I want to introduce this text by Daniel Ferrer into Derrida's discussion of Heidegger's use of Geist or Spirit. It is relevant because it discusses Heidegger's engagement with Hegel and his Phenomenology of Spirit. It allows us into getting a handle on Hegel's understanding of Geist.
At around p.6 the text discusses various interpretations of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit that Heidegger mentions and dismissesas misinterpretations. The second interpretation is of interest: it says that the Hegel text is a typology of philosophical standpoints as forms of self-consciousness; or a series of world views put together in an arbitrary fashion.
This is a misinterpretation because Hegel argues that there is necessity in the process of the patterns of cultural forms of consciousness; a process that can be seen as the history of the patterns of consciousness. That historical process is the development of Geist moving twards absolute knowledge. In The Phenomenology history is essentially a history of spirit that thinks itself.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at October 5, 2004 10:27 PM | TrackBack