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80 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
Wisdom emerges at the end of a process [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The Owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], Pref p.13), quoted by A.W. Moore - The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics 07.4
     A reaction: Hegel explains that this means that wisdom is the product of historical maturity, as the ideal emerges, and illuminates what is real. I think.
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined
Philosophy is exploration of the rational [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Philosophy is exploration of the rational.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], Pref)
     A reaction: The only problem is that Hegel (like the Stoics) thought that nature is rational all the way down, so philosophy becomes the study of everything.
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
Instead of prayer and charity, sinners pursue vain disputes and want their own personal scripture [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: The sinners will say 'we never prayed or fed the hungry. We engaged in vain disputes and denied the Day of Reckoning'. Indeed, each one of them demands a scripture of his own to be unrolled before him.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.74)
     A reaction: The implication seems to be that most disputes are 'vain'. The charge that everyone wants a 'scripture of his own' is a nice challenge to the world of liberal education, where we are all enjoined to pursue our personalised routes to our own truth.
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 5. Objectivity
Subjective and objective are not firmly opposed, but merge into one another [Hegel]
     Full Idea: It is usually believed that the subjective and objective are firmly opposed to one another. But this is not the case; they in fact pass over into one another.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 026 add)
     A reaction: I take this to mean that they are on a spectrum, rather than being binary opposites. This seems reasonable to me, since I take there to be degrees of objectivity.
5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 1. Overview of Logic
If a sound conclusion comes from two errors that cancel out, the path of the argument must matter [Rumfitt]
     Full Idea: If a designated conclusion follows from the premisses, but the argument involves two howlers which cancel each other out, then the moral is that the path an argument takes from premisses to conclusion does matter to its logical evaluation.
     From: Ian Rumfitt ("Yes" and "No" [2000], II)
     A reaction: The drift of this is that our view of logic should be a little closer to the reasoning of ordinary language, and we should rely a little less on purely formal accounts.
5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 2. Logical Connectives / a. Logical connectives
Standardly 'and' and 'but' are held to have the same sense by having the same truth table [Rumfitt]
     Full Idea: If 'and' and 'but' really are alike in sense, in what might that likeness consist? Some philosophers of classical logic will reply that they share a sense by virtue of sharing a truth table.
     From: Ian Rumfitt ("Yes" and "No" [2000])
     A reaction: This is the standard view which Rumfitt sets out to challenge.
The sense of a connective comes from primitively obvious rules of inference [Rumfitt]
     Full Idea: A connective will possess the sense that it has by virtue of its competent users' finding certain rules of inference involving it to be primitively obvious.
     From: Ian Rumfitt ("Yes" and "No" [2000], III)
     A reaction: Rumfitt cites Peacocke as endorsing this view, which characterises the logical connectives by their rules of usage rather than by their pure semantic value.
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / h. Dasein (being human)
Personality overcomes subjective limitations and posits Dasein as its own [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Personality is that which overcomes the limitation of being merely subjective and gives itself reality - or, what amounts to the same thing, to posit that existence [Dasein] as its own.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 039)
     A reaction: This looks like the source for Heidegger's distinctive concept of Dasein. The emphasis in Hegel is on creating it out of subjectivity by an act of choice. For Heidegger Dasein seems to be a primitive concept.
13. Knowledge Criteria / D. Scepticism / 6. Scepticism Critique
It is a rejection of intellectual dignity to say that we cannot know the truth [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The assertion that human beings cannot know the truth, but have to do only with appearances …deprives the spirit of intellectual dignity.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 132)
     A reaction: It is a relief to find Hegel making this assertion. His later followers seem to have slid into an extreme cultural relativism. I'm not sure that 'intellectual dignity' is a very secure foundation for his claim.
16. Persons / A. Concept of a Person / 4. Persons as Agents
A person is a being which is aware of its own self-directed and free subjectivity [Hegel]
     Full Idea: A person is a subject which is aware of its subjectivity, for as a person, I am completely for myself: the person is the individuality of freedom in pure being-for-itself.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 035 add)
     A reaction: Sartre's being 'pour-soi'. Presumably the freedom is for action as well as thought. He ignores Spinoza's claim that such freedom is just an illusion.
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 2. Self as Social Construct
A human only become a somebody as a member of a social estate [Hegel]
     Full Idea: When we say that a human being must be somebody, we mean that he must belong to a particular estate. …A human being with no estate is merely a private person and does not possess universality.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 207 add)
     A reaction: The first rebellion in Europe against the rising individual liberalism which started with Descartes and was clarified in Kant. Hegel's idea is hugely influential, especially through Marx. I don't believe being a person is a wholly social matter.
Individuals attain their right by discovering their self-consciousness in institutions [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Individuals attain their essential right by discovering their essential self-consciousness in social institutions, as that universal aspect of their particular interests which has being in itself.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 264)
     A reaction: This is the source of the influential idea made famous by Marx. Hegel seems to have a rather rigid and deterministic view of society, which fixes self-consciousness. The modern view is that self-consciousness is endlessly malleable, by society.
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 1. Nature of Free Will
A free will primarily wills its own freedoom [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: For Hegel, the content or 'object' which any free will wills simply by virtue of being free is nothing other than its own freedom.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 027) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 8 'The Limits'
     A reaction: Personally I take the concept of a wholly 'free' will to be vacuous, but this is a very interesting idea. I would delete 'by virtue of being free', and say that what we mean by free will is the will's desperation to be as free as possible. Love it.
19. Language / F. Communication / 3. Denial
We learn 'not' along with affirmation, by learning to either affirm or deny a sentence [Rumfitt]
     Full Idea: The standard view is that affirming not-A is more complex than affirming the atomic sentence A itself, with the latter determining its sense. But we could learn 'not' directly, by learning at once how to either affirm A or reject A.
     From: Ian Rumfitt ("Yes" and "No" [2000], IV)
     A reaction: [compressed] This seems fairly anti-Fregean in spirit, because it looks at the psychology of how we learn 'not' as a way of clarifying what we mean by it, rather than just looking at its logical behaviour (and thus giving it a secondary role).
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
The concept of the will is the free will which wills its freedom [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The abstract concept of the Idea of the will is in general the free will which wills the free will.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 027)
     A reaction: Since Hegel thinks we only have free will because we will to have it, it makes sense that that will precedes the free will. But I don't understand how the will which wills that freedom is itself free. No doubt Hegelians understand this.
20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / b. Intellectualism
Evil enters a good will when we believe we are doing right, but allow no criticism of our choice [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: The evil Hegel finds at the heart of the good will is not simply the criminal violation of rights, but the evil which lies in believing oneself to be doing what is truly good, while allowing no one but oneself to determine what the good actually is.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'The Problem'
     A reaction: That is not intellectualism, but the implication that intellectualism is a potential source of evil. The interesting thought is that Hegel is contributing a social dimension to the weakness of will problem.
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism
Conscience is the right of the self to know what is right and obligatory, and thus make them true [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Conscience is the expression of the absolute title of subjective self-consciousness to know in itself and from within itself what is right and obligatory, to recognise only what it knows as good, and that what is thus known is right and obligatory.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 137), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'The Problem'
     A reaction: [compressed] This is the sort of rabbit-out-of-the-hat move that Hegel loves, and I find implausible. Mill made the key point about conscience.
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / g. Love
Love is ethical life in its natural form [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Love is a feeling, that is, ethical life in its natural form.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 158 add)
     A reaction: For Hegel the less natural forms are more abstract - such as the categorical imperative. Does this imply that intellectual beings should extend the feeling of love into more abstract forms, such as virtues or principles or ideals?
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 1. Contractarianism
You may break off a treaty if you fear treachery from your ally [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: If you fear treachery from any of your allies, you may retaliate by breaking off your treaty with them; Allah does not love the treacherous.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.8)
     A reaction: I do not think this is good advice. Everybody fears treachery, but if we all acted on that fear human relationships and society would immediately collapse. If anyone thought this was good advice, I would not want to make a treaty with them.
Repay evil with good and your enemies will become friends (though this is hard) [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Requite evil with good, and he who is your enemy will become your dearest friend; but none will attain this save those who endure with fortitude and are greatly favoured by Allah.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.41)
     A reaction: This seems opposed to some of the more vengeful remarks in the Koran. It strikes me as good common sense, since vengeance only seems to breed counter-vengeance. It doesn't carry the full altruistic commitment, though, of unrewarded love.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
Allah rewards those who are devout, sincere, patient, humble, charitable, chaste, and who fast [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Allah will bestow forgiveness and a rich reward on those, both men and women, who are devout, sincere, patient, humble, charitable and chaste; who fast and are ever mindful of Allah.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.33)
     A reaction: Most people would still agree that all of these are virtues, though other lists will show interesting virtues that are not mentioned here, and many on this list seem overrated in the modern pantheon of virtues.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice
Those who avenge themselves when wronged incur no guilt [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Those who avenge themselves when wronged incur no guilt.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.42)
     A reaction: Compare Ideas 1659 (Protagoras), 346 (Socrates), 6288 (Jesus), and 4286 (Scruton!). In the light of those ideas, this comment in the Koran strikes me as coming from an older and less civilized world.
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 3. Universalisability
You can't have a morality which is supplied by the individual, but is also genuinely universal [Hegel, by MacIntyre]
     Full Idea: Hegel attacks doctrines which are attempts by the individual to supply his own morality, and at one and the same time, to claim for it a genuine universality.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Alasdair MacIntyre - A Short History of Ethics Ch.15
     A reaction: Hegel clearly has Kant in mind. It is a penetrating criticism. Of course, there is no reason why a universal mathematical proof shouldn't be 'provided' by the individual. The Kantian seeks agreement. See Contractualism.
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 4. Categorical Imperative
Be a person, and respect other persons [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The commandment of right is: be a person, and respect other persons
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 036)
     A reaction: This seems to be presented as a categorical imperative. He implies that you can choose whether to be a person, which seems wrong. I love making 'respect other persons' the supreme command - but I prefer 'respect everything'.
The categorical imperative lacks roots in a historical culture [Hegel, by Bowie]
     Full Idea: Hegel criticised the categorical imperative for lacking any roots in the moral habits and practices which develop in actual historical communities.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Andrew Bowie - German Philosophy: a very short introduction 1
     A reaction: This is the gist of Alasdair MacIntyre's defence of virtue theory, against rational Enlightenment ethics. Charles Taylor made the link to Hegel.
The categorical imperative is fine if you already have a set of moral principles [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The proposition 'Consider whether your maxim can be asserted as a universal principle' would be all very well if we already had determinate principles concerning how to act.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 135 add)
     A reaction: Excellent! I have always taken this to be the overwhelming problem with Kant's theory. Kant's examples always presume a set of unquestioned conventional values. Kant offers a framework for moral thought, but values are what matter.
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 1. Existentialism
The good is realised freedom [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The good is realised freedom, the absolute and ultimate end of the world.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 129)
     A reaction: This remark could have been made by Sartre. On its own I find it baffling, and can make no sense of an account of ethics that gives no guidance on behaviour at all, other than that freedom should be asserted.
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / c. A unified people
The family is the first basis of the state, but estates are a necessary second [Hegel]
     Full Idea: While the family is the primary basis of the state, the estates are second. The latter are of special importance, because private persons, despite their selfishness, must have recourse to others.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 201 add)
     A reaction: He mentions agriculture as an estate. The implication is that interactions between families requires state institutions, but in simpler societies families can obviously interact and help one another directly. He wants the state to be indispensable.
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights
We cannot assert rights which are unnatural [Hegel]
     Full Idea: No one can assert a right against nature.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 244 add)
     A reaction: Although the existence of natural rights is dubious (or nonsense, for Bentham), this is a vague but sensible constraint on what can plausibly be asserted as a right. The rights we create in society must respond to natural needs.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 1. Purpose of a State
I aim to portray the state as a rational entity [Hegel]
     Full Idea: This treatise is an attempt to comprehend and portray the state as an inherently rational entity.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], Pref)
     A reaction: Right now I see very little sign of that being the case. States contain many institutions which are fairly rational, because they focus efficiently on a clear object, but a state can only be rational if there is a wide consensus on its objective.
Society draws people, and requires their work, making them wholly dependent on it [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Civil society is the immense power which draws people to itself and requires them to work for it, to owe everything to it, and to do everything by its means.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 238 add)
     A reaction: This is the disturbing side of Hegel's quite attractive communitarian thinking. His general picture is of the state prescribing what is required of its citizens, with little scope for citizens to prescribe what they need from the state. See Popper.
The state is the march of God in the world [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The state consists of the march of God in the world, and its basis is the power of reason actualising itself as will.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 258)
     A reaction: The most notorious sentence in the whole book. See Wiki article on it. The hair-raising aspect of it is that God won't tell us where the state is going, so those in charge will decide that for us. God gives their preferences maximum authority.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / c. Social contract
Individuals can't leave the state, because they are natural citizens, and humans require a state [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The arbitrary will of individuals cannot break away from the state, because the individual is already by nature a citizen of it. It is the rational destiny of humans to live within a state, and if there is no state reason requires it to be established.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 075 add)
     A reaction: The Aristotelian view, in opposition to the social contract idea that individuals must choose to have a state. I agree with Hegel, but find his authoritarian tone disturbing. What else will I be told is my 'rational destiny'? We want liberal communiity.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / d. General will
A fully developed state is conscious and knows what it wills [Hegel]
     Full Idea: An essential part of the fully developed state is consciousness or thought; the state accordingly knows what it wills and knows this an a object of thought.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 270 add)
     A reaction: The silliest idea by a famous philosopher anywhere in this database. I bet the criterion for being fully developed is being conscious, and the criterion for being conscious is being fully developed, whatever that means. General will run riot.
The people do not have the ability to know the general will [Hegel]
     Full Idea: To know what one wills, and even more to know what reason wills, is the fruit of profound cognition and insight, and this the very thing which 'the people' lack.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 301)
     A reaction: This is obviously directed at Rousseau, and seems to be specifically anti-democratic. Hegel sees the general will as a mystical fact, only knowable to some elite intellectual priesthood.
The great man of the ages is the one who reveals and accomplishes the will of his time [Hegel]
     Full Idea: He who expresses the will of his age, tells it what its will is, and accomplishes this will, is the great man of the age.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 318 add)
     A reaction: The great man of Hegel's age had obviously been Napoleon, who may have accomplished the will of part of the French people, but went massively against the will of the rest of Europe. For Hegel this seems to be the reality of the General Will.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 3. Constitutions
A constitution embodies a nation's rights and condition [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The constitution of a nation must embody the nation's feeling for its rights and present condition.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 274 add)
     A reaction: Most constitutions also specify the institutions needed to maintain its principles and values. If it specifies its 'present' condition, that is a licence to change it from time to time. Hegel endorses such flexibility.
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 4. Citizenship
Individuals must dedicate themselves to the ethical whole, and give their lives when asked [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The individual person is a subordinate entity who must dedicate himself to the ethical whole. Consequently, if the state demands his life, the individual must surrender it.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 070 add)
     A reaction: The obvious problem is a war which is perceived to be unjust. Vietnam draft dodgers. We should always consider the common good, but 'dedicate himself to the ethical whole'? It depends whether the ethical whole is dedicated to us.
Social groups must focus on the state, which must in turn respect their inclusion and their will [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The interests of family and civil society must concentrate themselves on the state, although the universal end cannot be advanced without the personal knowledge and will of its particular members, whose own rights must be maintained.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 260), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'Freedom'
     A reaction: Hegel's emphasis on the state has sometimes allowed him to be presented as a proto-fascist, so the second half of this is important - especially the remark about citizens having 'knowledge' of what is going on. Is citizen commitment conditional on this?
People can achieve respect for their state by insight into its essence [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The best way for humans to achieve respect for the state as that whole of which they are branches is through philosophical insight into its essence.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 270 add)
     A reaction: Although Hegel on the state can be quite alarming, I rather approve of this Aristotelian thought. States do not, of course, have ready made essences awaiting the insights of philosophers, but discussion can converge on a concept of what the state is.
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 3. Conservatism
In the 1840s Hegel seemed to defend society being right as it is, as a manifestation of Mind [Hegel, by Singer]
     Full Idea: In the 1840s the orthodox interpretation of Hegel was that since human society is the manifestation of Mind [Geist] in the world, everything is right and rational as it is.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Peter Singer - Marx 2
     A reaction: This orthodoxy provoked the rebellion of Marx and the Young Hegelians. Modern Communitarians like Hegel, but that view seems to hover between right-wing authoritarianism and left-wing egalitarianism.
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 5. Democracy / b. Consultation
Majority rule means obligations can be imposed on me [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Majority decisions are at variance with the principle that I should be personally present in anything which imposes an obligation on me.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 309 add)
     A reaction: The big democratic problem of my time is sharp binary decisions made by a democracy, such as UK leaving the EU, or Scotland leaving the UK. A very large minority in such cases has their will entirely thwarted, whichever way it goes.
The state should reflect all interests, and not just popular will, or a popular party [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: The best guarantee of freedom is for the state to be organised in such a way that the legislature reflects all the substantial interests within civil society, and not just the 'will of the majority', or the parties which happen to find popular support.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 311) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'Freedom'
     A reaction: In our first-past-the-post system innumerable interests fail to be represented, and parliament is crushed by dull plodders with ossified views who smugly hang on to safe seats. IMHO.
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / d. Liberal freedom
In modern states an individual's actions should be their choice [Hegel]
     Full Idea: It is inherent in the principle of the modern state that all of an individual's actions should be mediated by his will.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 299 add)
     A reaction: This is the liberal side of Hegel's thinking. It is a corrective to his reverential attitude to the state. He criticise Plato for assigning citizens their jobs.
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 7. Communitarianism / a. Communitarianism
Moral individuals become ethical when they see the social aspect of a matter [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: The moral individual becomes an ethical individual when he recognises that his own voice need not always utter the last word on a given matter, but should be understood as participating in ongoing social and political practices.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'Freedom'
     A reaction: This is a key idea in Hegel, and is seen (by Charles Taylor etc) as the foundations of modern communitarianism.
For Hegel, the moral life can only be led within a certain type of community [Hegel, by MacIntyre]
     Full Idea: Hegel's final standpoint is that the moral life can only be led within a certain type of community.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Alasdair MacIntyre - A Short History of Ethics Ch.15
     A reaction: This (together with Aristotle) is the basis of modern communitarianism. There is the problem of saintly people who kept their integrity through the Nazi period. I agree with the proposal, in a loose sort of way.
24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 12. Feminism
Even educated women are unsuited to science, philosophy, art and government [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Women may well be educated, but they are not made for the higher sciences, for philosophy and certain artistic productions which require a universal element. …When women are in charge of government the state is in danger.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 166 add)
     A reaction: This makes unpleasant reading. Women have recently played a leading role in creating the Covid vaccines which may well have saved millions of lives. There were plenty of good women novelists around in Hegel's time.
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 1. Slavery
Slaves have no duties because they have no rights [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Slaves have no duties because they have no rights.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 261), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'Freedom'
     A reaction: Does this correlation go all the way up society? Do I only have duties insofar as I have correlative rights? Monarchs seem to have maximum duties and maximum rights. Democratic leaders seem thereby to get a raw deal.
Slaves are partly responsible for their own condition [Hegel]
     Full Idea: If someone is a slave, his own will is responsible. The wrong of slavery is not only the fault of those who enslave people, but of the slaves themselves. …[66 add: The slave has an absolute right to free himself]
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 057 add)
     A reaction: He accepts that enslaving people is wrong. Are the slaves at fault for losing their struggle? Would Hegel approve of someone giving modern weapons to the slaves?
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 5. Freedom of lifestyle
True liberal freedom is to pursue something, while being free to cease the pursuit [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: The third moment of liberal freedom for Hegel is the unity of the first two - the freedom to engage in some specific pursuit, but in so doing to preserve the sense that one is not irrevocably committed to that pursuit.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 005) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'The Limits'
     A reaction: Not too surprising, but Hegel is interesting for thinking that we shouldn't just rabbit on about having 'freedom', but should investigate more closely what this is exactly supposed to mean.
People assume they are free, but the options available are not under their control [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The ordinary man believes himself to be free ...to act as he wants, but this arbitrariness entails that he is not free, because what it is that he wills is not intrinsic to self-determining activity, ...and depends on a given content and material.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 015), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'The Limits'
     A reaction: [a bit compressed] I take this to be an extraordinarily influential idea (especially for Marx). Hitherto philosophers just wanted some vague metaphysical 'free will', making moral responsibility and pure reason possible. But who controls the options?
25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom
Freedom requires us to submit to a family, or a corporation, or a state [Hegel, by Houlgate]
     Full Idea: Hegel thinks that political and social freedom involves letting one's actions be guided by those institutional structures (such as the family, corporations and the state) which secure rights, welfare, and mutual respect.
     From: report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821]) by Stephen Houlgate - Hegel 102
     A reaction: Since there are some hideous families, corporations and states, we will need more than that. He may have a point, though, that the rights we desire can only exist in healthy examples of such institutions. Popper loved institutions.
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality
Money is the best way to achieve just equality [Hegel]
     Full Idea: The justice of equality can be achieved most effectively by money.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 299)
     A reaction: There are also important equalities such as access to education and to superior jobs. Money is more tangible, but you can fob poor people off with quite small sums of money.
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
Rights imply duties, and duties imply rights [Hegel]
     Full Idea: A human being has rights in so far as he has duties, and duties in so far as he has rights.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 155)
     A reaction: I would express this as 'why we should we be loyal to the state if the state is not loyal to us'. The state must not only provide us with nominal rights, but must also enforce them. Without that the citizens are alienated, and the sense of duty fades.
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights
Man has an absolute right to appropriate things [Hegel]
     Full Idea: A person has as his substantive end the right of putting his will into any and every thing and thereby making it his ...This is the absolute right of appropriation which man has over all things.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 044), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'Rights'
     A reaction: Houlgate shows this is not a defence of theft. Hegel thinks the right to property stems from our freedom, not from our natural needs. Did Hegel know Locke? It is not obvious that if I pocket a stone I thereby 'own' it. Do birds own their nests?
Because only human beings can own property, everything else can become our property [Hegel]
     Full Idea: All things can become the property of human beings, because the human being is free will, and exists in and for himself, whereas that which confronts him does not have this quality.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 044 add)
     A reaction: Note that the human 'is' free will, rather than 'has' free will. He explicitly includes animals. From a modern ecological view this is a sinister idea. The default position is that if you own something you can do whatever you like with it.
A community does not have the property-owning rights that a person has [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Many states have rightly dissolved the monasteries, because a community does not ultimately have the same right to property as a person does.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 046)
     A reaction: Trinity College, Cambridge, owns vast amounts of land. A lot of property seems to be owned by legal trusts. Hegel sees the basis of property ownership in a person's will. He allows some exceptions.
The owner of a thing is obviously the first person to freely take possession of it [Hegel]
     Full Idea: That a thing belongs to a person who happens to be the first to take possession of it is immediately self-evident. …This is not because he is the first, but because he is a free will.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 050)
     A reaction: At this time they were very conscious of the native Americans. They seem to have lost their lands because they had no institution of private property, and had not asserted their ownership. I suspect Hegel of endorsing this.
25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / c. Deterrence of crime
Punish theft in men or women by cutting off their hands [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: As for the man or woman who is guilty of theft, cut off their hands to punish them for their crimes.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.5)
     A reaction: I find this shocking because it is irrevocable and offers no hope of redemption. It is particularly shocking that the text does not enjoin any caution about inflicting the punishment on the young, most of whom reform from thieving in later life.
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 1. War / a. Just wars
Wars add strength to a nation, and cure internal dissension [Hegel]
     Full Idea: Not only do peoples emerge from wars with added strength, but nations troubled by civil dissension gain internal peace as a result of wars with their external enemies.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 324 add)
     A reaction: I suspect that Hegel quite likes wars because they accelerate the development of history. I don't think he would have written nonsense like this after WW1 and WW2. Leaders facing internal dissent like small external wars.
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / a. Aims of education
Children need discipline, to break their self-will and eradicate sensuousness [Hegel]
     Full Idea: One of the chief moments in a child's upbringing is discipline, the purpose of which is to break the child's self-will in order to eradicate the merely sensuous and natural.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 174 add)
     A reaction: A standard view for his time, no doubt. No sensible parent doubts that children need to be civilised, and taught to recognise the needs of others. I hope the general aspiration in our society to 'break' a child's self-will has now faded away.
25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 1. Causing Death
Do not kill except for a just cause [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Do not kill except for a just cause.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.25)
     A reaction: Slippery slope! I can see that pleasure would not be a just cause, and ensuring the entry of all humanity to paradise might be one, but I find the area in between a little unclear. The Koran seems to allow you to decide for yourself.
Killing a human, except as just punishment, is like killing all mankind [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: We laid it down for the Israelites that whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or other wicked crimes, should be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.5)
     A reaction: It seems inconceivable that the Koran could be used to justify indiscriminate terrorism, in the light of remarks such as this.
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
Allah is lord of creation, compassionate, merciful, king of judgement-day [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Praise be to Allah, Lord of Creation, The Compassionate, the Merciful, King of Judgement-day!
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Exord)
     A reaction: The Muslim concept of God confronts directly a clear theological difficulty, a difficulty faced by any judge: the conflict between mercy and justice. Christianity seems to emphasise mercy, and Islam emphasises justice.
28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
True believers see that Allah made the night for rest and the day to give light [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Do they not see how We have made the night for them to rest in and the day to give them light? Surely there are signs in this for true believers.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.27)
     A reaction: The main traditional argument for God implied in the Koran is the design argument. It is clear from this that Islam will not be comfortable with Darwinian evolution, which implies we are 'designed' for the Earth, not the Earth for us.
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / a. Christianity
Allah cannot have begotten a son, as He is self-sufficient [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: They say: 'Allah has begotten a son.' Allah forbid! Self-sufficient is He.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.10)
     A reaction: This is quite persuasive, except that the point of Jesus is that he suffers a cruel death, and we are required to identify with God's parental feelings here, His involvement, which would not occur with the death of one of His prophets.
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 6. Islam
He that kills a believer by design shall burn in Hell for ever [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: He that kills a believer by design shall burn in Hell for ever.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.4)
     A reaction: This would appear to make modern indiscriminate urban terrorism a damning sin for a Muslim.
There shall be no compulsion in religion [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: There shall be no compulsion in religion.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.2)
     A reaction: This seems to contradict some of the more aggressive remarks in the Koran, such as Idea 6827. As I read it, the three non-compelling ideas that lead to true religion in the Koran are desire for paradise, fear of punishment, and worship of divine design.
Unbelievers try to interpret the ambiguous parts of the Koran, simply to create dissension [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Some of the verses of the Koran are precise in meaning - they are the foundations of the Book - and others are ambiguous. Disbelievers follow the ambiguous part, to create dissension by seeking to explain it. No one knows its meaning except Allah.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.3)
     A reaction: It is tempting to ask why some of the verses are ambiguous. The implication here is that they are a deliberate test for believers, like the apple in the garden of Eden.
The Koran is certainly composed by Allah; no one could compose a chapter like it [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: This Koran could not have been composed by any but Allah. It is beyond doubt from the Lord of the Creation. If they say: 'It is your own invention', say: 'Compose one chapter like it. Call on your false gods to help you!'
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.10)
     A reaction: I find this unpersuasive, firstly because I couldn't imitate the sonnets of Shakespeare either, and secondly because the authority of a text must be asserted outside the text, not within it. Scribble "this is a ten pound note" on a scrap of paper.
Do not split into sects, exulting in separate beliefs [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Do not split up your religion into sects, each exulting in its own beliefs.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.30)
     A reaction: This seems like good advice to a religion, but it is very difficult to retrace steps and reunite once it has happened. Which sect should make the greatest concessions? Must they both admit to being somewhat wrong?
I created mankind that it might worship Me [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: I created mankind and the jinn in order that they might worship Me.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.51)
     A reaction: This seems to be a view common to all the monotheistic religions, with monasticism as its clearest (and most logical) outcome. Nietzsche is the most obvious opponent of this idea that the abasement of mankind is its highest ideal.
Be patient with unbelievers, and leave them to the judgement of Allah [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Bear patiently with what the unbelievers say, and leave their company without recrimination; leave to Me those that deny the truth.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.73)
     A reaction: This explicitly says Muslims should not attack infidels simply for their unbelief in Allah.
Make war on the unbelievers until Allah's religion reigns supreme [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Make war on the unbelievers until idolatry is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.8)
     A reaction: This should presumably be seen in context, as a war speech written during a conflict, like Churchill 'fighting them on the beaches', which does not apply to modern German tourists. However, one worries about how fundamentalists might read it.
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / a. Religious Belief
To have pagan beliefs and be a pagan are quite different [Hegel]
     Full Idea: To believe in pagan religion and to be a pagan are two different things.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 147)
     A reaction: A nice general truth about all religions, and one not often understood by atheists.
Some religions lead to harsh servitude and the debasement of human beings [Hegel]
     Full Idea: It should not be a forgotten that can take on a from which leads to the harshest servitude within the fetters of superstition, and to the debasement of human beings to a level below that of animals.
     From: Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 270)
     A reaction: Hegel was a Christian, though a very unorthodox one. He cities ancient Egypt and India as examples. If you want to assess a religion, see how it behaves when it has political power.
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven
The righteous shall dwell on couches in gardens, wedded to dark-eyed houris [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: In fair gardens the righteous shall dwell in bliss, rejoicing in what their Lord will give them. They shall recline on couches ranged in rows. To dark-eyed houris We shall wed them.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.52)
     A reaction: What I find distressing about this is that we have gradually worked out how young men can recline on couches in gardens with dark-eyed houris before death, and the Koran seems to depict it as the highest form of living.
Heaven will be reclining on couches, eating fruit, attended by virgins [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: All who dwell in heaven shall recline on couches lined with thick brocade, and within their reach will hang the fruits of gardens; they shall dwell with bashful virgins whom neither men nor jinnee will have touched before.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.55)
     A reaction: In the seventh century this was more impressive than it seems now. I still find it sad (though understandable) that paradise must always be depicted in terms of physical pleasure. Aristotle wouldn't have yearned for such an immortality.
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / e. Hell
Unbelievers will have their skin repeatedly burned off in hell [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: Those that deny Our revelations We will burn in Hell-fire. No sooner will their skins be consumed that We shall give them other skins, so that they may truly taste Our scourge. Allah is mighty and wise.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.4)
     A reaction: Of all the accounts of hell in the Koran, this strikes me as the most alarming. I cannot think of a worse infliction, because here every nerve which can experience pain will suffer it (though the drinking of boiling water, Idea 6816, will make it worse).
The unbelievers shall drink boiling water [Mohammed]
     Full Idea: As for the unbelievers, they shall drink boiling water.
     From: Mohammed (The Koran [c.622], Ch.10)
     A reaction: This seems to be presented not only as a threat to unbelievers, but also as a satisfaction to believers.