The Cunning of Geist

The Scientific Revolution brought tremendous benefit to humanity.  But when the scientific method becomes more than a defined procedure of rational inquiry and prediction, and morphs into an ideology with its own set of dogmas, problems can appear.  And this is precisely what has happened in today’s world.  Scientism is the name given to this world-view.  It holds that nature is wholly material and mechanical, with no purpose - and that life itself is a mistake that occurred when a RNA molecule accidentally mutated and was able to replicate itself. Where is mind in this world-view?  Where is purpose?  Hegel’s philosophy presents an entirely different vision - that mind, freedom, and  purpose are central to the Cosmos.  Interestingly, several 20th century scientific pioneers agreed with Hegel on this.  This episode explores.  Support the show

Psychologist C. G. Jung coined the term 'synchronicity,' which is a powerful psycho/physical concept that ties together causality with meaning.   In comparing the Western and Eastern mind, he states "While the Western mind carefully sifts, weighs, selects, classifies, isolates, the Chinese picture of the moment encompasses everything down to the minutest nonsensical detail, because all of the ingredients make up the observed moment" (Foreward, The I-Ching or Book of Changes, Wilhelm/Baynes translation).Jung is saying that a moment not only has 'causal' relations, but 'meaning' relations as well. He compares this to the finding of quantum physics: “The ancient Chinese mind contemplates the cosmos in a way comparable to that of the modern physicist, who cannot deny that his model of the world is a decidedly psychophysical structure. The microphysical event includes the observer just as much as the reality underlying the I Ching comprises subjective, i.e., psychic conditions in the totality of the momentary situation." (Ibid). This has clear correspondence to Hegel's notion that substance is subject. As Slovene philosopher Mladen Dolar expresses it, "Hegel proposed the fundamental adage that everything depends on a single statement, namely, that the true is not to be comprehended only as a substance but equally as a subject—in brief, substance is subject” (e-flux. com, #34, Hegel and Freud, 2012).This episode explores this fascinating concept in light of Hegelian philosophy.Support the show

Martin Heidegger called this question the most fundamental of all metaphysics:  Why is there something rather than nothing?  As author Jim Holt states, "It's a question so profound it would only occur to a metaphysician, yet so simple it would occur only to a child."Yet is the question valid?  Is something/nothing an either/or proposition?  Or as contemporary philosopher Robert Nozick states it, "So why is there something from nothing? There isn't. There's both."This question can be addressed in four different ways:     1) It's the will of God (Leibniz)     2) Existence is a brute fact and does not need a reason (Russell).       3) Quantum particles can pop into existence from nowhere (Krause).     4) It is a false dilemma - both something and nothing co-exist (Hegel) This podcast episode explores.  Support the show

Physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman famously said, “I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics.”  His teacher, John Archibald Wheeler, took the meaning of quantum physics to be that "no phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon."  On the other side of this view stood Albert Einstein, who expressed his concerns with quantum physics by saying "God does not play dice."  He maintained a 40 year debate with Niels Bohr, one of the founders of quantum physics, on how it should be interpreted.Which view is correct?  Are Life and Mind irrelevant to the cosmos? Or are they central, as Hegel contends.  This podcast episode explores.  Support the show

Spirit is an overused and often misused word. It also plays a prominent role in Hegel's philosophy. What is it supposed to mean? Is any talk of Spirit just fuzzy fairy-tale thinking? Or is Spirit, in its actual meaning, the driving-wheel behind Nature?The German word for Spirit is Geist, which translated into English has two meanings, Spirit and Mind. It is also similar to two Greek words, Nous (Mind) and Pneuma, (Spirit/Breath ). Pneuma in turn corresponds to the Hebrew word Ruach (the breath of life), which is used in the biblical term Ruach HaKodesh, (the Spirit of God).   Nous can also be taken as meaning more intuitive as opposed to discursive thinking. This intuitive way of thinking is encompassed by the term speculative philosophy, as opposed to the more ordinary reflective philosophy.  This episode explore all this in relation to Hegel's philosophy and more.   Support the show

This episode discusses how the materialistic neo-Darwinian conception of evolution does not tell the whole story of what is going on here.  As Thomas Nagel states, “Mind, I suspect, is not an inexplicable accident or a divine and anomalous gift but a basic aspect of nature that we will not understand until we transcend the built-in limits of contemporary scientific orthodoxy.” What is missing from naturalistic materialism's view of evolution is purpose.   Aristotle put purpose at the center of his idea of eudaemonia, the Greek term for the greater good or happiness, that of having a meaningful goal and making the effort to achieve it. This is similar to Hegel's teleological view of nature itself, that it has a purpose, for Spirit/Mind to come to know itself through the historical struggle we all are a part of.     Support the show

Hegel's unique and non-traditional understanding of the resurrection of Jesus echoes his overall system of Logic, Nature, and Spirit.   According to Hegel, God others himself in Jesus; and in Jesus' death, Spirit becomes fully finite.  As a result of this, Spirit is then reborn in the community. Similarly, in Hegel's overall approach, Logic others itself in Nature; and Spirit is then reborn in Nature through a historical process of individuals in society coming to recognize Spirit through art, religion, and philosophy. Hegel did not consider the historical accuracy of the resurrection to be important to the Christian religion. And yet he acknowledged the need of the intellect to construct meaning in this event as well.   This episode will explore the resurrection in detail, and include discussion of Jung's "Answer to Job," and Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga's notion of "dwindling possibilities."Support the show

The notion that substance is subject is perhaps the major tenant of Hegel's philosophy.  Hegel said "Everything turns on grasping and expressing the True, not as Substance, but equally as Subject" (Phen. of Spirit, Miller trans. ¶17).  Hegel explains that the self, the subject, is the process of creating a void, a negation, which allows for the purposeful movement of reason. This process is identical in both thought interrupting pure being and the void interrupting the material world (the space between atoms or the void in which space-time is expanding into).  Thought and world intersect here, in this interruption.  It is here where subject and substance find their identity in difference. Slavoj Zizek states: “In order to grasp the radical link between the subject and nothingness (the Void), one should be very precise in reading Hegel's famous statement on substance and the subject.   . . the subject . . stands for the incompleteness of substance, for its inner antagonism and movement, for the Nothingness that thwarts the substance from within, destroying its unity, and thus dynamizes it - that the Self is this very unrest.” (Less than Nothing, pg. 378.) The Rosicrucian symbol of the Rosy Cross was used by Hegel as way describe this intersection: “To recognize reason as the rose in the cross of the present, and to find delight in it, is a rational insight which implies reconciliation with reality” (Intro. Phil of Right).This episode explore this important notion.  Support the show

Is the world an illusion?  Are we part of a computer simulated reality as in the Matrix movie?  Are we actually brains in a vat dreaming of an external world?  Was the world created by a devil when God was not looking, as Bertrand Russell thought was plausible?  Was the world created in error by a lesser deity as in the Gnostic scripts?  Or, as in the allegory of Plato’s cave, is there one true reality that underlies all and everything?This episode explores the concept of nonduality from three different ages: a major school of Hindu thought, German Idealism, and a modern New Age tome.  And some clear correspond is found between them. Support the show

Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, in his 1981 book "After Virtue," argues that moral discourse since the Enlightenment is not rational and therefore empty. He believes the reason for this is that the morals of the Enlightenment lack purpose - teleology. The scientific revolution, armed with Darwinism, brought an end to "purpose." One was left to define morality on their own terms. This led to the moral relativism of the individual.  But now a new tribalism has returned, with the left-brain, visually oriented individualism of the Enlightenment giving way to the right-brain, auditory tribalism of the Global Village.  And with it a return to moralistic thinking.   Hegel believed that morals consisted of group ethics that progressed over time, centered in one's family, one's socials spheres and communities, and the state itself. Perhaps the Hegel Renaissance seen over the last few decades is a result of the correspondence of his teachings to this new reality.   Support the show