I'm afraid I've been through one too many feminist, post-colonialist, deconstructionist classes for Hegel to really resonate with me, or with any "common sense" of history I may still be clinging to. Every time I read his deified "Reason" I choke on the swelling screams of "LOGOS! PHALLOGOCENTRISM!" stuck in my dutiful feminist throat. However -- changed as I may be by my prior nihilist, postmodern professors (seriously, one of them liked to quote Johnny Rotten), I accept the challenge that I have not yet rid myself of all Hegelian tendencies. I did, after all, recognize many of Hegel's ideas as ideas promoted by my high school history textbooks (-- for example, the Eurocentrism: we didn't learn about Africa (with the exception of Egypt) until the point at which it was colonized by Europe, and therefore made relevant to 'world history').
Perhaps the passage which most struck me was that at the beginning of "Classification of Historical Data", in which Hegel describes man's reaction to his first dawn:
The boundless forgetfulness of his individuality in this pure splendor, is his first feeling -- utter astonishment. But when the Sun is risen, this astonishment is diminished; objects around are perceived, and from them the individual proceeds to the contemplation of his own inner being.... [B]y close of day man has erected a building constructed from his own inner Sun; and... he esteems it more highly than the original external Sun. For now he stands in a conscious relation to his Spirit, and therefore a free relation.
I have not served myself well by selecting this passage, because I'm not sure I understand it. I chose it because I love light metaphors; Hegel managed to seduce me. I have this horrible feeling that the brute intended it as some crude metaphor: the 'forgetfulness of his individuality' meaning to signify the less-developed Asiatic cultures, and the man with the 'inner Sun' signifying his beloved German -- or some such nonsense. But I am drawn in by the confusion of self and other, and subsequent resolution, as Reason (the Sun) rises above, tempering light with shadow. (This also alludes to Hegel's 'antithesis' idea.) And then -- then man constructs a building from his inner sun, houses himself in his Reason, uses Reason to separate himself from all the others.
Within this image (and within Hegel's logic), rational thought is inherent in the passage of time; in fact, it is made manifest over the course of the day. History is progress -- because rational thought is, of course, the thought which saves us and empowers us, which illumines the dark earth. This absolutely makes sense -- doesn't it? Haven't we progressed since, say, the Middle Ages? Hasn't science, the institution of Reason, saved us from disease, hunger, pain, and the elements? I, for one, am glad to be living in 2011, rather than 1311.
Also natural is this idea that our inner 'reasons' are derivative of some larger Reason, that our personal ideas of justice and freedom are internalizations of Justice and Freedom. After all, people have varying opinions on what Justice looks like -- but all those people can agree they believe in Justice, that Justice exists as a truth, "infinite and eternal" in "essence".
Before I was a student at the University of Minnesota I was a student at a small liberal arts college in Maine, where almost everyone was dissatisfied with the state of the world. One of the most common themes of discussion was, How do we, individually and collectively, change the world for the better? How can we take our values (equity, civility, etc), and live with them, through them, in a way that breaks us free from the status quo? We were, essentially, attempting to see the Sun anew, re-examine the light, incorporate the shadows, and start construction again. Is it enough to replace Reason with Love? Is the replacement a product of Reason, itself? I am not sure it is possible to escape Hegel, entirely. What does it mean, that we try?
I think it is interesting that some of the posts mention that their knowledge of Africa is limited to the time of Ancient Egypt and when the Europeans began taking slaves. I don't if it is because I am homeschooled, but I remember learning about the various tribes of Africa, like the bushmen, and their various traditions, imports, activities, etc. Also, although I do not agree with everything that Sophie said, I do agree that everyone has an internal interpretation of justice. Also, I liked the style of writing for the last paragraph, I thought it was a good way to end her thoughts.
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