Hegel's Concept of Freedom

1971 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 174-195
Author(s):  
G. H. R. Parkinson

The concept of freedom is one which Hegel thought of very great importance; indeed, he believed that it is the central concept in human history. ‘Mind is free’, he wrote, ‘and to actualise this, its essence – to achieve this excellence – is the endeavour of the worldmind in world-history’ (VG, p. 73). Those who already have an interest in Hegel will doubtless be interested in his views on a topic which he thought so important; on the other hand, the many philosophers who are either indifferent to or hostile to Hegel may point out that it does not follow that, because the subject of freedom interested Hegel, his views about this subject are of general interest. It will be the aim of this paper to show that they are of general interest; in the meantime, it may be recalled that Isaiah Berlin has argued (Four Essays on Liberty, Oxford, 1969, p. 144) that Hegel's concept of freedom is one of a type, called by him the concept of positive freedom, which is ‘at the heart of many of the nationalist, communist, authoritarian and totalitarian creeds of our day’. It will surely be worth while to see to what extent this is true of Hegel, and to what extent Hegel's views about freedom are true.

1971 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 174-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. R. Parkinson

The concept of freedom is one which Hegel thought of very great importance; indeed, he believed that it is the central concept in human history. ‘Mind is free’, he wrote, ‘and to actualise this, its essence – to achieve this excellence – is the endeavour of the worldmind in world-history’ (VG, p. 73). Those who already have an interest in Hegel will doubtless be interested in his views on a topic which he thought so important; on the other hand, the many philosophers who are either indifferent to or hostile to Hegel may point out that it does not follow that, because the subject of freedom interested Hegel, his views about this subject are of general interest. It will be the aim of this paper to show that they are of general interest; in the meantime, it may be recalled that Isaiah Berlin has argued (Four Essays on Liberty, Oxford, 1969, p. 144) that Hegel's concept of freedom is one of a type, called by him the concept of positive freedom, which is ‘at the heart of many of the nationalist, communist, authoritarian and totalitarian creeds of our day’. It will surely be worth while to see to what extent this is true of Hegel, and to what extent Hegel's views about freedom are true.


1905 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 225-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Edgar

When the mummy-portraits from Rubayyat and Hawara were first brought to Europe, amid the general interest which they aroused there was a wide diversity of opinion as to their age. Georg Ebers, who had an enthusiastic admiration for them, tried hard to prove that the series began in the second century B.C. and that the best specimens belonged to the Ptolemaic period. Th. Schreiber may be mentioned as another distinguished authority who took the same view. On the other hand many archaeologists maintained that the portraits were all Roman work, dating for the most part from the second century A.D. Mr. Petrie in particular brought forward definite evidence to show that they range from about 130 A.D. to about 250 A.D., and he also divided them into successive groups. There is still much uncertainty on the subject, as I have had occasion to notice of late. To those who are in doubt about it the following brief paper, which is based on a study of the Cairo collection, may be of some little help. I regret that I do not know much of the material in Europe at first hand.


Portrait ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 76-80
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Nancy

Much later, an artist like Urs Lüthi sets about representing the many stages of his own transformation from a young man into an old woman (Figure 14).1 What has changed most from Rembrandt to Lüthi could well be the affective tone of the portrait. In the case of Rembrandt, this tone remains in the register of an affirmation whose self-confidence is not seriously shaken by suspicions of anxiety which, whatever their possible legitimacy, are going to be sought more behind the painting than in it, in rumors about personal psychology. In the case of Lüthi, on the other hand, by going through the phases of transformation, he specifically paints a disquiet or doubt on the subject of who is seeing him- or herself being seen and who no longer recognizes him- or herself as a consequence....


Author(s):  
Carmen Moreno Balboa

¿Ha cambiado el concepto de ciudad en tan sólo 2400 años? Si la ciudad la componen los ciudadanos ¿son éstos distintos de los ciudadanos de las antiguas polis? Si el ciudadano es quien participa en las funciones de gobierno de su ciudad, ¿quién es ahora realmente, ciudadano? ¿Quién quiere serlo? y quién quisiera participar de dichas funciones, ¿cómo podría conseguirlo?En la sociedad actual se producen dos situaciones antagónicas que afectan al desarrollo de la ciudad, por un lado las administraciones, actuando orientadas al interés general, reconocen pero congelan las posibilidades de participar de la población en el urbanismo y la creación de ciudad; y por otro lado la sociedad se mueve y actúa al margen de las administraciones en la mejora de su entorno y sus condiciones de vida, desde las denominadas iniciativas urbanas. Cuáles son los motivos de esta situación y cómo hacer que ambos movimientos coincidan en la generación del denominado “Urbanismo Colaborativo”, es el objeto de este trabajo.AbstractHas the concept of city changed in only the past 2400 years? If the city is the one consisting the citizens, are these any different of the citizens ancient polis? If the citizen is one participating in his city’s government functions, who is the real citizen now a days? Who wants to be one? Who wants to participate in those functions? How could someone acomplish that?In today’s society, there are two antagonistic situations that are affecting the development of the city, on the one hand the administrations, acting orientated to the general interest, they recognize but freeze the possibilities that the citizens have of participating in urbanism and the creation of the city. And on the other hand, the society moves and acts outside of the administrations for the improvement of their environment and their living conditions, doing this from the named urban initiatives. What causes this situation and how to put together both movements and for them to agree in the generation of the named “Collaborative Urbanism” is the subject and what this study wants to acomplish.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
M. Hermans

SummaryThe author presents his personal opinion inviting to discussion on the possible future role of psychiatrists. His view is based upon the many contacts with psychiatrists all over Europe, academicians and everyday professionals, as well as the familiarity with the literature. The list of papers referred to is based upon (1) the general interest concerning the subject when representing ideas also worded elsewhere, (2) the accessibility to psychiatrists and mental health professionals in Germany, (3) being costless downloadable for non-subscribers and (4) for some geographic aspects (e.g. Belgium, Spain, Sweden) and the latest scientific issues, addressing some authors directly.


1942 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
H. Barnett

Much has been written of William Duncan, "the Apostle of Alaska", who came to the coast of northern British Columbia in 1857 as a missionary to the Tsimshian Indians. Although he deplored it, in the course of his sixty years' residence in this area controversy raged around him as a result of his clashes with church and state, and his work has been the subject of numerous investigations, both public and private. His enemies have called him a tyrant and a ruthless exploiter of the Indians under his control; and there are men still living who find a disproportionate amount of evil in the good that he did, especially during the declining years of his long life. On the other hand, he has had ardent and articulate supporters who have written numerous articles and no less than three books in praise of his self-sacrificing ideals and the soundness of his program for civilizing the Indian.


1922 ◽  
Vol 26 (140) ◽  
pp. 325-330
Author(s):  
S. Heckstall Smith

If the thought of another war troubles you, then don't read this article. If you would rather say to yourself as the Secretary of State said to the Air Conference, “ There won't be another war for ten years, so why worry? ” then no doubt you will think with him that it is better to let other nations have alk the bother and expense of trying to advance; after all, we are jolly fine fellows and can soon pick up. If, on the other hand, you have imagination which gives you a nasty queasy sensation when you think of what might be, then perhaps the following notes, albeit disjointed and mostly stale, may at least conjure up in you thoughts of your own on the subject. This is all that is needed to help, our advancement in the air–the stimulation of spoken and written thoughts by the British nation, for if every taxpayer in the British Empire says “ Air Force,” then the Press and Parliament will say it too.


1880 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 202-209
Author(s):  
Cecil Smith

The vase which forms the subject of this memoir has been thought worthy of publication, both because it belongs to a type of which we have as yet but few examples, and also on account of the peculiar interest attaching to the design painted upon it. Its probable age can only be a matter of conjecture, as some of the vases of the class to which it belongs have been considered by archaeologists to be late imitations of the archaic, while on the other hand the internal evidence of the painting would seem to assign it to a place among the earliest class of Greek vases. It is figured on Plate VII.It is a circular dish with two handles, 3 inches high by 11¾ inches diameter, composed of a soft reddish clay of a yielding surface; the painting is laid on in a reddish brown, in some parts so thinly as to be transparent, and in other parts has rubbed away with the surface, so that it has acquired that patchy appearance generally characteristic of vase pictures of this type. The drawing, though crude and in parts almost grotesque, is executed with great spirit and freedom of style,—and thus could hardly have been the work of a late provincial artist—while in the shape of the column and of the wheel of the cart, in the prominent nose and chin which admit of no distinction between bearded and beardless faces, and in the angular contour of the human figures, we recognise features peculiar to an archaic period of art.


Author(s):  
Niek Van Wettere

Abstract This paper examines the productivity of the subject complement slot in a set of French and Dutch (semi-)copular micro-constructions. The presumed counterpart of productivity, conventionalization in the form of high token frequency, will also be taken into account in the analysis of the productivity complex. On the one hand, it will be shown that prototypical copulas generally have a higher productivity than semi-copulas, although there are some semi-copulas that can rival the productivity of prototypical copulas. On the other hand, it will be demonstrated that high token frequency is in general detrimental to productivity, on the level of the entire subject complement slot and on the level of the different semantic classes. However, the shape of the frequency distribution also seems to play a role: multiple highly frequent types are in my data more detrimental to productivity than one extremely frequent type, although the semantic connectedness of the types in the distribution might also be an explanatory factor.


Traditio ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Kurt Lewent

Cerveri was decidedly no poetical genius, and often enough he follows the trodden paths of troubadour poetry. However, there is no denying that again and again he tries to escape that poetical routine. In many cases these attempts result in odd and eccentric compositions, where the unusual is reached at the cost of good taste and poetical values. On the other hand, it must be admitted that Cerveri's efforts in this respect were not always futile. His is, e.g. an amusing satire upon bad women. One of his love songs, characteristically called libel by the MS (Sg), assumes the form of a complaint submitted to the king as the supreme earthly judge, in which the defendant is the lady whose charms torture the lover and have made him a prisoner. This poem combines the traditional praise of the beloved and a flattery addressed to the king. Its slightly humoristic tone is also found in a song entitled lo vers del vassayll leyal. Here Cerveri, basing himself on a certain legend connected with St. Mark, gives the king advice in his love affair. Again the poet kills two birds with one stone, flattering the sovereign and pointing, for obvious purposes, to his own poverty. The latter is the only topic of a remarkably personal poem in which the author complains bitterly that, while many of his playmates have become rich in later years, the only wealth he himself did amass were the chans gays and sonetz agradans which he composed for other people to enjoy. Cerveri even tries to renew the traditional genre of the chanson de la mal mariée by adding motifs of—presumably—his own invention. This tendency towards a more independent way of thinking and greater originality in its poetical presentation could not be better illustrated than by the two poems which the MS calls Lo vers de la terra de Preste Johan and Pistola The one puts the poet's moral argumentation against the background of the medieval legend of Prester John, the other, which forms the subject of the present study, sets its teachings in a still more solemn framework, the liturgy of the Mass.


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