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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Phenomenology of Spirit' and 'talk'

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12 ideas

11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
I develop philosophical science from the simplest appearance of immediate consciousness [Hegel, by Hegel]
     Full Idea: In my 'Phenomenology of Spirit' the procedure adopted was to begin from the first and simplest appearance of the spirit, from immediate consciousness, and to develop the dialectic right up to the standpoint of philosophical science.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Phenomenology of Spirit [1807]) by Georg W.F.Hegel - Logic (Encyclopedia I) §25 Rem
     A reaction: I take metaphysics to be either Parmenidean (starting from Being) or Cartesian (starting from mind), and this (surprisingly, given his lengthy talk of Being) shows Hegel to be a quintessentially Cartesian philosopher. Aristotle is the great Parmenidean.
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 5. Cogito Critique
Barman to Descartes: Would you like another drink?... [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: Barman to Descartes: Would you like another drink? Descartes: I think not (...and promptly vanishes)
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
There was a young student called Fred... [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: There was a young student called Fred,/ Who was questioned on Descartes and said:/ 'It's perfectly clear/ That I'm not really here,/ For I haven't a thought in my head.' [V.R. Ormerod]
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 2. Phenomenalism
A philosopher and his wife are out for a drive... [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: A philosopher and his wife are out for a drive in the country. 'Oh look!' she says, 'Those sheep have been shorn.' 'Yes', says the philosopher, 'on this side'.
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / c. Empirical idealism
Dear Sir, Your astonishment's odd.... [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: (reply to 12403) Dear Sir, Your astonishment's odd:/ I am always about in the Quad./ And that's why the tree/ Will continue to be,/ Since observed by Yours faithfully, God.' [anon]
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
There once was a man who said: 'God... [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: There once was a man who said: 'God/ Must think it exceedingly odd/ If he finds that this tree/ Continues to be,/ When there's no-one about in the Quad.' [Ronald Knox] (reply in 12404)
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
..But if he's a student of Berkeley... [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: (continued from 12401) ..But if he's a student of Berkeley,/ One thing will emerge, rather starkly,/ That he ought to believe/ What his senses perceive,/ No matter how dimly or darkly. [Leslie Johnson]
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
The philosopher Berkeley once said.. [Sommers,W]
     Full Idea: The philosopher Berkeley once said/ In the dark to a maid in his bed:/ 'No perception, my dear,/ Means I'm not really here,/ But only a thought in your head.' [P.W.R. Foot]
     From: Will Sommers (talk [2019])
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / d. Absolute idealism
Being is Thought [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Being is Thought.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Phenomenology of Spirit [1807], Pref 54)
     A reaction: You won't find a more succinct slogan for idealism than that. Speaking as what Tim Williamson (referring to himself) calls a 'rottweiler realist', I can't quite get the hang of Hegel's claim. What does he think thought is, if it isn't about the world?
The Absolute is not supposed to be comprehended, but felt and intuited [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The Absolute is not supposed to be comprehended, it is to be felt and intuited.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Phenomenology of Spirit [1807], Pref 06)
     A reaction: Hegel was a rather romantic philosopher. Where does the 'supposed' come from? If the Absolute is only felt and intuited, can the resulting apprehensions be reported to others? Is this, in fact, mysticism?
In the Absolute everything is the same [Hegel]
     Full Idea: In the Absolute everything is the same.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Phenomenology of Spirit [1807], Pref 16)
     A reaction: This is indistinguishable from the great spherical reality of Parmenides. It is not unreasonable to enquire about the epistemology of this claim. Is Hegel a seer, or can we all intuit this insight into reality?
Genuine idealism is seeing the ideal structure of the world [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: Genuine (as opposed to subjective) idealism, for Hegel, is the point of view that knows the world to have a rational, and therefore 'ideal', structure.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Phenomenology of Spirit [1807]) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 04 'The Unhappy'
     A reaction: Compare Leibniz, whose monad theory is said to be a sort of idealism, because it places ideas at the heart of reality. Is Plato also this sort of 'genuine' idealism? Do we need different terms for 'genuine' and 'subjective' idealism? And 'transcendental'?