AH: 501 RESEARCH METHODS

Paper presentation on, selected figure in History of Architectural Historiography. 21-01-2011, 15:00

Professor Dr. Sevil Enginsoy Ekinci

Submitted by: Rabela Junejo

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

(August 27, 1770 November 14, 1831)

Life:

Hegel was born on August 27, 1770 in Stuttgart, in the in southwestern Germany. Receiving his early education in a seminary Tubinger Stift, from where he got his theological certificate. In the seminary he made two very important friends of his life Freidric Holderlin and Friedric Wilhlem Joseph Schelling. After getting his certificate he started teaching as a tutor in Bern from 1793-1796, from where he moved to Frankfurt under the same capacity. While still in Bern he composed the text "Life of Jesus" and a book-length manuscript entitled "The Positivity of the Christian Religion". While in Frankfurt Hegel composed the essay "Fragments on Religion and Love". In 1799 he wrote another essay entitled "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate" which was not published during his lifetime.

After the death of his father Hegel went to Jena the then center of cultural and intellectual development. Many important names can be associated with it like Goethe and Hegels own friend Schelling. Here he proceeded to become a philosopher under the influence of Jena. He began to publish and teach in Jena under Schelling and wrote Difference between Fitche's and Schellings system of Philosophy, his first philosophical publication. His first greatly received book Phenomenology of Spirit came out in 1807 when he was in Jena.

Due to Napoleons arrival in Jena the University suspended and Hegel out of work, went to Bamberg, a town in Bavaria and started editing a newspaper for money. During 1808 to 1816 he published Science of Logic, before starting to work as a director of a school in Nuremberg. He then became a chair in University of Heidelberg (1816-1818) and finally moving to Berlin as a chair in University of Berlin (1818 1831). He died at the age of 61 and is buried in Berlin. During his years as a chair both in Heidelberg and Berlin he published Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences and Philosophy of Right.

Works of Hegel:

Published during Hegel's lifetime Life of Jesus The Difference Between Fichte's and Schelling's Systems of Philosophy Phenomenology of Spirit Science of Logic. Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences Elements of the Philosophy of Right

Published after his death: Lecture on Aesthetics. Lectures on Philosophy of Religion. Lectures on history of Philosophy. Lectures on Philosophy of History.

Hegel on History, Aesthetics and Art:

Hegel's philosophy, unlike his predecessors and contemporaries, concerned with the problem of knowledge its discussion on a plane entirely abstract and the evaluations of which further abstractisizing it, insisted on the idea of reason in all forms is already caught up in the world at every moment and at all levels.1 Philosophy according to Hegel is time bound depended on its context. Hegel is associated with 3 ideas on the basis of which all his philosophical and critical work/dialogues depended, although its a major generalization of his body of work but its synthesis boils down to the idea of TRICHOTOMY (Thesis, antithesis and synthesis), ZEITGEIST the spirit of age/time) and TELEOLOGY (everything has a final cause external or internal to themselves).

Hegel and History: History, Hegel emphasized, has a double meaning: it refers both to the course of the human events, and to the writings that strive to comprehend those events and impress their significance upon human consciousness. Hegel thus regards human beings as thoroughly historical creatures2. The method of investigating history by Hegel can be divided into 3 parts: 1) Original Hiusotry, 2) Reflective history, and 3) Philosophical History. The first form of history is accounts of historians

simply writing about the time they were in, like Herodotus etc., the second form is further divided into three parts as Universal, pragmatic and critical; the third is governed by reason3. His book The Philosophy of History, is divided in four parts/sections: 1) The Oriental World, Principle of the Oriental World, 2) The Greek World, The region of spirit, 3) The Roman World, The distinction between principles, 4) The German World, The principle of spiritual freedom4. According to Hegel, "World history... represents the development of the spirit's consciousness of its own freedom and of the consequent realization of that freedom." Hegel's lectures on the philosophy of history contain one of his most well-known and controversial claims about the notion of freedom: World history is the record of the spirit's efforts to attain knowledge of what it is in itself. The Orientals do not know that the spirit or men as such are free in themselves. And because they do not know that, they are not themselves free. They only know that One is free.... The consciousness of freedom first awoke among the Greeks, and they were accordingly free; but, like the Romans, they only knew that Some, and not all men as such, are free.... The Germanic nations, with the rise of Christianity, were the first to realize that All men are by nature free, and that freedom of spirit is his very essence5. This statement above supports his idea of spirit of time, as during the time Germany was going through intellectual and political awareness, revolution counter revolution, philosophic ideas counter ideas all pointed towards freedom of spirit. Hegel argued that history is a constant process of dialectic clash, with each thesis encountering an opposing idea or event antithesis. The clash of both generates the synthesis. Hegel thought that reason accomplished itself, through this dialectical scheme, in History6. Hegel talked about the spirit of time Zeitgeist and of the Absolute spirit; all these notions and terms were expressed to understand History as a cyclic development in which every forthcoming cycle improves itself from the preceding. Schools of thought influenced by Hegel tend see history as progressive, but also as a possibly painfully arrived at outcome of a dialectic in which factors working in opposite directions are over time reconciled. History was best seen as directed by a zeitgeist, or Spirit of the Age, and traces of the zeitgeist could be seen by looking backward.

Hegel and Aesthetics / Art: For Hegel art is the sensuous representation of truth7. For art and aesthetics Hegel suggest that art is beauty, but beauty is not Nature bound so it must transcend nature into idealism and from that comes spirit, nature and idea oppose each other there dialect reach a synthesis in the form of art or the spirit as we can say. This way of looking at art in a philosophical manner did not take away the historical

aspect from it but it gave way to a new method for writing or evaluating art. Hegel was a systematic philosopher his aesthetics can be understood in the light of his ideas and systems he developed. For Hegel art is divided into three (trichotomy) parts, Symbolic, classical and romantic. For his time he suggested the art is dead or has reached an end. This notion of his was fairly criticized by his contemporaries; present critiques only argue that Hegel was, by suggesting end of art, pointing towards the decadence and emptiness of the art of his time. For Hegel architecture was the lowest of the art forms and music was the highest. Architecture for him does reach the three stages but symbolic nature of art for him is best exemplified in architectural work. Hegel presented Architecture as external art, Architectures matter is the material world itself in its immediate externality as mechanical heavy masses. So, for Hegel, architecture of the antiquity is Symbolic specially the Egyptian architecture, which transcends into the Classical form that is Greek classical architecture and the Gothic Cathedral specially is manifestation of Romantic, in the triad of art aesthetics8. Hegels aesthetics inspire the theory of the avant-garde: thesis, antithesis, synthesis Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, and so on. One avant-garde movement, assigned the

positive position, opposed another avant-garde movement, the negative or counter position, resulted in a dialectic, which pushed art ever forward and towards an absolute of purity9.

Conclusion: The conclusion is in no way stating that I am able to encompass Hegels philosophy his ideas on history or aesthetics in its entirety, but on the other hand is just heading provided to cite my views and understanding of Hegelianism. First and the foremost what I understood that Hegel developed the idea or explanation of the triad the thesis, antithesis and synthesis, similarly nature, ideal, and spirit so on and so forth, with in the domain of which he explained history, aesthetics (fine art, music, architecture etc.), philosophy. He was very much influenced by his own time hence his idea of spirit of time contextualizing history into its own time. I will not contradict influence of his time on him, as it was then when a lot of political social and cultural movements were not only growing but reaching their conclusive times as well like the FRENCH REVOLUTION, AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT . His partiality in putting Asia and Europe and the two ends of freedom, from Asia being majorly a despotic domain at that time and Germany where everyone think they are FREE. His life education and context in no way can be detached from his theory and philosophy. His impact was widespread not just because of the ideas he proposed but also because of the position he assumed as a professional in his life time. Being associated with academia he was able to influence

more young minds then others. Similarly goes why he published his works, to make it available to his students and yet again his works after his death got published only because of the position he held as an academician. His impact or what is said Post Hegelianism Marxism can be named greatest of them all and as above stated movements of Avant-garde in art are also attributed to him. He influenced Panofsky, Gombrich, Nietzsche and many others and his sphere of influence is not limited to Historians or Philosophers only. He is also linked with Post-Modern ideas of the recent past as well. His critics acknowledge him for giving a systematic way of investigating art history which before him was dominated by stylistic categories and emphasis on the artist. His method placed historic investigation beyond the dating and naming of facts into a spiritual idealistic domain to be explored, interpreted and criticized by generations to come. Hegel, I found as someone who fits his own theory of triad because he is someone who is highly appreciated and highly criticized, therefore generating a thesis and an antithesis whose dialect reach a synthesis in his follower ship today in ideas and concept, whether positive or negative.

References:
URL:
1. 2. 3. ebooks.adelaide.edu.au (IMAGE OF HEGEL) www.wikipedia.org http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com

Notes:
1.

Tom Rockmore, Before and after Hegel- A historical introduction to Hegel's thought 1993 University of California Press Pg: 47

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Will Dudley ed, Hegel and History: Introduction, 2009, State University of New York Press, Pg: 01. Georg Hegel, Philosophy of History, Introduction, 2007, Cosimo Classics Inc. (originally published in1899). Ibid. http://en.wikipedia.org Philosophy of History, Article on wikipedia the free encylopedia http://en.wikipedia.org Lectures on the Philosophy of History, Article on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Brian K. Etter, Hegels Aesthetic and the possibility of Art criticism, article/essay in, Hegel and Aesthetics, ed. William Maker, 2009, State University of New York Press, Pg: 31-43. David Kolb, Hegels Architecture, article in, Hegel and the Arts, ed. Stephen Houlgate, 2007, Northwestern University Press, Pg: 29-55.

8.

9.

http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette, Hegel and His Impact on Art and Aesthetics, April 2010, online article.