Hegel - Introduction
Introduction I read my first book by Hegel in 1973, under the guidance of Dr. R. Duane Thompson. Since then, I have returned to Hegel sporadically, reading and keeping his published books and lectures, though largely omitting the writings of the young Hegel. The persistence of my interest in him stems from a personal suspicion of easy answers. I resist having truth nailed down for the last time, in part because truth itself keeps moving. Hegel probes doubt and unsettles certainty. He persistently presses the question of what energizes human life beyond the merely instrumental—beyond money, power, and utility—toward the classical concerns of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth, which find expression in the human activities of Art, Religion, and Philosophy. The synthesis Hegel achieved—his speculative philosophy that sought to unite opposites within a system elevated through negation—can fairly be said to be dead. He stands as witness to a reality of modern culture. It resists any attempt ...