Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
(1770 - 1831)
• Romantic nationalism as
a key strand in the
philosophy of Hegel
– argued that there was a
"spirit of the age" or
Zeitgeist
• that inhabited a particular
people at a particular time,
– and that, when that people
became the active
determiner of history,
• it was simply because their
cultural and political moment
had come.
The Fate of the German Nation
• Hegel, being German, argued that the
Zeitgeist of his age had settled on the
German-speaking peoples
– so Germany
history
Hegel’s “dialectic”
• History is a progression in which each
successive movement emerges as a solution to
the contradictions inherent in the preceding
movement
– Thesis
– Antithesis
– Synthesis (New Thesis)
– The “end of history” (meaning the point of it all) is to
reach a completely rational state of stasis
• this would be “REALITY.”
Dialectic
• For example: The French Revolution
– 1. Introduction of real freedom for first time in history
– 2. This absolute novelty is absolutely radical
• a. required an upsurge of violence which could not be stopped
• b. but the object of that violence is gone.
– 3. The hard-won freedom is consumed by a brutal Reign of
Terror.
– 4. History progresses by learning from its mistakes
– 5. Another spurt of freedom replaces the Reign of Terror:
Napoleon, the Great liberator
– 6. But Napoleon learned how to be a tyrant to overthrow
tyranny, and so must become a tyrant
– 7. So Napoleon must fall through a new revolution, etc.11
Hegel’s historical actors
• Hero
• Citizen
• Person
• Victim
Hegel’s Historical Actors (in Which Small
Fluffy Animals from a Children's Book
Are Made to Stand in For Hegel's
Historical Actors in Order to Make Them
Easier to Understand) (with illustrations
by E.H. Sheppard)
• Hero = Pooh
• Citizen = Rabbit and Piglet
• Person = Christopher Robin
• Victim = Eeyore
In Which Piglet is Entirely
Surrounded By Water
• "It's a little Anxious," [Piglet] said to himself, "to
be a Very Small Animal Entirely Surrounded by
Water. Christopher Robin and Pooh could
escape by Climbing Trees, and Kanga could
escape by Jumping, and Rabbit could escape by
Burrowing, and Owl could escape by Flying, and
Eeyore could escape by - by Making a Loud
Noise Until Rescued, and here am I, surrounded
by water and I can't do anything."
The Hero (Pooh)
• The Hero embodies the Weltgeist
(world-spirit, the conduit for the
Zeitgeist, or time-spirit)
• But also driven, unhappy, and fated
to a tragic and horrible demise
– this dissatisfaction drives the hero to
accomplish his or her greatest deeds
• that sets him apart from his fellow men
• this pain and need to find meaning
stimulates creative individual action.
• However, it is the time that creates
the hero, not the hero who creates
his time.
Winnie-the-Pooh
Lived In A Forest
All By Himself
Under The Name
Of Sanders
"Oh bear!" said
Christopher Robin.
"How I do love you!"
"So do I," said Pooh.
"For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me."
Napoleon and Pooh as a Hero
Napoleon (according to Hegel) = “The
Weltgeist on Horseback”
Pooh in “In Which Piglet is Entirely
Surrounded by Water” (according to
Lavender = The Weltgeist on a
Honeypot
“For a little while Pooh and The
Floating Bear were uncertain as to
which of them was meant to be on
the top, but after trying one or two
different positions, they settled
down with The Floating Bear
underneath and Pooh triumphantly
astride it, paddling vigorously with
his feet.”
He Pushed His
Head Right In
"I ought to say,"
explained Pooh as
they walked down
to the shore of the
island, "that it isn't
just an ordinary sort
of boat. Sometimes
it's a Boat, and
sometimes it's more
of an Accident. It all
depends."
"Depends on
what?"
"On whether I'm on
the top of it or
underneath it."
The Citizen (Rabbit and Piglet)
• someone who is
subjugated to the
state, whose morality
is conventional,
customary
• makes history only in
the smallest of ways
as a part of the
collective State
• And happy only if they
live in a peaceable
State "Then would you read a Sustaining Book,
such as would help and comfort a Wedged
Bear in Great Tightness?"
"Hallo, Rabbit," he said, "is that you?"
"Let's pretend it isn't," said Rabbit, "and
see what happens."
"Rabbit," said Pooh to himself. "I like talking to Rabbit. He talks about sensible things.
He doesn't use long, difficult words, like Owl. He uses short, easy words, like 'What
about lunch?' and 'Help yourself, Pooh'."
Then They Went On To Kanga's House, Holding On To Each Other.
"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?"
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.
Piglet was comforted by this.
He Went on Tracking, and Piglet
.Ran After Him ...13
The Person (Christopher Robin)
• the individual who can
transcend
conventional morality
and, like Socrates, act
on ideas, not just
following the herd.
• -and thus capable of
REAL happiness in
the world
'Bump Bump Bump' - Going Up
The Stairs
The Victim
(Eeyore)
• the person who acts only
for personal gain with no
regard for customary
morality or principle or
World Spirit.
• and so becomes, like
most, “victims on the
slaughter bench of
history”
– the turf upon which history
is made
• Victims don't make
history, but just suffer its
consequences.
"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore
gloomily. "If it is a good morning," he said.
"Which I doubt," said he.
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can't all, and
some of us don't. That's all there is to it."
(Noticing his tail is missing): "That Accounts for a Good Deal," said Eeyore gloomily. "It
Explains Everything. No Wonder."
"You must have left it somewhere," said Winnie the Pooh.
"Somebody must have taken it," said Eeyore. "How Like Them," he added, after a long silence.
Hegel and Marx
• Hegel contributed to Marx’s “Materialist”
approach to History
– In part with these figures (the concept that
history has victims)
– In part by focusing on the dialectical process
by which historical change happens
Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883)
• "The Materialist
Conception of History"
• "The Inevitable Victory of
the Proletariat“
• (and, of course, with
Friedrich Engels, “The
Communist Manifesto”)
Marx’s Empiricism
• Marx believed history and society could be
studied scientifically
– to discern tendencies of history
– and the resulting outcome of social conflicts.
• To understand this would allow the
philosopher to CHANGE the outcome of
History
– so the purpose of studying history is to
change to future.
Marx's view of history
• The “materialist conception of history”
– developed further as dialectical materialism
• Grew out of Hegel's dialectic model
– but Marx sought to trace material, rather than
idea-oriented (idealist), causations
• So, rather than focus on the dialectic as tracing the
change in ways people thought,
• Focused instead on how the material aspects of
life (such as the capitalist economy) changed
dialectically
Marx and God
• Marx was inspired by Ludwig Fueurbach’s The
Essence of Christianity
– Feuerbach argued that God is really a creation of
man
• and that the qualities people attribute to God
• are really qualities of humanity.
• Marx argued that it is the material world that is
real
• and our ideas of it are consequences, not
causes, of the world.
• and largely, philosophy prevents us from seeing
the material conditions of our lives clearly.
Marx’s partnership with Engels
• Engels’s book, The
Condition of the Working
Class in England
– led Marx to argue that the
historical dialectic
– and thus the engine of
history was class conflict
• and to see the modern
working class as the most
progressive force for
revolution: the HEROES
of history.
Marx & Engels, from “the revolution will not be lego-sized”
(http://knackeredhack.com/2007/12/09/the-revolution-will-not-be-lego-sized/)15
Marx’s concept of labor
• Fundamental to Marx’s thought:
• It is human nature to transform nature
– called the process of transformation = “labor”
– capacity to transform nature = “labor power”
• both a natural capacity for physical activity but
also tied to human rationality and imagination
– “A spider conducts operations that resemble those of
a weaver, and a bee puts to shame many an architect
in the construction of her cells. But what distinguishes
the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that
the architect raises his structure in imagination before
he erects it in reality.” (Capital, Vol. I, Chap. 7, Pt. 1)
Marx on “Work”
• Humans are the outcomes of their contexts
– not just a collection of cells and natural impulses
– otherwise, how could humans adapt?
• Social context takes precedence over innate
behavior
– and one of the main features of human nature is
adaptability.
• Thus, work is a social activity
– the conditions and forms under and through which
people work are socially determined
– and change over time.
Marx on Historical Narrative
• Marx’s historical narrative is an analysis of the
distinctions between
– the means of production
• things (such as land, natural resources, and technology), that
are necessary for the production of material goods
– and the relations of production
• the social and technical relationships people enter into as
they acquire and use the means of production.
• means of production + relations of production =
mode of production
Mode of Production and Change
• Marx’s historical narrative focuses on the change in the
mode of production
• In any given society the mode of production changes
– EX: European societies
• feudal mode of production
• replaced by a capitalist mode of production.
• The means of production change more rapidly than the
relations of production
– we have new machines, and only later develop laws to deal with
their impact
• cars make smog; but anti-smog laws come later.
• This mismatch is a source of major social disruption and
conflict.
Marx on Social Relations
• The story of the social relations of production
covers relations
– between individuals
– and between classes
• Classes are not just subjective (people identified
with one another)
– but also objective (a class shares access to
resources, or limits)
• And different classes have divergent interests
– another source for social disruption and conflict
History IS Class Conflict
• According to Marx (and Engels), all human
history entails class conflict
• “The history of all hitherto existing society
is the history of class struggles.” (The
Communist Manifesto, Chap. 1)16
Marx and alienation
• Marx was concerned about how people
relate to their own labor-power (their
capacity to transform nature)
– when people give up ownership of this, this is
“alienation”
– this is spiritual loss, loss of humanity, and to
be avoided.
• and yet, alienation is also a chosen fate.
• Why would anyone choose alienation?
– Marx would say because of trickery (“opiates of the
masses,” etc.) and lack of consciousness
– This is central question for the moderns to address.
Alienation as the basis for Capitalism
• Prior to capitalism, producers and merchants
bought and sold commodities.
• But with capitalism, labor itself became a
commodity to be bought and sold
– peasants no longer own their land or tools, and can
only sell their working hours.
• This is not the same as selling a product you
have made
– Those who must sell their labor = proletarians
– Those who buy the labor, and thus have land and
technology to produce things = capitalists or
bourgeoisie
Merchants and industrial capitalists
are not the same
• Merchants buy (low) in one market and sell
(high) in another market
– either geographically or temporally
– so they are engaging in arbitrage
– and hope to profit on the difference between two
markets
• Industrial capitalists make their profit by taking
advantage of the difference between the labor
market and the market for their commodity.
– thus input costs are lower than output prices
– Marx calls this “surplus value”
– which depends on paying workers less than they are
“worth”
The volatility of capitalism
• Capitalists grow by re-investing in technology
– which requires profit to grow
– but market saturation cuts into profits
– so they pay workers less
• Eventually, there is no more squeeze room
– this results in a crisis
• layoffs lower labor costs
• and technology requires fewer workers
– this makes new technology possible
• and the cycle repeats, with growing intensity
• growth, collapse, growth, etc.,
– and each time, with fewer workers
• This would concentrate power and wealth in the hands of
an increasingly smaller bourgeois class
• and impoverish the proletariat, which would get bigger.
The solution?
• The proletariat must seize the means of
production
– (which would require violence)
• and thus gain a voice in society
– to create a more just system
• to benefit everyone equally.
– a socialist system (a dictatorship of the proletariat)
• a period where the needs of the working-class, not of capital,
will be the common deciding factor
– but this would be temporary
• and only during THIS stage can we imagine the
system that will allow us to create that new age.
Marx’s impact on historiography
• materialism
• economic determinism
• class struggle as the engine of history
• the reason for doing history is to shape the
future – made this project explicit..
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