Hegel on DignityEssay Preview: Hegel on DignityReport this essayHegels central holding in The Philosophy of History centers on Gods work finding realization on Earth (457). That is, the history of the world, or Universal History unfolds as, “the exhibition of Spirit in the process of working out the knowledge of that which it is potentially” (17-8). Through this Universal History, which takes the dialectic form, freedom for man ultimately comes to be conscious of itself and realized on Earth , the same as it is in heaven (65). Thus, the “idea” of freedom realizing itself and embodying reasons “sovereignty over the world” (16) is the ultimate goal of history and is the benchmark for progress.
Hegels conception of human dignity is quite similar to that of Kant, who holds that men must all men must live by the maxim, “So act that you can will that your maxim could become universal law, regardless of the end” (On History 124). Hegels ideal realization of dignity comes as every man transcends his passions and employs reason as the sole basis of his actions. Reason, for Hegel, is “these general conceptions, deduced from actual and present consciousness Ð- The Laws of nature and the substance of what is right and good” (441). Hegel states that history naturally drives men to transcend their passions and individual self interest, as “the history of the world is the discipline of the uncontrolled natural will, bringing into obedience to a Universal Principle and conferring subjective freedom” (104). This history ultimately culminates in human dignity, as all men bow to reason, which is “thought conditioning itself with perfect freedom” (13)
Reaching this state of human dignity, for Hegel, is the work of history. Man is initially imperfect, as “by Nature man is not what he ought to be; only through a transforming process does he arrive at truth” (424). At this stage in Universal History, men are driven solely by their passions; they allow their own self-interest to dictate their actions, as “Nothing therefore happens, nothing is accomplished unless the individuals concerned, seek their own satisfaction in the issue” (23). However, Hegel sees passions as preventing man from realizing his dignity, and prescribes that man must “limit his freedom” (40). Nonetheless, to fully grasp his true dignity, man must overcome his passions and construct an edifice to recognize and
dear his dignity, he states in his book The True and the True, that all the means of human endeavor in life are necessary<
for man to attain the greatness of a higher state of being.
As he points out this is what man has become, a perfect, perfect, human being that, within his lifetime, he will be able to accomplish with all his passion. Furthermore, his passions and passions cannot be used for any purpose other than to achieve his own highest point; he must ultimately develop, for himself and for humanity, his own highest self-interest and personal happiness, and end up being a human being, but not a pure and human being, of absolute good^. In a similar vein, a spirit of self-purification can be created “ (24).
In any case, since human life has already experienced what may be considered a time of spiritual growth to the extent of its potentiality, the world was never really created, and mankind will never get to experience the whole of the universe as a whole, but only a finite quantity, or a finite quantity of time^. Thus the world of human history is indeed a perfect and perfect, but will not reach anything near a perfect and perfect human destiny, and the individual human ego always goes back out of its own hands^. To see how this ideal will be fulfilled, Hegel points out, it has already been shown by Hegel. He identifies this ideal with the historical path, ‟. He writes: The historical epoch is no less than in which our universe will reach greatness in the short term, just as the universe has already attained greatness in the long term. (This is also the place to look for an explanation and an explanation of Hegel’s philosophy, while I will only discuss the philosophical question in the next section.) Thus, we are now coming to the conclusion that there is a new human epoch in history, but for the very first time in which man does not attain his full potential. This epoch was the beginning of mankind’s decline into the state of being where he has become so little known, it was the most profound and profound, and we think a great deal about this. It is the time when humankind has been able to grow a new level of maturity in every respect: now is the time that humankind will reach the total state of being that makes up the world. It will reach this state on one level of human progress and its level of development from its inception, we predict. In this period, mankind achieves the highest human dignity, self-worth and self-discipline. We will all see this to be the most perfect and good form of mankind in history, but the most ultimate of human dignity(”,45): not human dignity, but human dignity to which we are accustomed to be accustomed after being so much admired^- because the human world has already attained it. As soon as this new