A Clarification on Hegel's Absolute

A Clarification on Hegel's Absolute

Let me say, first of all, that the other Blog Post for this week will be better than mine. And I am certain of this to an almost perfect degree. Let us jam.

I've had a rough couple of hours, and because of that, I've decided to make my current hour a little worse—I'm going to attempt to explain Hegel's notion of Absolute. I will also attempt to explain the dialectic, and also Cartoons. This explanation will attempt to be clean and clear, but will most likely be muddled throughout with inaccuracy and slop. Let's go team Philosophy (the least successful team in March Madness History).

First, to the basics. Hegel's Absolute, in it's broadest sense is what Hegel feels allows for us to view existence with a sense of regularity—but, in a less muddled sense, what allows for us to exist in a word outside of intangibility. When first reading this I jumped to the conclusion that Hegel's notion of Absolute was nearly the same thing as Kant's Notion of Time and Space, that of course being that Time and Space are the baller as hell sunglasses that allow us to make sense of the world. Little did I know how I wrong I was. I even ruined my book by writing, “Time and Space= Absolute. Say What?”

Absolute is a lot harder to describe, as there isn't some cop out answer like, “we cannot know what it is, so just shut your mouth and listen”. There is a definition, albeit a very difficult one,and it requires us to understand Hegel's dialectic to understand his absolute. The Dialectic describes claims that rely on counter claims as a method to establishing prior claims of permanence. The result is not the end of the process, but it is certainly related to it. To simplify this to something that we all have some knowledge of, in Looney Tunes when Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck squabble about which season it is, Duck or Rabbit, they confuse Elmer Fudd into changing his murder victim. When Bugs says “Duck Season”, Fudd, bumbling and loveable, thinks to shoot Daffy because Duck Season means, “You Don't Kill Rabbits In This Season.” When Daffy catches on and says, “Rabbit Season”, Fudd believes the inverse, as you do not kill ducks during rabbit season. This continues until Bugs Bunny, being a superior intellect switches his claim to “Rabbit Scene”, inversely, causing Daffy to bellow “Duck Season” and then get his beak shot off.

Prof. Vaughn said it much better with the saying “it is what it is not”. So forget I said anything.

Now, the Absolute. The Absolute, from a definition point of view, is a complete account of knowledge. It's the account of how we know. It's how we manage to overcome knowledge and the subject and the object to bring ourselves closer to what is absolutely, infallibly true. The Absolute tries to make it self known through a science, or a process of scrutinizing the way we know things. This can be likened to poking holes in a paper bag in order to see through the other side. Hegel argues that to reach this level of the absolute, we must consistently test the limits of what we believe to be true knowledge—which is pretty rad. He asserts that the Absolute, as a mother would, tries to prod human thought in the direction of the truth, but in that gentle prodding, begin to discover what it's own truth is. By moving us closer to it, it moves itself closer to what it will ultimately be. At the end of class on Wednesday, I said, quite oafishly, that the Absolute sort of functions as a car that is pulling another car.

Pretend that, for whatever reason, the Absolute is in Defiance, Ohio. Human Knowledge is broke down and driving aimlessly in that direction. However, it's been stuck on the road and has been broke down for damn near 200 years and has lost it's way. Somehow, Absolute comes in a pimped out Hemi and it only wants to help. He's headed to Defiance, Ohio because his sister lives there and she's getting married. He grabs a winch and attaches it to the front bumper of the broken down Human Knowledge car and begins to drive towards Defiance. As Absolute moves closer to itself, it pulls Human Knowledge with it, and Human Knowledge sees all of the trees and roads and Ohio wildlife on the way—establishing a new way to view nature and the world on the way to Defiance.

The End?