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Full Idea
Hegel seems to argue that the immediate knowledge of self (the Cartesian premise) presupposes the activity that constitutes the self, and this presupposes desire, and hence the knowledge of objects.
Gist of Idea
Hegel claims knowledge of self presupposes desire, and hence objects
Source
report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Phenomenology of Spirit [1807]) by Roger Scruton - Short History of Modern Philosophy Ch.12
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'A Short History of Modern Philosophy' [ARK 1985], p.177
A Reaction
This hardly amounts to an argument, but I find it quite sympathetic as a claim. It fits comfortably with modern externalist accounts of thought. While solipsism seems a logical possibility, it hardly amounts to a coherent account of mental life.
| 7502 | For Stoics the true self is defined by what I can be master of [Stoic school, by Foucault] |
| 21421 | Within nature man is unimportant, but as moral person he is above any price [Kant] |
| 5647 | Hegel claims knowledge of self presupposes desire, and hence objects [Hegel, by Scruton] |
| 22770 | A person is a being which is aware of its own self-directed and free subjectivity [Hegel] |
| 15579 | My active existence is defined by being able to say 'I can' [Heidegger] |
| 3847 | Man is nothing else but the sum of his actions [Sartre] |
| 4020 | The modern self has disengaged reason, self-exploration, and personal commitment [Taylor,C] |
| 3825 | Action requires a self, even though perception doesn't [Searle] |
| 3797 | I am the sum total of what I directly control [Dennett] |
| 9758 | To make sense of personal identity, focus on agency rather than experience [Korsgaard] |
| 9757 | A person viewed as an agent makes no sense without its own future [Korsgaard] |