Hegel’s Metaphysics: Phenomenology of Spirit

For this session, we'll read and discuss Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. The section we will be focusing on is Section B: Self-Consciousness. Feel free to skim other sections if you are interested as well.

This text is Hegel’s ambitious attempt to trace the development of human consciousness toward absolute knowledge. It’s both a historical and philosophical journey, showing how various shapes of consciousness (like sense-perception, self-consciousness, reason, etc.) inevitably lead to contradictions that force a higher synthesis. In response to both Kant’s critical philosophy and post-Kantian skepticism, Hegel proposes that truth is not found in static propositions, but in a dynamic process of becoming—what he calls the dialectic.

We also have a Discord where we discuss Hegel and other philosophical topics—join us anytime!