicated by the numbering and otherwise this order basically follows the Phenomenology of Spirit. Contextualizing Hegel's Philosophy\u00a0[4] Reading Hegel on \"Sense Certainty\"\u00a0[1] Taylor Reading Hegel on \"Sense Certainty\"\u00a0[5] Reading Hegel on \"Desire\"\u00a0[2] Reading Hegel on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2891,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/15\/notes-on-taylors-hegel-iv-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":2897,"position":2},"title":"Notes on Taylor’s “Hegel” IV Spirit","author":"Pala","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"------------------------------------------------- Ch.6. \"THE FORMATION OF SPIRIT\"[I] ------------------------------------------------- We are entering the domain of Geist, which is later aka \"objective spirit\" {in the Encyclopedia?}. It concerns whole polities and cultures throughout history (and not mere ideas or outlooks). PhG has the form of a spiral, turning back onto itself on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2893,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/10\/07\/notes-on-taylors-hegel-i-consciousness-to-ii-master-slave\/","url_meta":{"origin":2897,"position":3},"title":"Notes on Taylor’s “Hegel” I.Consciousness to II.Master\/slave","author":"Pala","date":"October 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The paradigm whereby rationality = vision of cosmic order = self-presence, Taylor calls an \"inarticulate limit of thought\", insofar as it was presupposed, and preceded the possibility of consideration in itself. Enlightenment as an attempt to amalgamate two views: man as generator of objectivity, and (thence) man as subject of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":184,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/10\/24\/hegel-on-reason\/","url_meta":{"origin":2897,"position":4},"title":"Hegel on “Reason”","author":"Pala","date":"October 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A summary of Phenomenology of Spirit (by Hegel) on Reason. This chapter describes the ongoing evolution of a consciousness that knows that it itself and its experiences are both explicable by, and manifestations of, reason. This has existential and practical implications, and leads consciousness to prove its assumptions: testing science,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1024,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/10\/10\/houlgate-reading-hegel-on-reason\/","url_meta":{"origin":2897,"position":5},"title":"Houlgate Reading Hegel on Reason","author":"Pala","date":"October 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Loc.2716 \u201cObservation of Nature\u201d C* starts seeking universals (and itself) in things, but this proves an endless task, so it limits itself to finding the essential properties of things. But these \u2018characteristics\u2019 also prove changing, and hence it must regard them as \u2018vanishing moments\u2019. Thence it seeks the law which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-KJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}