Georg Hegel biography. Hegel main ideas

Hegel's philosophy is not only his personal creation, it was prepared by former philosophical directions and represents, on the one hand, the completion of the path blazed by Leibniz, as well as by Kant and his successors. Kant, instead of the previous understanding of knowledge as the action of an object on a subject, believed that it is more a consequence of the organization of a person, his cognitive ability, although not only her one. It was Kant's doctrine of knowledge that paved the way for Hegel's philosophy. According to Kant's epistemology, cognitive ability for the development of knowledge needs the influence of an external factor - a thing in itself; cognitive ability contained only the form of cognition, but not the content. The inventory of Kant's "pure reason", no matter how rich it was, containing, in addition to pure forms of sensory perception (space and time), also categories of reason and ideas of reason, extended only to the subjective side of cognition, but not to its objective factor (the influence emanating from from the thing-in-itself). Fichte eliminated the objective factor in his philosophy. Pure reason has become the only source of knowledge - not only its form, but also its content. The faculty of cognition contained within itself the foundations of all possible knowledge, so that it remained only to ascertain the process by which pure reason develops all knowledge out of itself. This process, according to Fichte, takes place in the Self, and, according to Schelling, in the Absolute and goes through three stages: an unconscious position (thesis), a conscious opposition (antithesis) and a conscious combination of the positing and the posited (synthesis).

Hegel's system of philosophy - briefly

Hegel, in his philosophical system, accepted the same three stages in the development of cognitive power, but eliminated from this process any kind of arbitrary activity, considering the whole process to be a necessary movement from one stage of development to another - from being in oneself through being outside oneself to being in oneself and for oneself (idea, nature, spirit). The necessary process of self-development takes place, according to Hegel, in pure or absolute reason (idea), as a result of which reason (thinking) turns out to be the only and really existing, and everything that is real is necessarily reasonable. Reason in this system is, therefore, the only substance, but not real, but purely ideal and logical (which is why Hegel's philosophy is often called panlogism ). To transform this substance into a subject, i.e., the original unconscious mind, into an independent one, into spirit, and even into absolute Spirit, since substance is absolute mind, is the task of the world process. The emergence of a substance from its original form of existence, as a logical idea, into other existence, as nature, and the final understanding of itself as a single and truly real, understanding what an absolute idea is, what it is in its developed being, constitutes the steps of the world process.

The great German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Portrait by J. Schlesinger

From this arise three parts of Hegel's system: 1) depicting the mind or idea in its being in itself (An-sich-sein). 2) philosophy of nature, depicting the same idea in its otherness (Anderssein) and 3), depicting the idea in its being in and for itself (An-und-für-sich-sein). The Absolute or the logical idea exists first as a system of pre-world concepts; then it descends into the unconscious sphere of nature, awakens to self-consciousness in man, expresses its content in social institutions, in order to return to itself in art, religion and philosophy, reaching a higher and more developed completeness than he possessed. Therefore, logic must be "the image of God as he is in his eternal being, before the creation of nature and finite spirit." Since reason is the only thing that exists, since the same reason becomes both nature and then a self-conscious spirit, then logic in the philosophical system of Hegel coincides with ontology or metaphysics, it is not only the science of thinking, but also of being. "What is reasonable is real and what is real is reasonable." The method by which Hegel develops the content of logic, that is, the absolute idea, is called dialectical.

Hegel's Dialectic - Briefly

The absolute idea, realized in the world, is not an immovable, resting substance, but is an eternally living and developing principle. The Absolute is a dialectical process, everything real is an image of this process. If they want to call God an absolute being, then, according to Hegel, one should say: “God is created”, and not “God exists”. Philosophy is the representation of this movement of thought, God and the world; it is a system of organically connected and necessarily developing concepts one from another. The driving force in the development of thinking, according to Hegel's philosophy, is contradiction; without it, there would be no movement, no life. Everything real is full of contradiction and, nevertheless, reasonable. Contradiction is not something unreasonable that stops thought, but a stimulus to further thinking. It does not need to be destroyed, but "removed", i.e., preserved, as denied, in a higher concept. Contradictory concepts are conceived together in a third, broader and richer one, in the development of which they constitute only moments. Assimilated into a higher concept, previously contradictory concepts complement one another through dialectics. Their inconsistency has been defeated. But the new higher concept, in turn, turns out to be contradictory to another concept, and this inconsistency must again be overcome by agreement in the higher concept, and so on - this is the essence of Hegel's dialectic. Each separate concept is one-sided, represents only a particle of truth. It needs to be supplemented by its opposite, after combining with which it forms a higher concept, closer to the truth. According to Hegel's philosophy, the Absolute in its eternal creation passes through all opposites, alternately creating and removing them and thus acquiring a clearer consciousness of its true essence with each new forward movement. Only thanks to such a dialectic of concepts does philosophy fully correspond to the living reality that it must understand. So, position, opposition and their union ( thesis - antithesis - synthesis ) constitute in the Hegelian system the essence, the soul of the dialectical method. The broadest example of this triad - idea, nature, spirit - provides a method for dividing Hegel's philosophical system into three main constituent parts. And each of them, in turn, is built within itself on the same foundation.

Hegel's logic - briefly

In particular, Hegel's logic is divided into the doctrine of being, essence and concept, and in the first part the concepts of quality, quantity and measure are studied, in the second - essence, phenomena and reality, in the third - subjectivity (concept, judgment, conclusion), objectivity ( mechanism, chemism, teleology) and ideas (life, knowledge and the absolute idea). The beginning of Hegel's logic provides an excellent example of his dialectical method: if we abstract from any definite content of thought, then we will be left with the most general and indefinite concept, from which it is no longer possible to abstract - being. It is devoid of any content and quality, it is empty and, as such, is equal to non-existence. Thus, being passes into non-being, the thought of being involuntarily leads to the opposite concept of non-being. The transition of non-being into being, the union of both is being, in which the contradiction between being and non-being is removed. But upon closer examination, being, like being, turns out to be one-sided, arousing a contradictory concept, and so on.

Hegel's philosophy of nature - briefly

Hegel's philosophy of nature depicts the idea in its otherness; the idea becomes material nature, to then develop into a true conscious spirit, passing through three stages: mechanical phenomena, chemical and organic.

Hegel's philosophy of spirit - briefly

(Separate sections of Hegel's philosophy of spirit are disclosed in more detail in the special articles of our website: Hegel on the subjective spirit and the individual, Hegel - the philosophy of law, Hegel on marriage and the family, Hegel on civil society and the state, Hegel - the philosophy of history, Hegel on the absolute spirit, Hegel about art, Hegel - philosophy of religion, Hegel - philosophy of science)

The philosophy of spirit, one of the most developed by Hegel departments of the system, is divided into the doctrine of the subjective spirit, objective and absolute. At a certain stage in the development of nature, a rational human individual appears. Living at first like a child in natural state, in submission to the instincts of egoism and the various influences of nature: differences in races, peoples, sexes, ages, temperaments, natural abilities, etc., - it represents subjective spirit. However, as the mind develops, it recognizes in other individuals equal to itself, that is, spiritual beings, which it must respect. The individual understands that his individual freedom is limited by the freedom of others like him.

This is how the collective life of people begins - a step objective spirit. In society, human impulses cease to be blind instincts and turn into conscious impulses. The freedom of all, recognized and accepted by the individual for the sake of his own freedom, thus takes on the form rights, which, according to Hegel, is called upon, through the punishability of crimes, to realize not a gross and momentary benefit, but the idea of eternal justice. Having risen to the level of voluntary personal impulse, right rises to morality. One of the main moral institutions is the family - but only if it is not based on a simple instinctive attraction, but is inspired by the idea of serving society.

The third stage of development of the spirit - absolute spirit- there is a unity of subjective and objective. At this stage, the spirit becomes completely free from all contradictions and reconciles with itself. The absolute spirit achieves true, perfect knowledge of itself, passing, according to Hegel, three stages: 1) contemplation in art, 2) the activity of feeling and representation in religion, and 3) the life of pure thought in philosophy. The object of art, the beautiful, is the absolute in a sensuous phenomenon, the idea in a limited existence. Depending on the ratio of these two elements: the external image and the internal content, their predominance or balance, art is either symbolic (separate existence of idea and form, aesthetic form is only as symbol idea, without its exact and concrete embodiment - oriental art, architecture) or classical (clear and direct materialization of the idea - Greek art, plastic) or romantic (idealization of the material form - Christian art, poetry). In religion, the absolute idea is expressed not in crude material, but in spiritual images and feelings. Hegel believes that religion and philosophy are essentially identical: both strive for the unity of the finite with the infinite, and differ only in forms. Religion depicts in images, in representations, what philosophy contains in the form of a concept. In philosophy, the absolute spirit reaches a high level of self-consciousness, as if returning to itself, enriched by a long history of self-development. Philosophy, according to Hegel, is a self-thinking idea, in which the spirit stands face to face with itself. In such self-knowledge there is nothing external, it is thinking itself, which has entered into itself and recognizes itself as the essence of things; outside such an absolute nothing exists, and, on the contrary, everything exists in it. Since such knowledge of the absolute is the highest goal of philosophy, therefore, Hegelianism is an absolute philosophy, surpassing all other philosophical systems, religions and arts, it gives a clue to the universe.

Hegelianism

Hegel left behind a whole philosophical school, which soon broke up into separate directions. The bone of contention was mainly theological and religious issues. Hegel considered his system "orthodox", but in his own school voices were soon heard that he was overthrowing the state and church forms, rejects a personal God and personal immortality. Disputes began, and the school fell apart, which Strauss especially contributed to with his essay The Life of Jesus. In Hegelianism, the left side (Strauss) was formed, from which the extreme left (Feuerbach, the Bauer brothers, etc.), the right conservative (Göschel, Gabler, Erdman) and the center (Rosenkrantz, Batke, Conradi) then emerged. From the left Hegelians (Young Hegelians) came famous critics of church history and philosophers of religion in the negative direction (mainly Feuerbach and Max Stirner). The extreme left Hegelians extended their research from the religious-philosophical field to social and political questions. Marx and Engels, reinterpreting Hegel's philosophy in a materialistic spirit, built their own system of economic materialism on it.

Hegelianism had big influence for the development of science. Especially some branches of scientific research were developed in the spirit of Hegel's system - the philosophy of religion, the history of philosophy, the philosophy of history, aesthetics.

Hegel's influence on Western and Russian thinkers

Hegel's philosophy spread far beyond the homeland of its creator: the French were introduced to it by Leroux, Ott ("Hegel and German philosophy", Par., 1844), Prevost ("Hegel. Exposition of his doctrine." Toulouse, 1845) and others: the English Stirling ("Hegel's Secret" and "Hegelian System", Lond .. 1865), the Italians Vera, Mariano, Spaventa and others

5. Philosophy of Hegel

system of Hegelian philosophy. The culmination of classical German idealism was the philosophical system of Hegel. All his main works are devoted to its development: The Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807). "Science of Logic" (1812-1816), "Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences" (1817). An introduction to the Hegelian philosophical system is his "Phenomenology of Spirit", where Hegel considers a consistent series of development of various stages human consciousness- from the lowest form (direct sensory perception) to the highest level (absolute or pure knowledge), at which all external objects are completely overcome and the spirit thinks only its own essence.

The result and conclusion of the "Phenomenology of Spirit" is "Logic" - the first and most important part of Hegel's system. This is the area of "pure thought" that exists before the subject and object. There is no empirical content in logic, except for itself, except for its forms. Logic precedes history and nature, it creates them.

Logic is divided into three parts: the doctrine of being, of essence, and of the concept. Being and essence are considered as steps along which the concept "climbs" before it appears in all its universality and completeness. In the Logic, the development of the absolute idea takes place in the form of abstract logical categories. Its starting point is pure abstract thought about the existent in general, about “being”. This initially meaningless concept of "pure being" seeks to obtain its content through "something", which in turn is already "determined being". Thus begins, according to Hegel, the process of becoming an absolute idea. “Determined being” at the next stage appears as “something definitely existing”, or quality. The category of quality develops in unity with the category of quantity. Qualitative quantity or quantitative quality acts as a measure. In the doctrine of being, Hegel substantiates one of the laws of the dialectic of the transition of quantity into quality and vice versa, the spasmodic nature of the processes of development, development as an “interruption of gradualness”.

From being, understood as a phenomenon, Hegel proceeds to deeper, inner laws - to essence. The main content of this part is Hegel's consideration of the law of the interpenetration of opposites, their unity, identity and struggle. Hegel argues that a contradiction is a ratio of opposites that do not exist without each other, but which develop in different ways, which leads to an aggravation of the relationship between them. The contradiction needs to be resolved, or “removed”. Hegel saw a contradiction in the relationship between foundation and effect, form and content, phenomenon and essence, possibility and reality, chance and necessity, causality and interaction. Developing the doctrine of contradiction, Hegel made a conclusion about the internally necessary, spontaneous movement, about "self-movement" as the source of all change and development.

According to Hegel, knowledge of the relationship of identity and difference reveals the contradiction underlying them. The presence of contradictions indicates the development of the phenomenon. In the doctrine of essence, Hegel also defines reality as "the unity of essence and existence." Essence itself is the "ground of existence." From the very first paragraphs of the doctrine of essence, Hegel rejects the idea of its unknowability.

The necessity with which development takes place in the realm of being and essence is realized in the concept. This necessity turns into freedom, and “freedom is perceived need". Thus, "Logic" passes to the concept. At the same time, Hegel criticizes formal logic and metaphysics as a philosophical method and develops a dialectic of the general, particular and singular. At the same time, he considers the concept of truth as a process of coincidence of thought with an object. This is achieved in the idea. Only the idea is the unconditional unity of the concept and the subject.

From logic Hegel proceeds to the philosophy of nature. The creator of nature is his idea. It is she who generates her "otherness" - nature. Stages of development of nature: mechanism, chemistry, organism. Thanks to the depth and strength of his dialectical thought, Hegel in his "Philosophy of Nature" expressed a number of valuable conjectures about the mutual connection between the individual steps of inorganic and organic nature and the laws of all phenomena in the world.

The third stage in the development of the absolute idea is the spirit, which also passes through three stages in its development: subjective spirit, objective spirit, absolute spirit. Subjective spirit is "soul" or "spirit in itself", consciousness or "spirit for itself", and "spirit as such". The objective spirit forms the sphere of law. It is a free will, and the system of law is the realm of realized freedom. Ultimately, the objective spirit finds its expression in morality and is embodied in the family, civil society and the state. The absolute spirit is the eternally actual truth. He goes through three stages of development: art, religion and philosophy. Art, according to Hegel, is a direct form of knowledge of the absolute idea. Religion has God as its source of revelation. Philosophy is the highest stage in the development of the absolute spirit, the full disclosure of the truth contained in art and religion. In philosophy, the idea cognizes itself, it rises to its "pure principle", connects the end of the absolute idea with its beginning. If, according to Hegel, philosophy is the world grasped by thought, and the world itself is an absolute idea, then the “desired completeness” of the development of the absolute idea occurs.

Thus, the absolute idea lives a varied and complex life in the Hegelian philosophical system. His system is objective idealism: the absolute idea exists before nature and man as “pure thought”, generates nature and society. The system is built on the basis of the "triad" - thesis - antithesis and synthesis. This "triad" makes the Hegelian philosophical system strict, clear, on the one hand, and on the other hand, allows Hegel to show the progressive nature of the development of the world, to use the encyclopedic nature of knowledge.

His philosophical system incorporates the logic and philosophy of nature, anthropology and psychology, the philosophy of law and ethics, the philosophy of state and civil society, the philosophy of religion and aesthetics, the history of philosophy and the philosophy of history, etc. It incorporates dialectics as a system of principles of laws and categories . However, his philosophical system restrains dialectics, for it has, as it were, a complete character: in his philosophy, the absolute idea fully cognizes itself, thereby completing the process of cognition, and in the Prussian monarchy, the “crown of the whole building” is acquired as the most perfect embodiment of reason in the life of mankind.

Hegelian dialectic. The Greatest Role belongs to Hegel in the development of the problems of dialectics. He gave the most complete teaching on dialectical development as a qualitative change, the movement from lower forms to higher ones, the transition of the old into the new, the transformation of each phenomenon into its opposite. He emphasized the interconnection between all processes in the world.

True, Hegel developed an idealistic form of dialectics: he considers the dialectics of categories, their connections and overflows into each other, the development of "pure thought" - an absolute idea. He understands development as self-movement, as self-development occurring on the basis of the interpenetration of opposites: since the phenomenon is contradictory, it has movement and development. For him, each concept is in an internal necessary connection with all the others: concepts and categories mutually pass into each other. Thus, the possibility in the process of development turns into reality, quantity - into quality, cause - into effect and vice versa. He emphasizes the unity of opposite categories - form and content, essence and phenomenon, chance and necessity, cause and effect, etc.

He showed the internal inconsistency, interpenetration and transitions of such "paired categories". For him, categories, both in form and in content, do not need sensually perceived material: they, as pure thoughts and stages in the development of an absolute idea, are in themselves meaningful and therefore constitute the essence of things. Revealing the dialectics of categories as pure thoughts, being convinced of the identity of being and thinking, Hegel believed that the dialectics of categories he expounded is manifested in all phenomena of the world: it is universal, exists not only for philosophical consciousness, for "what is in it in question, we already find also in every ordinary consciousness and in universal experience. Everything that surrounds us can be regarded as a model of dialectics.

Hegel created a system of categories of dialectics, virtually unsurpassed until now. The category definitions are striking in their accuracy, conciseness and depth. He gives such definitions that we can use today: “the result is the removed contradiction”, “quality is definitely existing”, “measure is a qualitative quantity or quantitative quality”, “reality is the unity of essence and existence”, “chance is that which has no cause in itself, but has in something else, etc.

Hegel's categories flow seamlessly and organically into each other. He sees the connection of such categories as essence, content, general, necessary, law, or such as phenomenon, form, individual, random.

Hegel owns the discovery of the basic laws of dialectics: the law of quantitative and qualitative changes, the law of the interpenetration of opposites and the law of negation of negation. Through the dialectics of categories, he considers the mechanism of operation of the basic laws of dialectics. A thing is what it is due to its quality. Losing quality, a thing ceases to be itself, a given certainty. Quantity is a certainty external to being, characterizes being from the side of number. A house, Hegel said, remains what it is, no matter whether it is larger or smaller, just as red remains red, whether it is lighter or darker. Emphasizing the universal nature of the law of quantitative-qualitative and qualitative-quantitative changes, Hegel showed its peculiar manifestations in each individual case.

Another law - the interpenetration of opposites - allowed Hegel to substantiate the idea of self-development, because he sees the main source of development in the unity and struggle of opposites. Hegel brilliantly divined in the contradictions of thought, in the dialectics of concepts, the contradictions of things and their dialectics.

Finally, the law of negation of negation. In it, Hegel saw not only the progressive development of the absolute idea, but also of each individual thing. According to Hegel, thought in the form of a thesis is first posited, and then, as an antithesis, is opposed to itself, and, finally, is replaced by a synthesizing higher thought. Hegel considers nature dialectical negation, the essence of which is not in continuous, total denial, but in the retention of the positive from the denied.

Hegel introduced dialectics into the process of cognition. For him, truth is a process, not a given, absolutely correct answer once and for all. Hegel's theory of knowledge coincides with the history of knowledge: each of the historical stages of knowledge, the development of science gives a "picture of the absolute", but still limited, incomplete. Each next step is richer and more specific than the previous one. It retains in itself all the richness of the previous content and denies the previous step, but in such a way that it does not lose anything of value from it, "enriches and thickens everything acquired in itself." Thus, Hegel develops the dialectic of absolute and relative truth.

Another aspect of dialectics is also interesting: the coincidence of dialectics, logic and the theory of knowledge. According to Hegel, the logic of categories is also their dialectics, which in turn makes it possible to discover the essence, law, necessity, etc. Before us is a real feast of dialectics! Appeal to the study of Hegel's dialectics enriches, promotes the development of theoretical creative thinking, promotes the generation of independent ideas.

Contradiction between method and system. The triumphal procession of Hegelian philosophy, which began during the life of the philosopher, did not stop after his death. The followers of Hegel formed two trends: Left Hegelianism and Right Hegelianism. The first drew attention to the Hegelian dialectical method and used it to criticize Christianity; the latter were more attracted by the philosophical system of objective idealism. F. Engels in his work “Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy” showed that the Left Hegelians and Right Hegelians did not fully understand the significance of Hegel’s philosophy, they did not see the contradiction between his philosophical system and the dialectical method. The Left Hegelians, although they accepted Hegel's dialectic, nevertheless remained captive to his idealism.

Hegel's system was a kind of complete philosophical system. Already by these features it determined the limitations of dialectics. The idea of universal and uninterrupted development proclaimed by Hegel was not fully realized in his system, because, as noted above, the development of the absolute idea was completed by the Prussian state and Hegelian philosophy.

Hegel's philosophical system contains the idea of the beginning and end of the development of an absolute idea, which contradicts the dialectical idea of development as eternal and infinite. Moreover, when Hegel spoke about matter, he did not approach its development dialectically: he did not see its development in time, because he believed that everything that happens in nature is the result of the materialization of an idea or its alienation.

The Hegelian dialectical method turned out to be turned to the past, as it was subject to the requirements of a philosophical system that reflected the path already traveled by mankind: the present for Hegel turned out to be the final stage in the development of the absolute idea.

These contradictions were removed by K. Marx and F. Engels when they overcame the Hegelian objective idealism and developed a new form of dialectics - materialist dialectics. However, in the future, such a dogmatization of Marxism took place, which, as in the Hegelian philosophical system, led to the assertion of the idea of \u200b\u200bthe “peak” philosophical knowledge. But now in the form of the philosophy of Marxism, which alone was assigned the status of science, which allegedly distinguishes the philosophy of Marxism from all previous philosophical thought.

Socio-philosophical concepts. The socio-philosophical concepts of Hegel deserve the most close attention. Many of them sound very relevant today, they help to understand the problems of civil society through the categorical apparatus of social philosophy, rule of law, private property, consciousness and self-consciousness of the individual and society, forms public consciousness and etc.

In The Philosophy of History, Hegel expressed a number of valuable conjectures related to the understanding of historical patterns, the role of great people in history, and raised the question of the meaning of history. In his analysis of the social order, Hegel went further than his predecessors. He emphasized the great role of the instruments of production, economic and social relations, geographical environment in the development of mankind.

Hegel understood the history of mankind not as a chain of random events. For him, it had a natural character, in which the world mind is revealed. True, Hegel immediately explained that people, pursuing their goals, at the same time realize historical necessity, without themselves realizing it. Great people play a role in history insofar as they are the embodiment of the spirit of their time. The meaning of all world history is, according to Hegel, progress in the consciousness of freedom - progress, which we must recognize in its necessity.

Hegel distinguishes between civil society and the political state.

Civil society, in his understanding, is the sphere of realization of private goals and interests of an individual. Hegel identifies three main points of civil society: 1) the system of needs; 2) administration of justice; 3) police and cooperation. Civil society requires not only the functioning of private property, but also its protection by the law, the courts and the police. At the same time, the importance of publicity for civil society is based: public announcement of laws, public trial and trial by jury.

Civil society and the state, according to the Hegelian concept, are related as reason and reason. Civil society is the "external state", "the state of need and reason", and the true state is rational, it is the foundation of civil society. Hegel connects the formation of civil society with the development of the bourgeois system, while the philosopher speaks of the natural dialectical nature of the relationship between the socio-economic and political spheres of civil society. And although the state is "the march of God in the world", he recognizes the possibility of a bad state, which only exists, but becomes unreasonable.

Hegel gives various interpretations states: the state as an idea of freedom; the state as a single organism; the state as a constitutional monarchy; the state as a "political state". For Hegel, freedom, law, justice are valid only in a state that corresponds to the "idea of the state."

Hegel agrees with the ideas of Locke and Montesquieu about the separation of powers in a state where public freedom is guaranteed. However, he disagrees with them in understanding the nature and purpose of such a separation of powers. Hegel considers the point of view of the independence of the authorities and their mutual limitation false, since this approach assumes the hostility of each of the authorities to the others, their mutual fears and opposition. He believes that the ratio of these powers should express the relationship of the whole and its members. According to Hegel, the internal sovereignty of the state consists in the domination of the whole, in the dependence and subordination of various authorities to state unity. Hegel criticizes the democratic idea of popular sovereignty and substantiates the sovereignty of a hereditary constitutional monarch.

Today, the socio-philosophical and philosophical-historical problems of Hegelian philosophy should be treated with all scientific scrupulousness, because they were studied in Soviet philosophy biasedly, not in a certain system, but in parts.

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Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is a world famous German philosopher. His principal achievement was the development of the theory of so-called absolute idealism. In it, he managed to overcome such dualisms as consciousness and nature, subject and object. Georg Hegel, whose philosophy of the Spirit united many concepts, remains today an outstanding figure inspiring new generations of thinkers. In this article we will briefly review his biography and main ideas. Particular attention will be paid to the philosophy of the Absolute Spirit, ontology, epistemology and dialectics.

Biographical information

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a very inquisitive child from childhood. We call them "pochemuchki". He was born into the family of an influential official. His father was strict and loved order in everything. Nothing in the surrounding nature and human relations left him indifferent. Even in early childhood, Georg Hegel read books about the culture of the ancient Greeks. As you know, they were the first philosophers. It is believed that it was this passion that prompted Hegel to his future professional activities. He graduated from the Latin gymnasium in his native Stuttgart. In addition to reading, there were few other activities in the life of a philosopher. Georg Hegel spent most of his time in various libraries. He was an excellent specialist in the field of following the events of the French bourgeois revolution, but he himself participated in public life did not accept the country. Hegel Georg graduated from the Theological University. After that, he was engaged exclusively in teaching and his scientific research. With the beginning of his career, Schelling, with whom they were friends, helped him in many ways. However, later they quarreled on the basis of their philosophical views. Schelling even claimed that Hegel appropriated his ideas. However, history put everything in its place.

Fundamentals of philosophical thought

Hegel wrote many works during his lifetime. The most prominent of them are the "Science of Logic", "Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences" and "Foundations of the Philosophy of Law". Hegel considered any transcendentalism to be inconsistent, since it breaks such dual categories as "thing" and "idea", "world" and "consciousness". Perception is primary. The world is its derivative. Any transcendentalism results from the fact that there are pure possibilities of experience that are superimposed on the world in order to obtain a universal experience. This is how Hegel's "absolute idealism" appears. Spirit as the only reality is not a frozen primary matter. The whole philosophy of Hegel can be reduced to a substantive discourse. According to Hegel, the Spirit is cyclical, it overcomes itself each time in a double negation. Its main characteristic is self-promotion. It is arranged as a subjective thought. The philosophical system is built on the basis of the triad: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. On the one hand, the latter makes it strictly and clear. On the other hand, it allows to show the progressive development of the world.

Georg Wilhelm Hegel: the philosophy of the absolute idea

The theme of the Spirit has developed within a broad tradition and has its origins in Plato and Emmanuel Kant. Georg Hegel also recognized the influence of Proclus, Eckhart, Leibniz, Boehme, Rousseau. What distinguishes all these scholars from materialists is that they viewed freedom and self-determination as things that have important ontological implications for the soul, mind, and divinity. Many followers of Hegel call his philosophy a kind of absolute idealism. The Hegelian concept of Spirit is defined as an attempt to find a place for the divine essence in everyday life. To prove their argument, these followers cite quotations from an eminent German philosopher. From them they conclude that the world is identical to the absolute idea (the so-called Spirit). However, these statements are actually far from the truth. Georg Friedrich Hegel, whose philosophy is actually much more complicated, means by Spirit not regularities, but facts and theories that exist separately from consciousness. Their existence does not depend on whether they are known to man. In this, the Hegelian is similar to Newton's second law. It is only a diagram that makes it easier to understand the world.

Ontology of Hegel

In the Science of Logic, the German philosopher distinguishes the following types of being:

Pure (things and space that are interconnected).
Cash (everything divided).
Being for-itself (abstract things that are opposed to everything else).

Hegelian epistemology

Georg Hegel, whose philosophy is often considered in university courses immediately after Kant, although he was influenced by his ideas, did not accept many of them. In particular, he fought against his agnosticism. For Kant, antinomies cannot be resolved, and this is the end of the theory. There is no further development. However, Georg Hegel finds an engine in problems and interferences. For example, we cannot prove in any way that the Universe is infinite. For Kant, this is an unresolved paradox. It goes beyond experience, therefore it cannot be comprehended and rational. Hegel Georg believes that this situation is the key to finding a new category. For example, infinite progress. Hegel's epistemology is based on contradiction, not on experience. The latter is not like Kant's.

Dialectics

The German philosopher Georg Hegel opposed his teaching to all others. He did not try to find the root causes of phenomena or their resolution in the final result. Simple categories are transformed into complex ones. The truth is contained in the contradiction between them. In this he is close to Plato. The latter called dialectics the art of arguing. However, Georg Friedrich Hegel went even further. There are no two disputants in his philosophy, but only two concepts. An attempt to combine them leads to disintegration, from which a new category is formed. All this contradicts the third law of Aristotle's logic. Hegel manages to find in contradiction the eternal impulse for the movement of thought along the road paved by the absolute idea.

Spirit Elements:

Being (quantity, quality).
Essence (reality, phenomenon).
Concept (idea, subject, object).
Mechanics (space, time, matter, movement).
Physics (substance, shaping).
Organics (zoology, botany, geology).
Subjective (anthropology, psychology, phenomenology), objective (law, morality) and absolute (philosophy, religion, art) spirit.

social philosophy

Many criticize Hegel for the unscientific nature of his conclusions about nature. However, he never claimed it. Hegel identified relationships through contradictions and tried to streamline knowledge in this way. He did not claim to discover new truths. Many see Hegel as the founding father of the theory of the development of consciousness. Although his work "The Science of Logic" does not at all describe the existence of some absolute mind, which is the root cause of the existence of everything. Categories do not generate nature. Therefore, one can say that Marx and Engels turned Hegel's dialectic on its head. It was profitable for them to write that the idea was embodied in history. In fact, according to Hegel, the Absolute Spirit is only the accumulated knowledge of mankind about the world.

Marxism and the Frankfurt School

The name of Hegel is closely connected for us today with another philosophical system. This is because Marx and Engels largely relied on Hegel, although they interpreted his ideas in a way that was beneficial to them. Representatives frankfurt school were even more radical thinkers. They put the inevitability of man-made disasters at the heart of their concept. In their opinion, mass culture requires the complication of information technology, which will certainly lead to problems in the future. It's safe to say that dialectical materialism Marxists and the Frankfurt School are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. And Hegel's ideas are now experiencing a new birth.

Georg Hegel: ideas and their development

The doctrine of the German philosopher includes three parts:

Philosophy of the Spirit.
Logic.
Philosophy of nature.

Hegel argued that religion and philosophy are identical. The only difference is the way the information is presented. Hegel considered his system as the crown of the development of philosophy. Hegel's merit lies in the establishment in philosophy and in the general consciousness of true and fruitful concepts: process, development, history. He proves that there is nothing separate, not connected with everything. This is the process. As regards history and development, Hegel explains them even more clearly. It is impossible to understand a phenomenon without understanding the whole path it has taken. And an important role in its disclosure is played by the contradiction, which allows development to occur not according to vicious circle, and progressively - from lower to higher forms. Hegel made a great contribution to the development of the method of science, that is, the totality of artificial methods invented by man and independent of the subject of research. The philosopher showed in his system that knowledge is therefore the truth for him cannot be a ready-made result. It constantly develops and reveals itself in contradiction.

General characteristics of creativity and the main works of Hegel.

Hegel's identification of being and thinking. The absolute idea is the highest substance

and its alienation in the form of the surrounding world and man.

3. Dialectics - Hegel's fundamental philosophical discovery.

Philosophy of nature, philosophy of spirit and philosophy of history of Hegel.

Socio-political views.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770 - 1831) - professor at Heidelberg and then Berlin universities, was one of the most respected philosophers of his time both in Germany and in Europe, a prominent representative of German classical idealism.

Hegel's main merit in philosophy lies in the fact that he put forward and developed in detail: the theory of objective idealism (the core concept of which is the absolute idea - the World Spirit); dialectics as a universal philosophical method.

The most important philosophical works of Hegel include: "Phenomenology of Spirit", "Science of Logic", "Philosophy of Law".

2 . The main idea of Hegel's ontology (the doctrine of being) is identification of being and thinking. As a result of this identification, Hegel derives a special philosophical concept - the absolute idea.

Absolute idea - it is: the only true reality that exists; the root cause of the entire surrounding world, its objects and phenomena; world spirit possessing self-consciousness and the ability to create. The next key ontological concept of Hegel's philosophy is alienation.

The absolute spirit, about which nothing definite can be said, alienates itself in the form of: the surrounding world, nature, man.

And then, after alienation through human thinking and activity, the natural course of history returns to itself again: that is, the cycle of the Absolute Spirit takes place according to the scheme: World (Absolute) Spirit - Alienation - the surrounding world and man - thinking and human activity - realization by the spirit of himself oneself through the thinking and activity of a person - the return of the Absolute Spirit to itself.

Alienation itself includes: the creation of matter out of thin air; complex relations between the object (the surrounding world) and the subject (man) - through human activity, the World Spirit objectifies itself; distortion, misunderstanding by a person of the surrounding world. Man in the ontology (being) of Hegel plays a special role. He - bearer of the absolute idea. The consciousness of each person is a particle of the World Spirit.

It is in man that the abstract and impersonal world spirit acquires will, personality, character, individuality. Thus, man is the "final spirit" of the World Spirit.

Through a person, the World Spirit: manifests itself in the form of words, speech, language, gestures; purposefully and naturally moves - actions, actions of a person, the course of history; cognizes itself through the cognitive activity of a person; creates - in the form of the results of material and spiritual culture created by man.

3 . Hegel's historical service to philosophy lies in the fact that he was the first to clearly formulate the concept of dialectics.

Dialectics, according to Hegel, the fundamental law of the development and existence of the World Spirit and the surrounding world created by it. The meaning of dialectics is that:

everything - the World spirit, the "final spirit" - a person, objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, processes - contains opposite principles (for example, day and night, heat and cold, youth and old age, wealth and poverty, black and white, war and world, etc.);

these beginnings (parts of a single being and the World Spirit) are in conflict with each other, but, at the same time, they are united in essence and interact;

the unity and struggle of opposites is the basis for the development and existence of everything in the world (that is, the basis of universal existence and development).

Development proceeds from the abstract to the concrete and has the following mechanism:

there is a certain thesis(statement, form of being);

this thesis is always antithesis- its opposite;

as a result interaction of two opposing theses it turns out synthesis is a new assertion, which, in turn, becomes a thesis, but at a higher level of development;

this process occurs again and again, and each time, as a result of the synthesis of opposing theses, a thesis of an increasingly higher level is formed.

As the very first thesis, from which universal development begins, Hegel singles out the thesis "being" (that is, that which exists). Its antithesis is "non-existence" ("absolute nothingness"). Existence and non-existence give a synthesis - "becoming", which is a new thesis.

According to Hegel, contradiction is not evil, but good. It is contradictions that are the driving force of progress. Without contradictions, their unity and struggle, development is impossible.

4 . In his research, Hegel seeks to understand: the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of spirit, the philosophy of history, and hence their essence.

Hegel understands nature (the world around him) as the otherness of the idea (that is, the antithesis of the idea, another form of existence of the idea). Spirit, according to Hegel, has three varieties: subjective spirit, objective spirit, absolute spirit. subjective spirit- soul, consciousness of an individual person (the so-called "spirit for itself").

Objective Spirit- the next step of the spirit, "the spirit of society as a whole." The expression of the objects of the new spirit is the right - given from above, originally existing as an idea (since freedom is inherent in the person himself) the order of relationships between people. Law is the realized idea of freedom. Another expression of the objective spirit, along with law, is morality, civil society, and the state.

Absolute Spirit- the highest manifestation of the spirit, the eternally valid truth. Expression of the Absolute spirit are: art, religion, philosophy.

Art- direct reflection by a person of an absolute idea. Among people, according to Hegel, only talented and brilliant people can "see" and reflect the absolute idea, because of this they are the creators of art.

Religion- the antithesis of art. If art is an absolute idea "seen" brilliant people, then religion is an absolute idea, revealed to man by God in the form of revelation.

Philosophy- the synthesis of art and religion, the highest stage of development and understanding of the absolute idea. This is knowledge given by God and at the same time understood by brilliant people - philosophers. Philosophy is the complete disclosure of all truths, the knowledge of itself by the Absolute Spirit ("the world grasped by thought" - according to Hegel), the connection of the beginning of the absolute idea with its end, the highest knowledge.

According to Hegel, the subject of philosophy should be broader than is traditionally accepted, and should include: the philosophy of nature, anthropology, psychology, logic, philosophy of the state, philosophy of civil society, philosophy of law, philosophy of history, dialectics - as the truth of universal laws and principles.

Story, according to Hegel, the process of self-realization of the Absolute spirit. Since the Absolute Spirit includes the idea of freedom, all history is a process of man's conquest of more and more freedom. In this regard, Hegel divides the entire history of mankind into three great eras: Eastern, ancient-medieval, German.

Eastern era(the era of Ancient Egypt, China, etc.) - such a period of history when in society only one person is aware of himself, enjoys freedom and all the blessings of life - the pharaoh, chinese emperor etc., and all the rest are his slaves and servants.

Antique-medieval era- a period when a group of people (head of state, entourage, military leaders, aristocracy, feudal lords) began to realize themselves, but the bulk is suppressed and not free, depends on the "top" and serves it.

German era- the era contemporary to Hegel, when everyone is aware of themselves and everyone is free.

5 . You can also highlight the following socio-political views of Hegel: the state is a form of God's existence in the world (God incarnate in its strength and "capabilities"); law is the existence (embodiment) of freedom; common interests are higher than private ones, and the individual, his interests can be sacrificed to the common good; wealth and poverty are natural and inevitable, this is a reality given from above that must be put up with; contradictions, conflicts in society - not evil, but good, the engine of progress; contradictions and conflicts between states, wars are the engine of progress on a world-historical scale; "eternal peace" will lead to decay and moral decay; regular wars, on the contrary, purify the spirit of the nation.

One of the most important philosophical conclusions of Hegel about being and consciousness is that there is no contradiction between being (matter) and idea (consciousness, mind). Reason, consciousness, idea has being, and being has consciousness. Everything that is reasonable is real, and everything that is real is reasonable.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel in the pulpit.

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) - German philosopher, objective idealist, the most prominent representative of the German classical philosophy, which was one of the theoretical sources of Marxism; for the first time gave a systematic development of dialectics on the basis of idealism. Born in Stuttgart in the family of a high-ranking official. In 1788-1793 he attended a 2-year philosophical and 3-year theological course at the University of Tübingen. In 1801 he became professor of philosophy in Jena, in 1808-1816 - director of the gymnasium in Nuremberg, then professor of philosophy in Heidelberg and from 1818 - in Berlin. He died in Berlin of cholera. The main works of Hegel, published during his lifetime, - " Phenomenology of Spirit"("Die Phänomenologie des Geistes", 1807, Russian translation 1913, 1959), "The Science of Logic" ("Wissenschaft der Logik", 1812-16, Russian translation, 3rd ed., 1937-39), " Encyclopedia of philosophy. sciences" ("Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse", 1817, Russian translation, 2nd ed., 1929-1956), "Philosophy of Law" ("Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts", 1821, Russian translation 1934). After Hegel's death, "Philosophy of World History", "History of Philosophy", "Aesthetics", "Philosophy of Religion" were published on the basis of his personal notes and notes of students.

The great merit of Hegel, noted F. Engels, is that "... he first presented the entire natural, historical and spiritual world in the form of a process, i.e., in continuous movement, change, transformation and development, and tried to reveal the inner connection of this movement and development "(Anti-Dühring, 1957, p. 23). Hegel considered development as self-movement occurring on "Contradiction is what actually drives the world..." (Soch., vol. 1, M.-L., 1929, p. 206). the process of the emergence of new qualities that arise as a result of a break in gradualness, a leap.

Hegel made a brilliant attempt to find a parallel between logic and history, that is, between the theory of an object and the process of its development. True, in Hegel the relationship between the logical and the historical is idealistically perverted: it is not the logic of an object that reflects in a generalized way the history of its development, but, on the contrary, history is the objective image of the logical. self-development ideas. But even in this idealistic interpretation, Hegel managed to bring the theory of knowledge to the path of historicism, to point to historical research as a method for creating a theory of any process. Hegel's theory of knowledge coincides with the history of knowledge. This helped him arrive at a correct, dialectical solution to the problem of truth. For Hegel, truth is not a given, absolutely correct answer once and for all, but lies in historical development. human knowledge, in the movement from incomplete knowledge to more complete.

In sharp contrast to this deep understanding of the historical nature of human knowledge is Hegel's attempt to view his philosophical system as the expression of absolute truth. The whole system of Hegel is divided into three parts: logic, philosophy of nature and philosophy of spirit, corresponding to the three stages in the development of the absolute idea, which, according to Hegel, is the basis of everything that exists. The first stage is logical: development takes place in the sphere of pure thought, the absolute idea accumulates its wealth, developing from the simplest concepts to the most complex ones. This part of Hegel's philosophy is the most valuable and rich in thoughts: in the dialectic of concepts, Hegel guessed the self-movement of the real world. The second stage in the development of the absolute idea is nature, which, according to Hegel, is a petrified spirit, its "other being". Nature does not know development in time, but only changes in space. Hegel was hostile to the idea of the evolution of the inorganic and organic worlds. The third part of Hegel's system is the philosophy of spirit. At this stage, the idea returns to itself in unity with the created nature. The philosophy of the spirit is divided into three sections: subjective spirit - here Hegel considers the development individual consciousness person; objective spirit - development public institutions(family, state); absolute spirit - the development of forms of social consciousness (art, religion, philosophy).

Hegel made a significant contribution to the development of the theory of society - the historical process. "He was the first," Engels wrote about G., "he tried to show the development, the inner connection of history..." (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 13, p. 496). V. I. Lenin, considering on the whole lectures on the philosophy of history as the most outdated work of Hegel, at the same time highly appreciated the introduction, "... where there is much beauty in the formulation of the question" (Soch., vol. 38, p. 310) and repeatedly noted that Hegel had "the beginnings of historical materialism" (see ibid., pp. 180, 307).

The historical concept of the young Hegel was formed under the influence of the views of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Herder and the ideas of the French bourgeois revolution, to which Hegel was sympathetic, without accepting, however, the Jacobin dictatorship. The initial stage in the history of society (according to Hegel - ancient Greece) seemed to Hegel a state of freedom and democracy, the second stage (all subsequent history) - the domination of despotism and inequality, and, finally, the third stage, opened by the contemporary era, should have led to newly acquired freedom. . Here we have not only an illusory idea of the meaning of the political events that took place, but also a clear idealization of antiquity. Soon, however, Hegel realized that Ancient Greece with its institution of slavery was far from the ideal of justice. Therefore, he abandoned his youthful dream of a revolutionary return to antiquity, believing that this was impossible and unnecessary, since the collapse of ancient Greek democracy was a necessary and progressive phenomenon. Just as necessary and progressive is the disintegration of feudal relations. That is why Hegel was sympathetic to the conquest of Germany by Napoleonic France, considering Napoleon as the successor of the cause of the French Revolution, since he contributed to the destruction of feudal fragmentation and backwardness. belief social progress was combined in Hegel with an understanding of its inconsistency: Hegel, in particular, saw how in bourgeois society the accumulation of wealth at one pole entails appalling poverty at the other.

The industrial revolution in England had a huge impact on the formation of Hegel's historical views. Young Hegel carefully studied the works of A. Smith and other representatives of English political economy. This helped Hegel to come to the "Phenomenology of Spirit" in an attempt to comprehend the development of human society as a result of the combined activities of its members. The greatness of "Phenomenology", according to Marx, lies in the fact that Hegel considered a person "... as the result of his own work" (Marx K. and Engels F., From the early works, 1956, p. 627). At the same time, Marx noted the limitations of Hegel's position, which consisted in the fact that Hegel saw only positive side labor and did not see the negative. Marx had in mind Hegel's inability to find a way to a dialectical negation of capitalism. Hegel could not extend the negation as the abolition of the object itself to contemporary economic and political relations.

Hegel was acutely aware of the defeat of Napoleon; however, he quickly became convinced that a military victory for the monarchist coalition could not reverse history. There is no return to the old and cannot be. This idea was clearly formulated by Hegel in his historical and political work "Evaluation of the Debates in the Assembly of Zemstvo Representatives of the Kingdom of Württemberg" (1817). Here Hegel comes to some conclusions about how to approach the analysis of the historical process. The historian should not highlight the so-called "secret springs" - the goals of individual individuals and subjective influences, but depict the "development of a substantial whole" (Hegel, Sämtliche Werke, hrsg. von G. Lasson, Bd 8, S. 158). Hegel's work "Philosophy of World History" ("Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte") was created in the years 1822-1831 in the form of a lecture course, which Hegel read 5 times during this period of time. Lasson's editions are the most complete (since 1917, a number of editions, in Russian translation - "Philosophy of History", Works, vol. 8, 1935, translation made from the edition of 1840 and contains significant gaps).

Hegel begins world history with the emergence of the state. For Hegel, "The state is a divine idea as it exists on earth. Thus, it is a more precisely defined subject of world history ..." (Soch., vol. 8, M.-L., 1935, p. 38). The primitive state of mankind, "the spread of language and the formation of tribes lie outside the bounds of history" (ibid., p. 107). In society, there is a continuous improvement of forms, a movement from the lower to the higher. Hegel ridicules and criticizes the theory of Schelling and Schlegel about the existence of a certain proto-people, allegedly possessing a highly developed culture, subsequently lost. History develops naturally. The laws of the development of society are of an objective nature and are manifested in the activities of mankind. The latter is made up of the actions of individuals, guided by purely individual interests. Everyone pursues his own personal goals, but as a result, something arises that was not in his intentions, although it was contained in his actions. Hegel called this discrepancy between personal goals and the social results of people's activities "the cunning of the mind." The doctrine of historical necessity did not lead Hegel to fatalistic conclusions; he sought to emphasize the significance of human activity. "... Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion" (ibid., p. 23). However, Hegel is far from idealizing historical figures, although he was prevented from fully revealing their role by a lack of understanding of the true driving forces of history.

The criteria of good wishes and virtuous maxims are not applicable to the historical process. "World history is not an arena of happiness. Periods of happiness are empty sheets in it, because they are periods of harmony, the absence of opposition" (ibid., p. 26). Any utopianism is alien to Hegel's historical conception; faith in the progressive development of mankind does not prevent him from seeing the complexity and inconsistency of this development. Deep insight into the dialectical nature of historical laws sometimes leads Hegel to an almost materialistic approach. provisions. V. I. Lenin, for example, highly appreciated the Hegelian characterization of the tools of labor. Materialistic notes are also heard in some Hegelian thoughts about the state. The latter arises, according to Hegel, when there is a difference in estates and property. inequality. In the growth of property contradictions, Hegel rightly sees the cause of Greek colonization. Analyzing the French Revolution, Hegel subtly notes that the overthrow of the old order was caused by a system of feudal relations that restricted the freedom of property.

However, such statements are episodic. On the whole, Hegel consistently develops the idealistic conception of the historical process. The basis of history, according to Hegel, is the development of an absolute idea, the world spirit. Concretizing this concept, Hegel speaks of the national spirit, which embodies the unity of laws, state institutions, religion, art and philosophy. Progress in world history is each time carried out by some one specific people, whose spirit is the bearer of the world spirit at a given stage of its development. Other peoples have either exhausted themselves or have not yet reached the necessary stage of development. The criterion of progress is the consciousness of freedom. Mankind, developing gradually, is coming to an ever deeper awareness of the idea of freedom. Vost. nations know the freedom of only one person - the despot, but such freedom is arbitrariness, the Greco-Roman world knows the freedom of some, only the Germanic peoples in Christianity have come to the realization that a person is free as such. Having established these periods in the development of mankind, Hegel, however, has little interest in historical events. His main attention is riveted to the sphere of public consciousness. To a certain extent, Hegel's "Philosophy of World History" is, as it were, an extended commentary on his "History of Philosophy", where Hegel acts as a genuine historian analyzing facts. This is not surprising, since development, according to Hegel, occurs only in the sphere of the spirit, and its highest expression is philosophy.

The historical and philosophical concept of Hegel is original and meaningful. Unlike many of his predecessors, Hegel considers the movement of philosophical thought not as a random change of some opinions by others, but as a natural process. Philosophical systems of the past constitute the necessary steps for an ever deeper knowledge of the world; in a "removed" form, they continue to exist. Fruitful was also Hegel's thought about the connection of the philosophical system with historical conditions; philosophy is an epoch expressed in thoughts. However, ignoring the socio-economic roots of philosophical teachings, Hegel could not reveal the true patterns of philosophical development. The disadvantage of his historical-philosophical conception was also the treatment of materialism.

The political views of the late Hegel are clearly conservative. If earlier the French Revolution was the central event of modern history for him, now he assigns this place to the Reformation, which, in his opinion, made revolutionary transformations superfluous in Germany. If in his youth Hegel had a negative attitude towards the Prussian monarchy and its past, now he admires Frederick II. Constitutional monarchy is presented to Hegel as the ideal state structure. Hegel considers war as a necessary phenomenon in the life of society.

The contradictory nature of Hegel's philosophy determined the heterogeneous, often diametrically opposed nature of the teachings of those who considered themselves to be his followers. In the Hegelianism of the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, two main trends were outlined, one of which (right-wing Hegelianism) inherited only the idealistic system and reactionary political views of Hegel; this approach has not been widely adopted. The theories of the Left Hegelians (Young Hegelians) - B. Bauer, Strauss, A. Ruge and other bourgeois radicals and atheists acquired a much greater public resonance. From among the Young Hegelians came L. Feuerbach. A revolutionary interpretation of Hegel's ideas was given by G. Heine, V. Belinsky, A. Herzen, who characterized Hegel's philosophy as the "algebra of revolution" (see Sobr. soch., vol. 9, 1956, p. 23). The most complete and consistent development of the progressive aspects of the teachings of Hegel received in the philosophy of Marxism. At the end of the 19th century, interest in Hegel was revived in bourgeois philosophy. First in England, then in Germany, and after the 2nd World War and in France, neo-Hegelian currents arose, interpreting the teachings of Hegel in the spirit of irrationalism. The reactionary aspects of Hegel's teaching were raised to the shield by certain "theoreticians" of German and Italian fascism (G. Gentile and others). Attempts to "lean" on Hegel are being made by some contemporary propagandists of the "American way of life" (H. Marcuse and others). Bourgeois historical science (L. Ranke, F. Meinecke, in Russia - B. Chicherin) received from Hegel mainly the cult of the state. At the same time, Hegel's striving to discover an internal pattern in history is profoundly alien to bourgeois historians. Characteristically, therefore, is the statement of I. Huizinga, who asserted that "Hegel's teaching for history itself was fruitless" (Huizinga J., Geschichte und Kultur, Stuttg., 1954, S. 30).

A. V. Gulyga. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 4. THE HAGUE - DVIN. 1963.

Compositions: Sämtliche Werke, hrsg. von G. Lasson, Bd 1-15, 18-21, 27-30, Lpz.-Hamb., 1905-60; Samtliche Werke. Jubiläumsausgabe in 20. Bde, hrsg. von H. Glockner, Bd 1-26, Stuttg., 1927-40 (vols. 21-26 monograph of the publisher G.); Briefe von und an Hegel, Sämtliche Werke, hrsg. von G. Lasson. Bd 27-30, Hamb., 1960; in Russian per. Soch., vol. 1-14, M., 1929-1959.

Literature: K. Marx, Toward a Criticism of the Hegelian Philosophy of Law, K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 1; his, The Poverty of Philosophy, ibid., vol. 4; his own, Towards a political critique. savings. Introduction, ibid., vol. 13; Engels F., Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of the classic. German philosophy, M., 1955; Lenin V.I., Philosopher. notebooks, Soch., 4th ed., t. 38; Plekhanov G. V., On the sixtieth anniversary of Hegel's death, Izbr. philosophy Prod., vol. 1, M., 1956; Ovsyannikov M. F., Philosophy of Hegel, M., 1959; Gulyga A. V., Hegel's views on the source. process, "VIMK", 1959, No 3; Lifshitz M., Lit. Hegel's legacy, in his book: Issues of Art and Philosophy, M., 1935; Solovyov E. Yu., Did Hegel share the labor theory of value., "VI", 1959, No 3; Arzhanov M., Hegelianism in the service of German fascism, M., 1933; Gimelshteib E. X .. New materials for Hegel's "Philosophy of History", "VI", 1956, No 3; Gulian K. I., Hegel's method and system, vol. 1, per. from rum., M., 1962; Lasson G., Hegel als Geschichtsphilosoph, Lpz., 1920; Haering Th. L., Hegel, sein Wollen und sein Werk, Bd 1-2, Lpz.-B., 1929-38; Litt Th., Hegel. Versuch einer kritischen Erneuerung, Hdlb., 1953; Marcuse H. Reason and revolution. Hegel and the rise of social theory, Boston, 1960; Ritter J., Hegel und die französische Revolution, Köln, 1957.