PHIL 2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Baruch Spinoza
5 May 2018
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-Hegel is claiming both the object and subject in the relationship changed. I observed the
tree, i can put it down but i choose not to.
-Because I know and understand that if i cut this tree, I change something and that's the
relationship I have to be and understand that if i cut the tree, i change something and
that's the relationship I have to the world. I understand that my relationship to the world
is actually something that is hidden behind appearances. There is world there that
appears to mean a certain way but then it can change the world. So my consciousness
becomes part of this world. The way I change it is by making decisions, I do not do it
randomly
-QUESTION: Are these decisions free?
-No they are not. Because I am a conscious being. Geist works through me. So I
am a rational being. I do not have a menu of options/decisions
-The most important point for Hegel is that this relationship is not just a mutual
relationship to objects. It is mutual to other consciousness as well
-And what makes human being humans is that they are rational but they also have goals
and desires. And for Hegel, we are our desires. We cannot be human without our
desires.
-Desires are usually bad and demonized by Plato and Christianity. They say that our
desires are the one thing we should get rid of
-But hedonistic philosophers like Hobbes and Spinoza rehabilitated desires
-There is nothing wrong with desires. Trying to get rid of them is the wrong
approach. Hobbes argues for capitalist assumption: If i make enough money,
there is nothing wrong with buying what I want. So there is removing guilt from
desires
-Hegel point is that desires are what makes us human.
-The only thing standing between our desires and satisfaction are other
consciousnesses.
-When I desire a car, I desire the conscious effort of who made the car. I desire the labor
of the people.
-You want Justin to give you and A on your final. You don’t just want an A to form
on your paper out of nowhere. This is Hegels point. Everything I desire is
somehow denied through another consciousness
-Self Consciousness has two components
1.You realize who you are in relation to other people (I am me not her)
2. And the relationships take different forms
-Ultimately for Hegel, the fundamental relationship that humans have with other humans
is one struggle. In society struggle. That is the nature of things
-Does this struggle ever end?
-Absolute Geist. When the spirit comes
-Are there any more antitheses for the spirit to move beyond the resolve?
-No. So everything is quiet now. It is universal happiness.
-So Hegel’s point is that everything will be resolved at the end.
-When Marx looks to it in terms of the struggle between now the worker and the
capitalist, when this conflict is resolved, what do you call that?
-This is the equivalent of Hegel’s absolute Geist
-The boy or girl may not still like you but there is no struggle in the social label. This is
called Socialism. This is the last stage in historical development where social antithesis
is resolved
-So the fundamental point for Hegel is this: in any struggle of this kind, what happens is
that one party wins and one party loses. The winner sets themselves as masters and the
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Document Summary
Hegel is claiming both the object and subject in the relationship changed. I observed the tree, i can put it down but i choose not to. I understand that my relationship to the world is actually something that is hidden behind appearances. There is world there that appears to mean a certain way but then it can change the world. So my consciousness becomes part of this world. The way i change it is by making decisions, i do not do it randomly. I do not have a menu of options/decisions. The most important point for hegel is that this relationship is not just a mutual relationship to objects. It is mutual to other consciousness as well. And what makes human being humans is that they are rational but they also have goals and desires. Desires are usually bad and demonized by plato and christianity. They say that our desires are the one thing we should get rid of.
