The Hegelian Trap

[Nilsi]

Philosophy, as traditionally understood, is the pursuit of universal truths, which are stable across space and time. Nowhere is this view epitomized more than in the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel. In Hegel’s philosophy, reality is seen as having an intrinsic purpose towards which it evolves — a universality in which all contradictions and differences are resolved in a state of absolute completion.

Hegel’s dialectical method views this evolution as a process wherein contradictions lead to the development of higher levels of understanding. Encounters with contradictions prompt revisions in one’s worldview, transcending and integrating these contradictions. Hegel conceptualizes the culmination of this process as the “Absolute Spirit” - a universal self-understanding.

Given the infinite nature of reality, any arrival at the “Absolute” is always a provisional conclusion, given that there is always an infinitude of reality outside one’s current paradigm. This, of course, means that one is always in a state of imperfection, continually striving to encompass more of reality to fill this perceived lack in oneself.

This is where Friedrich Nietzsche enters the scene. Once this ideal of universality takes over a culture or individual, Nietzsche thought, self-denial and nihilism ensue, making genuine self-expression impossible. Any attempt to assert oneself on reality is prevented by a bad conscience — how can one assert something if something is always particular and not universal? And if one asserts universality, one is stuck in an eternal state of lack and inadequacy.

What follows is the need for a fundamental reorientation towards reality, which is precisely the project Nietzsche committed himself to. He introduces the typology of “Master-Slave Morality,” characterizing Hegel’s idealization of universality as submission and self-denial. This he equates to the psychology of the slave, whose identity has become so tied up in his relationship to the master that he becomes instinctively submissive and passive. Nietzsche breaks this paradigm by opposing it with the morality of the master, whose natural sense of self-righteousness allows him to freely assert his vision on reality. Instead of projecting evil and lack into oneself, as the slave does, the master projects it out into the world and frees himself from the shackles of a bad conscience.

Another antithesis to Hegel was put forward by Gilles Deleuze, who argues for the primacy of “Difference,” emphasizing the uniqueness and particularity of reality as opposed to universal truths. The Deleuzian philosopher is thus not a seeker of truth, but a creator of values and concepts, exploring novel ways to understand and experience reality.

Finally, we can return to Nietzsche and his proposition of the “Übermensch,” as one who transcends the particular-universal dichotomy and affirms its existence — a dynamic and complex worldview that finds its greatest expression in Greek tragedy, in which life is portrayed as inherently double-edged and no primacy is given to either the universal realm of the gods or the particular world of human existence.

[Nilsi]

The perfect TL;DR just hit me: Hegels Absolute Spirit is a double negation, while Nietzsches Übermensch is a double affirmation. — think about it.

[martins name]

Reality is going towards perfect integration and infinite form. 
Hagel is limited as you said that he only sees integration.
Niche is also limited in that he doesn't see integration. The most powerful master is the one who achieves perfect harmony with the greater whole. Because harmonious cooperation beats individual parasitism in the long run. 
Both fail in proper integration.
Sidenote: You are the one who integrates and harmonizes, you are not an outsider who is subservient to the process. Be a master that integrates. Love is power.

[Blackness]

Hegel got quite a lot right, and I think your proposition that 'one is always in a state of imperfection' is incorrect. There is an end-goal to this process of self-realization, or better yet, there are two points, between which the process oscillates cyclically. The process itself is the state of perfection, as the fundamental opposition - the one between pure being and pure nothing - is both initiated and resolved outside of time.

His philosophy is incomplete, however, as he failed to see the major cause and consequence of the Absolute's unity - Love.

So, according to Hegel, we can use assume that in the beginning there was nothing, so pure nothing is our starting point. But nothing can only be a nothing in relation to something that is not nothing - so this pure nothing immediately implies the existence of its own negation - which is pure being. The same logic applies if we assume that pure being was the first. Both pure being and pure nothing - imply and negate each other.

So now we have these two abstractions, opposed and seemingly paradoxical in relation to each other. The only way to resolve the paradox is their union. They are defined by the same attribute - the very implication and negation of the other is their only defining trait, as nothing external to these abstractions can be referenced at this point. They are one and the same, yet they are not. How is this resolved? How do they achieve union and resolution?

That's where the answer comes - Love - the primary derivation of the Absolute.

Pure being can only become its opposite, if it negates itself in favor of the other. If it gives itself to the other, becomes the other, and in so doing negates itself, it dies. This is what even in the human experience is defined as love, when brought to its finality. Giving of yourself. Giving yourself. And when you give all that you are, you cease to exist, for you've given everything, and have now become something else.

The same happens from the point of pure nothing. By negating itself, it becomes pure being. In this process, we reach the union of the Absolute.

This union is accomplished through Love. The Absolute generates Love as a distinct abstraction from itself, yet it is this same abstraction of Love that allows the Absolute to be what it is - absolute Oneness, so it is not entirely distinct.

Love is the process, and the Absolute's Union is the goal of existence. 

Love, once given existence by the Absolute, finds itself adrift, and in order to do what it must, it needs to know itself.

So it gives rise to multiplicity - space, time, experience and the other particularities of existence. Love needs multiplicity, because in order to know itself, it needs to create an illusion where it can pretend it is something it's not. It comes to knows itself by coming to know what it is not. And the opposite of love is self-interest, selfishness. Where love is giving of self to the other, self-interest is taking from other to self. So many separate 'selves' are necessary to provide a substrate where Love can experiment with separation via infinite forms. All of existence is derived from Love.

And this is where we are 'currently'. Time exists for us, but it is illusory. This process is already finished, in the sense that the union with the Absolute is our final destination, for we cannot go anywhere else, for there is nothing else.

Yet the process never begun, so it can never finish, and will continue into eternity, giving rise to universes, where beings like us will slowly learn that they are Love, slowly merge through Love with other 'selves', until they reach the point of merging with the Absolute, and allow it to achieve union with itself and resolve its paradox. And then the Absolute generates multiplicity again, ad infinitum.

In a more poetic sense, our existence is the perpetual dying of God. And the end of our existence is God's rebirth.

 

TLDR; you are right that Hegel's Absolute Spirit is a double negation, its affirmation comes through Love that Hegel failed to see. That does not call into question his philosophy, it merely makes it incomplete.

[Guest Bazooka Jesus]

@Blackness

I Love this explanation.

 

Edited January 6 by Bazooka Jesus

[numbersinarow]

The master (according to Nietzsche) sees only good and bad and therefore could never project evil into the world, because that's a concept from "good and evil" which Nietzsche says is the worse worldview.

As for Nietzsche breaking a paradigm with a master morality, here's how I would put it: 1. Slave morality is created in opposition to a master's morality, AKA now the things the master wants are sins. Master morality already existed. But when you see this, you see that slave morality isn't so good. 2. The slave morality isn't there to be broken at all, only there so that people could hypothetically identify it better and re-locate the slaves, but the slaves and slave morality would be the same or at least we have no reason to believe it would be different. Although slave morality can be poison to a master, the slave fulfilled the hierarchies that Nietzsche praises better by having slave morality, not worse.