A very good question Jonathan, thank you! I have read much about K but never his own words. I have avoided in the past directly addressing Hegel's critics (except for Marx and I have written three books about Hegel and Marx--whew!!). In my current book in progress I am addressing those commentators (which is all of them) who think Hegel didn't even notice the American Revolution. Until about 14 years ago I figured the same thing, and for the past 14 years I have been trying to construct my counter-argument. I'd be interested to know the features of K's critique that strike you.
I'm like the Kierkegaardian yin to your Hegelian yang. I've read a lot of Kierkegaard but very little Hegel. I always did like Hegel's concept of dialectic, however, and I seem to recall that the bit on the master-slave dialectic that I read for a college class forty years ago rang true. The bee in Kierkegaard's bonnet seems to have been that Hegel's grand scheme of things had one singular deficiency -- it accounted for all of reality as an abstract edifice but left out the individual human person. Kierkegaard said something like Hegel would have been accounted the greatest genius ever if he would've just admitted that the whole thing was just a big thought experiment. Something like that. The great southern (USA) Catholic novelist Walker Percy extended the critique from Hegelianism to scientism -- in both cases the individual person is a leftover left sitting outside the castle just trying to get through an ordinary Wednesday afternoon.
A light cure for what ails you.
Thanks, Stan
A jolt of a poem. The images are stunning.
Thank you, Patris -- I appreciate your sensibility
Dice three by three
Hegel's magic number
The Trinity
Thanks, David. What do you think of Kierkegaard, btw? And the shit he liked to talk about Hegel?
A very good question Jonathan, thank you! I have read much about K but never his own words. I have avoided in the past directly addressing Hegel's critics (except for Marx and I have written three books about Hegel and Marx--whew!!). In my current book in progress I am addressing those commentators (which is all of them) who think Hegel didn't even notice the American Revolution. Until about 14 years ago I figured the same thing, and for the past 14 years I have been trying to construct my counter-argument. I'd be interested to know the features of K's critique that strike you.
I'm like the Kierkegaardian yin to your Hegelian yang. I've read a lot of Kierkegaard but very little Hegel. I always did like Hegel's concept of dialectic, however, and I seem to recall that the bit on the master-slave dialectic that I read for a college class forty years ago rang true. The bee in Kierkegaard's bonnet seems to have been that Hegel's grand scheme of things had one singular deficiency -- it accounted for all of reality as an abstract edifice but left out the individual human person. Kierkegaard said something like Hegel would have been accounted the greatest genius ever if he would've just admitted that the whole thing was just a big thought experiment. Something like that. The great southern (USA) Catholic novelist Walker Percy extended the critique from Hegelianism to scientism -- in both cases the individual person is a leftover left sitting outside the castle just trying to get through an ordinary Wednesday afternoon.
Becalm my heart
Hegel all about
The human individual
But hey no publcitty is bad publicity
Kierkegaard kept Hegel on the map
That's true! And there's no doubt
Hegel influenced and shaped SK's thinking too.
Consider: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09608780500293109
Hey crazy
Nice to meet you
Hope you get my name
Really good. For the first time, it makes me want to write a real poem! Maybe even one of those villains
Thanks, David -- yes, go forth and write. Follow your better angels.
Yeah! Do you know where I could get some of those?
I think you might be married to one
Selkirk sunrise with a breeze; Banishes did- ease. Glorious orb Rises to the occasion , new growth awaits. Every sunrise is a blessing.
Thank you, Richard
Something different and in common: https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2013%252F09%252F21.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Fantastic, Ron, yes! -- thanks for calling attention to this.