Idea versus Will

Dr.Abdul Lathief

http://lathief1.tripod.com

 

In Janko Stojanow's book 'Sublation of Hegel's Philosophy' one of his main argument is Hegel's philosophy which he call 'Objective Idealism' is defective because Hegel make Thought,Concept or Reason the highest Category of the Absolute.According to him Will as Absolute Rational Will is the highest principle of the Absolute.following is the quotes taken from the preface of his book.

"The Philosophy of the Absolute Rational Will follows to sublate Hegel's objective idealism and due to the method of the latter successfully sublates it."

"Hegel did not examine the Will and its principle. For this reason, he failed to reveal the inner dialectics of the principle of each intellectualistic philosophy - "Cognise yourself," - which in and through itself overcomes itself to its true form in which it is only a moment of a higher principle - the principle of Absolute Rational Will "Will yourself." This is the internal contradiction which Hegel is not aware about".

"The objective idealism - by and large the best achievement of philosophy so far, - makes the principle of thinking “Cognise yourself” a principle of the world. This is absolutely true; we accept it thoroughly. Nonetheless, as we have already pointed out, it is a moment of the truly higher principle “Will yourself”".

"Hegel's principle is not the highest one; it is not the ultimate, the absolute determination. It is only a moment subordinate to the higher principle "Will yourself," which Hegel failed to attain".

"Thus Hegelian Concept - Reason, Spirit, - is not the highest principle of the absolute but the entelechial Rational Will is. Hegel has every right to claim that the reason, the spirit is the form of forms. However, the good is infinitely more than that - it is the absolute unity of form and matter. Rational Volition is higher than Hegel's absolute concept (Notion) and contains in itself the latter as sublated"

"Hegel says that Spirit is the self-knowing actual Idea. He failed to take into consideration that although thinking is an immanent moment of the Absolute, it is not the Absolute itself. Hegel's concept is the logical expression of the absolutely actual material volition"

"In Hegel's philosophy the end is without Volition; Hegel calls the end a Notion. Generally speaking, we notice the lack of the principle of Will in Hegel's philosophy."(Sublation of Hegel's philosophy-preface)

First of all Hegel himself call his philosophy not Objective Idealism but a sublation of Subjective and Objective Idealism-Absolute Idealism.

"The position taken up by the notion is that of absolute idealism" .(logic-$160n)

There are two Concepts of Absolute in Hegel's Encyclopedia.One is as Absolute Idea and the second is as Absolute Mind or Spirit.

Absolute Idea in Logic begins from Being and develop into Absolute Idea by passing through other Categories and sub categories.

Now in the final stage this Absolute Idea is the sublation of Life and Cognition(thought or intelligence and will).So the correct definition of this Absolute Idea is It is a Living,Thinking,Willing +(some new category) Idea.This means the Absolute Idea contain  not only Life,Thought and Will as sublated but due to the result of this sublation or synthesis it also contain some new element.This is the higher Category Self  . So the Absolute Idea of Hegel is a sublation of both Cognition proper(intelligence) and Volition(will).Absolute Idea as the highest Category is neither a subcategory as Cognition nor another category as Will but something higher than both and which include both as sublated  in the new category  Self .

      So Absolute as Absolute Idea contains not only sublated knowledge(cognition proper )and  will(volition)  but also due to this sublation it contain a the higher category of Self .This is the beginning stage of the Self.The pulsating,throbbing Self. But  in the initial stages as Absolute Idea the Self or  is not in full distinction or fully separate from the non self or other preceding Categories.(from abstract being upto cognition proper and will).Even though at this stage there is more identification of the Self as Subject or"I" as distinct from all other categories no complete distinction or complete identification as Absolute Subject.So at this stage as Absolute Idea the Self also identify with Will(absolute idea as rational will) and Cognition(as thought or knowledge) and also with other Categories upto Abstract Being.This Absolute Idea Hegel describe as the Idea which Thinks Itself or as Thinking Idea.So  Absolute Idea at this stage is as Thought and not yet as  Absolute Thinker.Here there is no  complete distinction between self and non self consciousness.This is the state of pure Thinking Idea or Thinking Thought or thinking consciousness which is not yet aware of this highest Category(absolute idea) as  pure I (Ego,Subject) and all other preceding categories from Being upto Life and Cognition as MINE(non ego,its own other).So at this stage it is aware of only as Absolute Idea and all other categories are drowned in this Idea as this Absolute Idea develops out of all these categories.So as Absolute Idea the Self while distinguishing itself from all other categories also identifies with them as it's own Self.Only at the final stage of Absolute Idea, Absolute Subject ,I and Mine completed..Here the Absolute Idea develops as Pure Self or "I" or  or Subject.In this process all the preceding Categories (from Being upto Will) becomes the contents or Predicates of this Subject.Here Subject is distinct and totally different from all these Predicates.They all become the Other,It's(subject's) own Other. This final stage is the highest Category but not yet as Absolute Spirit or Mind..This we may call the Transcendent aspect of the Absolute.

"The Idea, as unity of the Subjective and Objective Idea, is the notion of the Idea - a notion whose object (Gegenstand) is the Idea as such, and for which the objective (Objekt) is Idea - an Object which embraces all characteristics in its unity. This unity is consequently the absolute and all truth, the Idea which thinks itself - and here at least as a thinking or Logical Idea".-(logic-$236-)

"Seeing that there is in it no transition , or presupposition, and in general no specific character other than what is fluid and transparent, the Absolute Idea is for itself the pure form of the notion, which contemplates its contents as its own self. It is its own content , in so far as it ideally distinguishes itself from itself, and the one of the two things distinguished is a self-identity  in which however is contained the totality of the form as the system of terms describing its content. This content is the system of Logic. All that is at this stage left as form for the idea is the Method  of this content - the specific consciousness of the value and currency of the ‘moments’ in its development"-(logic-$237)

The Idea is truth in itself and for itself - the absolute unity of the notion and objectivity -(logic$213)

While Intelligence merely proposes to take the world as it is, Will takes steps to make the world what it ought to be-(logic$234n.)

The reconciliation is achieved when Will in its result returns to the presupposition made by cognition. In other words, it consists in the unity of the theoretical and practical idea. Will knows the end to be its own, and Intelligence apprehends the world as the notion actual. This is the right attitude of rational cognition-(logic-$234n)

But finitude was not meant to be the ultimate point: and it is the process of Will itself which abolishes finitude and the contradiction it involves. The reconciliation is achieved when Will in its result returns to the presupposition made by cognition. In other words, it consists in the unity of the theoretical and practical idea. Will knows the end to be its own, and Intelligence apprehends the world as the notion actual. This is the right attitude of rational cognition.-(logicc-$234n)

All unsatisfied endeavour ceases, when we recognise that the final purpose of the world is accomplished no less than ever accomplishing itself.( logic-$234n)

Good, the final end of the world, has being, only while it constantly produces itself. -(-logic-234n)

Thus the truth of the Good is laid down as the unity of the theoretical and practical idea in the doctrine that the Good is radically and really achieved, that the objective world is in itself and for itself the Idea, just as it at the same time eternally lays itself down as End, and by action brings about its actuality-logic-$235)-

            The second Concept of Hegel's Absolute is as Absolute Mind or Spirit.This is nothing but the manifestation and development of the Absolute Idea through Nature and Mind(philosophy of nature,philosophy of mind) into the complete or perfection of development resulting in Absolute Mind as Philosophic Mind.

As I called the Absolute Idea the Transcendental aspect of the Absolute I call this the Immanent aspect of Absolute.But as this Philosophic Mind is developed out of the Absolute Idea itself and since the immensity or whole or the fullness of the  Absolute Idea is beyond complete manifestation I call this Philosophic Mind both partial Transcendence and complete Immanent aspect of the Absolute.

The Absolute Mind is the development of the Absolute Idea as Absolute Spirt.The detailed distinction between Subject and Predicates develops through manifestation as Nature and Mind.

This begins from Nature.In the beginning the first categories are its Other eg: Being.Towards the end when it reaches Philosophic Mind even it's last Categories like Cognition(knowledge) and Will(volition) becomes its own other.This develops through Space and Time and culminate in the development of Absolute Mind as Philosophic Mind.

The idea as nature is: (1) as universal, ideal being outside of itself space and time(philosophy of nature-$196)

If these determinations are applied to space and time, then space is abstract objectivity, whereas time is abstract subjectivity(philosophy of nature-$201)

Space and time constitute the idea in and for itself, with space the real or immediately objective side and time the purely subjective side. (philosophy of nature-$203)

Even as Subjective Mind as the Free Mind is neither complete Cognition nor Will but the sublation of Theoretical Mind(knowledge) and Practical Mind(will).This is a higher Category which include both Cognition and Will as sublated.

 Actual free will is the unity of theoretical and practical mind: a free will, which realizes its own freedom of will, now that the formalism, fortuitousness, and contractedness of the practical content up to this point have been superseded. By superseding the adjustments of means therein contained, the will is the immediate individuality self-instituted - an individuality, however, also purified of all that interferes with its universalism, i.e. with freedom itself. This universalism the will has as its object and aim, only so far as it thinks itself, knows this its concept, and is will as free intelligence. (philosophy of mind-$ 481 )

  The mind which knows itself as free and wills itself as this its object, i.e. which has its true being for characteristic and aim, is in the first instance the rational will in general, or implicit Idea, and because implicit only the notion of absolute mind-((philosophy of mind-$ 482)

Absolute Mind is also a Higher Category than both Subjective Mind(cognition) and Objective Mind(will) and which is the Subject with these sublated elements.

 The notion of mind has its reality in the mind. If this reality in identity with that notion is to exist as the consciousness of the absolute Idea, then the necessary aspect is that the implicitly free intelligence be in its actuality liberated to its notion, if that actuality is to be a vehicle worthy of it. The subjective and the objective spirit are to be looked on as the road on which this aspect of reality or existence rises to maturity.( philosophy of mind-$ 553 )

 The absolute mind, while it is self-centred identity, is always also identity returning and ever returned into itself(philosophy of mind-$ 554 )

Even Absolute Mind as Artistic Mind ,there is some identification of Subject or I  with Cognition or Knowledge-Subjective theoretical mind(as images,intuition or imagination)&Objective Mind and in Religious Mind also some identification of the Subject with Cognition- Subjective Theoretical Mind(as thinking),Subjective practical mind(as feeling &will) and Objective Mind (as Objective Rational Will) so as Absolute Rational Will.It is only as Philosophic Mind the Subject  or I alone is the Absolute Mind or as Absolute Subject.Here I or Self alone is Subject and all other Categories ,even Cognition and Will becomes only the Nonself or It's Presdicates,Self's Other,NonSelf,It's own Other.This is the final stage.Absolute Mind as Philosophic Mind is the Absolute Subject which contemplates all the other Categories as it's own content or Predicates at the same time never identifying the Self with any of them.This philosophic Mind is the pure 'I' where all other categories(even cognition and will) becomes it's 'Mine'.This is the state of Absolute Thinker where all the other categories become only it's(or His)own Thoughts.This is the accomplished End.

The main distinction between Absolute Idea and Absolute Mind is ,(there is only distinction no real Difference because there is Identity also because Absolute Mind is only the complete immanent aspect or Absolute manifestation of the Absolute Idea); both Absolute Idea and Absolute Mind(Spirit) there is some identification of the Self,,I,Subject with  other Ideal and Material Categories in the initial stages,but in the final stages as Absolute Idea  and as Philosophc Mind the Absolute Mind is pure" I" and all other categories are 'Mine',even Ideal Categories like Cognition and Will.The Dstinction is Absoute Idea is as such is not connected with manifestation while Absolute Mind  inter connected with manifestation and both Manifestation and Absolute Mind depends on each other.

This Absolute Subject as Philosophic Mind is the pure I consciousness .But the 'I' is both Universal and Particular.This means the Absolute Mind manifesting through every Human Being according to his capacity and the Philosophic Mind with all its perfection is manifesting through the fortunate One capable of expressing it  in every age like it expressed through Hegel in his own time.

Thought conceived as a subject (agent) is a thinker, and the subject existing as a thinker is simply denoted by the term ‘I’.(logic-$20 )

Man is a thinker, and is universal; but he is a thinker only because he feels his own universality-(logic-24n)

 We may say ‘I’ and thought are the same, or, more definitely, ‘I’ is thought as a thinker. What I have in my consciousness is for me. ‘I’ is the vacuum or receptacle for anything and everything: for which everything is and which stores up everything in itself. Every man is a whole world of conceptions, that lie buried in the night of the ‘Ego’. It follows that the ‘Ego’ is the universal in which we leave aside all that is particular, and in which at the same time all the particulars have a latent existence. In other words, it is not a mere universality and nothing more, but the universality which includes in it everything.-(logic-24n)

I don't know whether it is right to write the following sentences.Of course it is not Hegelian scientific method.It contain so many May's.But in an ultimate sense the Absolute may be nether Ideal nor Material,neither Notion nor Being.It is Notion because it Knows itself as I. It is Being because Being is the beginning.Being is the foundation of this" I" .Of course it may not be Cognition or Knowledge because knowledge or cognition is something known and also only a Category of the Philosophic Mind(Mine).It may not be also  Will because what ever may be the definition of Will by different philosophers it is also something Known and also the 'Mine' of the 'I 'as Philosophic Mind.It is also may not be  pure I or Spirit  of Philosophic Mind because I is the Thought as Thinker or Knowledge of the Philosophic Mind itself as I ,so also something Known.It may not be Absolute Idea or Absolute Mind because these are also something Known.It may not be Ideal or Notion because the ultimate notion is this 'I 'which is nothing but Being Knowing it self as 'I'. Being is its foundation or its beginning, so Notion is also some thing Known.It may not be Being because even though Being is not aware of itself it is also as a Category something Known.It may be  neither Non Being nor Nothingness as they are some thing Known and also subcategories.If Being and Notion are sublated in this Highest Category it may be neither Being nor Notion or Absolute Idea or Absolute Mind.It is unknowable because Knowledge or Notion itself is only one of its sublated Category.It is inexpressible because expression need Being which is only one of its sublated Category.This ABSOLUTE may be The UNKNOWABLE or better omitting the 'is' Unknowable Absolute.

The End

 

Appendix

1.Dr.Janko Stojanow-Hegel 21 Century YahooGroups

 

My post to Dr Janko Stojanow(18-2-04)

Dear Dr.Janko Stojanow,
First of all I wish to tell you that your book contain revolutionary ideas
and it may be the much needed philosophy of this age.I had posted the Idea
verses will on other groups only because even after one week I could not see
it on your Hegel groups.Unlike Mike Marchetti I take your work sincerely and
seriously that is why I joined your project in the first place.I don't know
whether you are the Teacher of the Age(Sufi term for the grand master of
every age through whom the absolute manifest in his full glory like Hegel
claim it did through him during his time).But I know the absolute mind may
be manifesting more through you as philosophic mind than through me as there
is a hierarchy in humans.In that sense I respect you and consider you as
some one superior to me.your politovolia opened and broadened and made very
clear many of the ideas I was only dimly aware of till I read your book. the
idea of the absolute manifesting as both universal and individual,both as
private and public property,both as subjective and objective substantial
will replacing the representative by participatory democracy through every
individual and willing all its categories as its own property is,I think may
be the philosophy of the new millennium.if it manifest more and more through
our will and hence work I also think it may change the face of the earth for
better.it is with that noble wish I joined your project and ready to
dedicate my service for this noble endeavor.
what confuses and surprises me is your criticism of Hegel and your
terminology.why I was dimly aware of your ideas before is you and Hegel is
saying the same thing.I will elaborate on the notion of philosophic mind
after your reply to my article.but here I will say notion is neither
cognition nor will neither thinking thought nor material.
"When people are asked to apprehend some notion, they often complain that
they do not know what they have to think. But the fact is that in a notion
there is nothing further to be thought than the notion itself.
"(encyclopedia-logic-3).

the second confusing part is your terminology of the absolute as Absolute
material entelechy or absolute rational will.entelechy is not some thing new
by Aristotle,it is the as the archetypes of Plato and categories of
Hegel.Absolute is neither material nor ideal(in the sense of thinking
thoughts or theoretical cognition) neither reason nor rational will but as
philosophic mind the I that wills,that cognizes.both material and ideal as
its mine.Both Hegel and you also use the absolute in this sense of absolute
subject with all the other as the I ' s own other or predicates in so many
places.I will elaborate on this after your reply to my article.
regards
lathief

 

 MR.JANKO’S REPLY

 

Dear Dr. Lathief,

 

I would like to make it crystal clear that nothing else but utterly careful contemplation over Hegel' philosophy could lead to its living development as Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will.

 

I have been studying Hegel's philosophy for ages (for more than 25 years so far) feeling at the same time that modern philosophy cannot make a genuine headway until it sublates Hegel's philosophy. Consequently, the very course of my examination led me to criticise Hegel's approach to the Absolute and to think about the latter not as Absolute Spirit (as Hegel does) but as Absolute Rational Will. As a matter of fact it is due to its own dialectics that Hegel's philosophy in-and-through itself sublates itself and develops itself as philosophy of the Absolute Rational Will. Hegel's principle is not the highest one; it is not the ultimate, the absolute determination. It is only a moment subordinate to the higher principle "Will yourself," which Hegel failed to attain. In this work I set myself the task of showing that by virtue of the principle "Will yourself" we can elaborate the concept of will, and furthermore, we can develop and make the science of will through and through, wholly and completely concrete; development which the latter deserves to the highest degree.

 

But it was only after I had done the job that I read about Voluntarism. Had I read about this wonderful philosophical doctrine before, I would have been able to attain to the Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will much earlier. Yet, there is nothing to regret about for - due to this fact, - I was able to develop modern Rational Voluntarism by myself. Otherwise, I could have been influenced by classical Voluntarism. Now I have read all about the history of Voluntarism.

 

For this reason, dear Dr. Lathief, before I have answered your two messages, I would like to present an extract from Daniel Fidel Ferrer's excellent article on Heidegger's encounter with F. W. J. Schelling. You could read the whole article on the Internet. Its URL address is:

http://www.lib.cmich.edu/bibliographers/danielferrer/HeideggerSchelling.html

 

Have a nice time reading the article.

 

Best regards,

 

                   Janko Stojanow

 

 

Second Post to Dr.Janko Stojanow

post to hegel 21 centuary)

 

Dear Dr.Janko Stojanow,

 

 

"Schelling assets that the predicates which metaphysical thought since antiquity has attributed to Being find their ultimate, supreme, and thus consummate configuration in willing. However, the will of the willing meant here is not a faculty of the human soul. Here the word willing names the Being of beings as whole. Such Being is will”.

 

I all along agreed and still agree with the first part,all the predicates upto including thinking thought(as theoretical cognition) consummate in will.Cognition as knowledge or intelligence is sublated in the will.That is why will depends on knowledge and never as you say in your book knowledge depends on will.You cannot will what you donot know.Now this will as knowledge sublated is not knowledge plus will but will alone as a new category with only characteristics of knowledge .this is what I mean by will is a concept or notion.Still the I is the willer not the will,I is the being that wills,will is its ultimate mine.Only when the I is the absolute subject as mystics says  life or existence become a celebration.Then only every moment becomes accomplished and accomplishing it self.When the I is will every moment is accomplishing only and misses the already accomplished element ,hence the celebration.

Now take the nature of this will.It is notion.The only difference between knowledge as notion and will as notion is when knowledge develops into will it has the potential for manifestation or in your words material potential(I would rather say energizing potential).now this is nothing but  power.So I will say will develops into power.This is a new category. This give rise to manifestation.power of manifestation.But this power is not will.As thought is different from will so power is different from will.Only implicitly we can say all is one because every thing is a development from one and the same thing.whether that beginning is Being as Hegel say or unknowable absolute as I called it in my article.So all manifestations whether non living, or body of living or rational beings are manifestation of this power(we may call it energy in modern terminology,but even the physical energy only a manifestation of this power.).So manifestation is not absolute rational will or absolute material entelechy.

I will explain this with a little example.I know as your book is a noble endeavor the absolute is manifesting through you in greater intensity than we average lot ,because you have grater capacity.This means the absolute as absolute subject and absolute predicates.But subject as your pure I,predicates ,absolute will as your will,absolute knowledge as your knowledge ,absolute life as your life ,absolute power as your power ,power of manifestation as your manifestation(of course I do not mean your mere body or passions or emotions,but all your sublime manifestation including your words(your Book).now take Absolute will as your will(I won't say absolute rational or material will because it neither material nor reason.reason is sublated and that element is absorbed into the new category will which has its own unique character or quality).Now will you identify this absolute will with your material printed edition of your book.Going higher will you identify absolute will with your material soft copy(PDF or document).Going still higher will you identify Absolute will with your material spoken words and language(according to Hegel language is only the perfect manifestation of mind).Still going higher will you identify Absolute will with the power of your mind which initiated all these things.You know you can identify this Absolute will only with that moment at which your knowledge developed into or sublated to will to create,because the moment of willing a new creation.this is the only moment that belongs to the absolute will ,the moment of real creation not imitation.All the succeeding material moments are insignificant comparing with this moment.This is the only moment I call the absolute will.Even at this stage you are not absolute will but willing subject.There is no total identification with will.you are the knowing ,willing,powering ,manifesting Subject.

regards

lathief

 

MR.JANKO’S REPLY

 

Dear Dr. Lathief,

 

It is definitely a pleasure and a privilege to have an interlocutor of your intellectual rank.

 

I know and will your Will, i.e. you are somebody very special to me. I feel it with all my Will. It must be because of your Indian culture and background, which makes you supremely special to me. Owing to your Indian background, I think, there is something special in your philosophical mind that makes it so attractive. Not only might you be the first Reader of my book, but also one of the first Writers able to write in the Spirit and Will of the Absolute Rational Will. Anyway, I will be glad in the extreme if one day this becomes the case.

 

Let me tell you how much I do appreciate your messages. Thank you for their great quality; they definitely look like carefully thought over articles. This is exactly what I want to achieve - The Hegel_21st_Century Mailing List to become a philosophical magazine devoted to the Absolute Rational Will. This list aims at establishing a new philosophical school which is primarily focused on the investigation and advancement of the Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will and wants to promote collaborative research related to a modern voluntaristic philosophy, which - unquestionably, - is the necessary development of the Science of Philosophy today. Dear Dr. Lathief, I invite you to help me establish the Hegel_21s_century Mailing List as such an online philosophical magazine. We will aim at creating a high quality ACADEMIC RESEARCH LIST, i.e. we will aim at investigating thoroughly the ways of development of philosophy in the 21st century. We will be delighted to see other philosophers joining our efforts to develop the Science of Philosophy and interested in carrying out a substantive philosophical project. A constructive way of discussing will be highly appreciated. The best way to contribute to a discussion is to send a message only after a deep consideration and making sure that the opponent's point of view is fully understood, which will allow PERMANENT PROGRESS to be made in the course of discussion. Opponents are sincere in their desire to develop the science of philosophy and avoid dogmatism as well as having a discussion for the sake of discussion. Each message should be well thought over before it is send to the group.

 

Let me also inform you that I am bored in the extreme by hard-line Hegelians for whom the World of Philosophy froze in 1831. They make a religion of Hegel's superb philosophy; "SO SPAKE HEGEL" is the mantra they repeat endlessly. One can see the phenomenon on Kai Froeb's Hegel.Net Mailing List, where they talk most of the time only about the Christian conception of God or keep up quoting Hegel dogmatically time and time again: SO SPAKE HEGEL. And so do the hard-line Hegelians, who belong to the world of Academy; they are not capable of going beyond SO SPAKE HEGEL. Nevertheless, this hopeless religion of people who are blindly and narrow-mindedly devoted to it does not make sense in the XXI Century and in the millennia to come. It does not help anyone. Hegel's great philosophy is to be developed; this exactly is something that hard-line Hegelians cannot do. It is much easier to sing the dogmas, isn't it? But is the Absolute - and precisely speaking, - its Absolute Rational Will that in its self-development has the urge to go beyond Hegel's standpoint (at which the Absolute grasps itself as Absolute Spirit only) and does go.

 

Best Regards,

                    Janko Stojanow

 

MY REPLY

 

(post sent to hegel 21 centuary on 22-feb-2004)

Dear Dr.Janko Stojanow,

As a devoted member I am at your service and you can expect all help possible from me.About your practical philosophy(politovolia) I know it is going to be the perfect philosophy of the new millennium and I will be glad to be a small part of your noble endeavor.

I am not  a  Hegelian.yes ,Hegel is one of my favorites,and in general I consider his philosophy as one of the great philosophy. But even in his philosophy of the Absolute I think there is a plane beyond Being(which other philosophers like Spencer,Kant and Spinoza mentioned in their writings) and what I called Unknowable Absolute in my article.And I totally disagree with some  of his criticism about the other philosophers(especially Kant &Spinoza's substance) and major religions like Hinduism,Jewish,Islam and even Christianity except protestant Christianity.as our group has more important work to do than discuss Hegel's philosophy  I am planning to write an article on this on other Hegel groups.

 

"But even religion, as it grows and expands, lets other aspects of the Idea of humanity grow and expand also . As it left therefore behind, in its first immediate, and so also one-sided phase, Religion may, or rather must, appear in its existence degraded to sensuous externality, and thus in the sequel become an influence to oppress liberty of spirit and to deprave political life. Still the principle has in it the infinite 'elasticity' of the 'absolute' form', so as to overcome this depraving of the form-determination (and the content by these means), and to bring about the reconciliation of the spirit in itself. Thus ultimately, in the Protestant conscience the principles of the religious and of the ethical conscience come to be one and the same: the free spirit learning to see itself in its reasonableness and truth. In the Protestant state, the constitution and the code, as well as their several applications, embody the principle and the development of the moral life, which proceeds and can only proceed from the truth of religion, when reinstated in its original principle and in that way as such first become actual". -(Encyclopedia-philosophy of mind-$552).

 

regards

lathief

 

MR.JANKO’S REPLY

Dear Dr. Lathief,

 

An innumerable amount of books devoted to and developing the Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will are to be written as it is the continuator and the heir of Hegel's philosophy, which - without question, - is a genuine part of the Science of Philosophy par excellence. Despite of the fact that I have already expressed this point of view recently, I would like to repeat it time and time again because of its importance.

 

"Will Yourself" - to this standpoint has the Absolute Rational Will has come now. Being the necessary development of the Science of Philosophy today, the Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will affirmatively inherits and contains in itself the great legacy of Hegel's philosophy, enters in total possession of it and uses the wealth of its content as its own. Will is the strongest principle in us; our standpoint now is to will the Law of this Will as absolute Law. The will wills to possess itself  - to be in power over itself, - for it is its own highest good; it is directed towards itself. It wills itself so that at each stage of its self-development as World Will, it creates and possesses its own forms of Politovolia, in which all principles of the previous epochs are preserved.  

 

Having attained to the Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will, now the task of our time is to develop it further. Nature - and its highest form, Life, - is only for-itself Rational Will, which is the absolutely actual and possesses the total power of the absolutely actual. Life is a Will of the Absolute Will; it is flesh of its flesh, i.e. a material entelechy of its material actual entelechy. Cognition is only in-itself Rational Will; the latter is the cognised Rational Will in its spiritual, dried form. Aristotelian thinking itself thought, which in Hegel's philosophy attains to its highest form as Spirit (the self-knowing Idea), is in fact the self-knowing Rational-Will. It is the Volition of the Absolute that Hegel calls Notion in his cognitive, intellectualistic philosophy, in which he puts the Mind, the Spirit in the foreground and fails to admit the apparent fact that first and foremost we WILL, as well as the fact that our WILL is a manifestation of the Absolute Rational Will. The Thinking, theoretical Will is the intellectual reflection of the Absolute Will as an Idea; it is like the shadows of the real world the inhabitants of Plato's cave can see. Nonetheless, being a moment of the Absolute Rational Will, this Thinking, theoretical Will is not and cannot be a pure abstraction; it has the urge to return back to life, to serve the Will to life and become Practical Will, i.e. it has the desire to come-to-itself and be-at-home-with-itself. This is its supreme end. Only when it joins the actual Will, it is an actual moment of the Absolute Rational Will. The unity of life as the for-itself actual Rational Will and Spirit as the in-itself Rational Will is the in-and-for-itself Rational Will, which is their true law and the Lawmaker of the World.

 

There is no doubt that being the intellectual form of the Absolute Rational Will, Hegel's Absolute Idea is the absolute truth. The point is, however, that for him the "coming-to-self of Mind may be described as its complete and highest end: it is this alone that it desires and nothing else. Everything that from eternity has happened in heaven and earth, the life of God and all the deeds of time simply are the struggles for Mind TO KNOW ITSELF, to make itself objective to itself, to find itself, be for itself, and finally unite itself to itself." (Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy, translated by E. S. Haldane, in three volumes, Volume 1, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1995, page 23) But the Philosophy of Absolute Rational Will goes further than Hegel's Absolute Idealism for it is the speculative unity of the greatest moments of the Absolute - of Intellectualism and Voluntarism, of Idealism and Materialism. The pure one-sided spiritual form of the Absolute Rational Will as Absolute Spirit is the result of the strivings of Will to become objective to itself, to cognise and know itself. However, the Absolute Rational Will is higher than the Absolute Spirit as the self-knowing Absolute Idea and has the latter as one of its moments, for its principle "Will yourself" is higher than the principle of Hegel's absolute idealism: "Cognise yourself." Realising that demands a major breakthrough in one's way of thinking.

 

In fact, as the universal practical philosophy Politovolia has always been a manifestation of the willing itself Will. I will to know, to cognise the World Will in its truth in order to know how and why to want, to will, in order to be capable of making the best choice about my own good. This is the ultimate end (aim), my own good. It is often said that the conscious (preferential) choice is important, but it is even more important to say that it serves the Will in order to help the latter to choose the best.

 

The highest good is not theory - as a large number of philosophers in ancient Greece and modern times have been claiming, - but Aristotle's eudaimonia. For him, happiness is the final end and the supreme good. Let me quote Hegel; his translation is definitely the most speculative one: “Aristotle says that the good is what has its end in itself (τελειον). If we tried to translate τελειον by "perfect" here, we should translate it badly; it is that which, as having its end (το τελος) in itself, is not desired for the sake of anything else, but for its own sake. Aristotle determines happiness in this regard as the absolute end existing in and for itself, and gives the following definition of it: It is ‘the energy of the life that has its end in itself in accordance with absolute virtue.’” [Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy, volume 2, Plato and the Platonists, translated by E. S. Haldane and Frances H. Simson, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1995, pp. 203-204] And precisely this is the infinite merit of Aristotle's philosophy: He was the first to regard man as absolute actual subjectivity due to the fact that he regarded man in his infinite material entelechiality. Today we say that happiness is the supreme good of the Volition of material entelechy; it is the purpose of man's Will. Man, the highest self-organisation of the principle “Will yourself”, attains his happiness through active using of his entelechial nature. Aristotle asserts that the natural impulses and urges of man, his needs and his selfishness serve as a basis of ethics, politics and any practical activity, in and through which man manifests his absolute self-moving entelechial Volition - the absolutely actual, the eudaimonia of the flesh of flesh of the Absolute rational Will..

 

Dr. Lathief, having said that, I would like to continue discussing your article in another message as soon as I find some free time.

 

Best Regards,

                        Janko Stojanow

 

 

2.Dr.Mike Marchetti

 

Posted in Yahoo Hegel Groups

Message: 1
   Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 08:34:19 -0000
   From: "Lathief" <lathief@sancharnet.in>
Subject: Re: Idea versus Will

Dear Members,
below is the correspondence with Dr.Mike Marchetti of hegel_intro
group.

M-1

Dear Dr. Latheif,

Thank you for submitting your article. It is very
nicely written, and deals with J. Stanojow's work in a
decisive way. Not many take his work very seriously,
so it is especially noteworthy that you have taken him
on sincerely.

Regarding the differentiation you have made between
Philosophical and Absolute Mind, I do not think we
have to draw such a distinction, and Hegel, himself,
does not make that distinction. The Concept as the
unity (identity) of Thought and Being is God or the
Absolute Mind.  This identity is 'spekulatively'
identical to difference. To understand this we have to
study the Science of Logic. There we will find many
instances of how Hegel developes the identity of
opposites, starting with Being and Nothing.

Because Being and Thought are identical in the
Absolute, Knowing Being is only Thought thinking
itself. There is no difference between thought as
object and thought as subject, except the way we refer
to them, which can likewise be reversed - just as the
North and South poles of a magnet, or positive and
negative electrity. Nothing is changed by reversing
the names. So the Absolute remains identical with
itself in its difference. In this way the Absolute is
Self-knowing, knows itself in what is other to itself,
since that other is only itself.

In Sri Isopanisad it is said:

Om purman adah purnam idam
Purnat purnam udachyate
Purnasya purnam adhaya
Purnam eva vashisyate

Everything that emanates from the Purnam is Purnam -
complete. In that way God and His manifestation of
Himself are different and non-different
simultaneously. This is known as the achintya
bedhabedha tattva principal we find in the teachings
of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy, which is very similar
to Hegel's teachings.

Please send me the address of your web site.

Kind regards,
Mike Marchetti

M-2(reply)

Dear Dr.Mike Marchetti,
to the
"Regarding the differentiation you have made between
Philosophical and Absolute Mind, I do not think we
have to draw such a distinction, and Hegel, himself,
does not make that distinction. The Concept as the
unity (identity) of Thought and Being is God or the
Absolute Mind.  This identity is 'spekulatively'
identical to difference. To understand this we have to
study the Science of Logic"

I do think we have to draw such a distinction.If you consider that
science
of logic was his earlier book but logic and philosophy of mind he
revised
almost till his death I will prove from encyclopedia it self and
also from
other puranas and many mystical books that point.I have joined your
group
and send the article as a message. why don't you post it and your
reply  on
the message board  so that others can also participate and judge us.
regards
lathief

M-3

Dear Dr Lathief,

Our intro_hegel list is an ongoing course, so we do
not post unrelated material there. Your point of view
sounds interesting. If you would like to send your
arguments to me, I will be happy to respond.

Best wishes,
Mike Marchetti

As Dr. Mike Marchetti is unable or unwilling to discuss it in his
own group I may start the discussion here.
Any one who read encyclopedia can see Hegel making the
distinction.Absolute mind as philosophic mind is the final moment or
stage of mind's development.religious mind is the last but one stage
but the philosophic mind is the complete development.
Being and thought is identical.but this identity contain also
difference.Being is only implicit notion.As absolute philosophic
mind God is not unity of being and thought but absolute subject 
or 'I' with being and thought(as thinking ad willing) not as thinker
it's predicates,or its own other or I's Mine.so religious mind is
implictly philosophic mind not explicitly.

Sri Isopanisad's verses also show the different -non different
nature. manifestations are only implicitly God because all of them
are its own developmental moments.explicitly the are God's own
other ,mine,its predicates.
As Hegel himself say in encyclopedia Of course you can say acorn is
oak tree but potentially or implicitly.so absolute mind as
religious mind is implicitly philosophic mind but explicitly it
reaches its complete perfection only in the sublation of artistic
mind and religious mind as philosophic mind.
regards
lathief