The Individual Being in Hegels Philosophy Essay - 1749 Words

The only similarity between Marx and Kierkegaard – beyond disagreeing with Hegel – is they both find Hegel to be apathetic. As Kierkegaard summarized in Either/Or, and as Marx exemplifies in his many writings, either one is to resign themselves to inaction for the greater good or one commits to action regardless of the consequences. Hegel, they argue, commits himself to the former. He resigns himself to universal ethics, acting on the greater good at the expense of the individual. Here, Kierkegaard and Marx swerve away from Hegel. Kierkegaard believes the faithful must act as an individual in a relationship with God. Marx believes that the individual, acting in concert with other like-minded individuals, is key to enacting the Bloody†¦show more content†¦He suggests that Hegel resigns himself the status of a tragic hero for the greater good. Kierkegaard alss tells the analogy of the Knight of Infinite Resignation which illustrates the need to resign oneself fro m achieving a personal good in honor of the universal good. He gives the analogy of a Knight who wishes to seduce a princess, but cannot because of the greater good. Rather, he resigns himself to worship the idea of the princess and detaches himself from her physical nature. This detachment causes him to worship an abstract ideal in order to conform to the needs of the greater good. If the Knight were to have her, it would violate the ethical principals he has entrenched himself in and cause ruin upon others. He will no longer maintain the status of the tragic hero and would have acted unethically. Beyond that, the Knight of Infinite Resignation would not want the princess as her physical embodiment represents an imperfection. Kierkegaard does not like this movement. Instead, he creates the Knight of Faith, which acts on his passions. The Knight of Infinite Resignation loves the princess and idealizes her, but knows he will never have her. If he were to have her, it would ruin the i dealization of her. Her physical being would then become a roadblock towards the realization of her essence. The selfishness of the Knight of Faith becomes a form of passion. The Knight of Faith, like the Knight of Infinite Resignation, realizes the impossibility of getting theShow MoreRelatedHegel and The Phenomenology of Spirit824 Words   |  3 Pagesbasic paradigm (system) that accounts for the manner in which nature and mind or for him, subject and object, were all related. This included history, philosophy, society, art, music, and culture. It was the idea that while all things were interrelated, they were also set up to form a series of contradictions that caused conflict for humans. 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