The Cunning of Geist

The Scientific Revolution brought tremendous benefit to humanity.  But when the scientific method becomes more than a defined procedure of rational inquiry and prediction, and morphs into an ideology with its own set of dogmas, problems can appear.  And this is precisely what has happened in today’s world.   Scientism is the name given to this world-view.  It holds that nature is wholly material a...

Psychologist C. G. Jung coined the term 'synchronicity,' which is a powerful psycho/physical concept that ties together causality with meaning.    In comparing the Western and Eastern mind, he states "While the Western mind carefully sifts, weighs, selects, classifies, isolates, the Chinese picture of the moment encompasses everything down to the minutest nonsensical detail, because...

Martin Heidegger called this question the most fundamental of all metaphysics:  Why is there something rather than nothing?  As author Jim Holt states, "It's a question so profound it would only occur to a metaphysician, yet so simple it would occur only to a child." Yet is the question valid?  Is something/nothing an either/or proposition?  Or as contemporary philosopher Robert Noz...

Physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman famously said, “I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics.”   His teacher, John Archibald Wheeler, took the meaning of quantum physics to be that "no phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon."  On the other side of this view stood Albert Einstein, who expressed his concerns with quantum...

Spirit is an overused and often misused word. It also plays a prominent role in Hegel's philosophy. What is it supposed to mean? Is any talk of Spirit just fuzzy fairy-tale thinking? Or is Spirit, in its actual meaning, the driving-wheel behind Nature? The German word for Spirit is Geist, which translated into English has two meanings, Spirit and Mind. It is also similar to two Greek words, N...

This episode discusses how the materialistic neo-Darwinian conception of evolution does not tell the whole story of what is going on here.  As Thomas Nagel states, “Mind, I suspect, is not an inexplicable accident or a divine and anomalous gift but a basic aspect of nature that we will not understand until we transcend the built-in limits of contemporary scientific orthodoxy.” What is missing from...

Hegel's unique and non-traditional understanding of the resurrection of Jesus echoes his overall system of Logic, Nature, and Spirit.    According to Hegel, God others himself in Jesus; and in Jesus' death, Spirit becomes fully finite.  As a result of this, Spirit is then reborn in the community. Similarly, in Hegel's overall approach, Logic others itself in Nature; and Spirit is th...

The notion that substance is subject is perhaps the major tenant of Hegel's philosophy.  Hegel said "Everything turns on grasping and expressing the True, not as Substance , but equally as Subject " (Phen. of Spirit, Miller trans. ¶17).  Hegel explains that the self, the subject, is the process of creating a void, a negation, which allows for the purposeful movement of reason.  This...

Is the world an illusion?  Are we part of a computer simulated reality as in the Matrix movie?  Are we actually brains in a vat dreaming of an external world?  Was the world created by a devil when God was not looking, as Bertrand Russell thought was plausible?  Was the world created in error by a lesser deity as in the Gnostic scripts?   Or, as in the allegory of Plato’s cave, is there one true r...

Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, in his 1981 book "After Virtue," argues that moral discourse since the Enlightenment is not rational and therefore empty. He believes the reason for this is that the morals of the Enlightenment lack purpose - teleology. The scientific revolution, armed with Darwinism, brought an end to "purpose." One was left to define morality on their own terms...

All technological advances involve extensions of the human body/mind, argued Marshall McLuhan. As such, no matter how disruptive a breakthrough may be, it is based on our own consciousness and its needs. Hegel knew that a primary motivator in life is recognition. But how is this need met in the interconnected world of the Internet? We see this in the profound shift occurring today from individual...

History is a key element of Hegel’s philosophy. Although he called history a “slaughter-bench,” he believed it to have purpose. This purpose, which can only be recognized after the fact, is greater freedom. This episode traces the increase in human freedom from the totem ritual of the prehistoric primitive horde through the male genetic bottleneck in the agrarian revolution to the Hegelian “knot”...

Hegel called true infinity “the chief maxim of philosophy.” This episode will review how finitude alone cannot be considered as reality, why traditional notions of infinity fall short, what Hegel’s true infinity actually means, that finitude and true infinity must be looked at together to fully grasp reality, and how this notion is truly miraculous in that our creative freedom is not entirely expl...

The Hegelian Triad is perhaps the most recognized term associated with his philosophy. This is due to Hegel having shown reality to be dialectical, with three components. There is clear correspondence here to several mystical schools, including the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, Rosicrucianism, and Kabbalah. And there is also the Christian Trinity. This episode will analyze the Hegelian dialectic wi...

This episode discusses how the Hegelian dialectic is a reflection of reality itself rather than a unique philosophical method used to understand reality.  It will show how common left-brain understanding (verstand) fails in comprehending dialectics by breaking it into three separate moments, rather than holistically seeing three inseparable sides of "every notion and truth whatever."   A...

Alexandre Kojève called Hegel’s take on historical and natural time a “basic error.”  Kojève suggested three nested levels of time: historical, biological, and natural.  Did Hegel get it wrong?  The current episode explores this controversy in detail, including new evidence on whether the Big Bang was the actual start of natural time.  The Jewish Star of David’s mystical relationship to the dimens...

That a creation event occurred is central to Western religion.  Does Hegel endorse this position in his Philosophy of Nature? Opinions differ. This episode will analyze in detail, including professor Stephen Houlgate’s interpretation, as well as a review of what if any impact is seen from modern science and the Big Bang. Support the show

Hegel put upmost importance on the notion of human freedom.  It is the goal that history's progress is striving for.  This episode explores Hegel’s unique perspective on freedom, as well from the standpoint of time, scientific determinism, randomness, and quantum physics.  Support the show

Hegel’s master-slave dialectic is one of the most famous passages in all philosophy.  In it, self-consciousness, recognition, and identity play a critical role.  Is the struggle historical?  This episode analyzes the narrative and includes reviews of Kojève’s and Fukuyama’s take on it.   Support the show

Anomalies within quantum physics and the nature of Time suggest that Mind may be fundamental to the Universe. Hegel would agree. This episode reviews the Hard Problem of Consciousness, the history of Panpsychism, and the structure of Kuhnian scientific revolutions. What's your paradigm?  Support the show

Hegel is perhaps most famous for the Hegelian Dialectic.  But to what exactly does this term refer?  This episode will examine the history of dialectics, starting with the first dialectician, Zeno of Elea, up through Hegel's unique take on this.  Hegel's notions of understanding and reason are also explored in terms of their respective roles in the dialectical process.  Support the show

In "The Master and His Emissary" (2009), British psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist shows how Hegel's notion of Reason versus Understanding relates to our current scientific understanding of the functions of the left and right brain hemispheres. We have an analytic, verbal consciousness in the left-brain, and a more holistic consciousness in the right-brain. Hegel’s famous treatment of t...

A theodicy attempts to explains how an all good, all powerful, all knowing God permits evil in the world. While Hegel did not share this traditional view of God, he nonetheless presents a coherent theodicy of his own through Spirit’s (Geist’s) march through history. This episode will explore the age-old problem of evil in light of Hegel’s philosophy. Support the show

Philosophers and theologians have pondered questions concerning God, time, and eternity for more than two millennia.  Hegel proposed a game changing reinterpretation of divine eternity.  This episode will review Hegel’s contribution in light of current religious thought as well as recent developments in physics. Support the show

Was Hegel a mystic?  His philosophy and mysticism are not necessarily mutually exclusive given Hegel’s definition of this term.  This episode explores correspondence to Hegel in the Hermetic Mystery Schools, Gnosticism, and Kabbalah.   Support the show