The Art of Learning to Die?: On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit as 'the Way of Despair' and Absolute Science as Therapy
16 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2013
Date Written: April 1, 2011
Abstract
Though I in no way intend for this paper to be a direct comparison between the two works and their respective views on truth and despair in philosophy, I hope that taking the Phaedo as a point of departure for an examination of the internal role played by despair in Hegel’s work may help to illuminate the key ideas of obtuse work in ways which Hegel may not have foreseen. After examining the nature of despair in Hegel’s book, I will turn to an examination of the role of philosophy, and argue that ultimately, respite from the metaphysical despair which is so profoundly on display throughout the Phenomenology can be found in the practice of philosophy as absolute Science, which, as Peter Kalkavage so eloquently puts it, has as its task the healing and reintegration of man.
Keywords: Hegel, Phaedo, Plato, Philosophical Therapy, Therapy, Absolute Science, phenomenology, phenomenology of spirit
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