Hegel Questions (worked with Nataly Montaño).

1.     -Consciousness is the recognition of one another; self-recognition is the realization of others and in turn our own recognition. Humans have a desire to be recognized and therefore achieve consciousness.

2.     -Because we are conscious we are meant to be social and a political beings. Descartes said “I think therefore I am”  Once we achieve  the reality of our consciousness we can then identify ourselves as individuals within a larger group or unity.

3.     -Sensuous Certainty: the form of consciousness that takes itself to be aware of the simple, immediate presence of things.

-Absolute Knowing: Logical knowing which is developed from Sensuous Certainty.

4.     -“This, here, now” Complex union of different times and stages, which stretch back to different  “here, this and now”. This three words are simple ways to express this complex set of times and instances.  Hegel proposes that perception grasps objects as part of this union of many here’s and now’s, but it cant be determined where in its multiplicity it stands.

5.     -Our perception can distinguish between the inner unities of an object but when it recognizes this, it then becomes an understanding instead of a perception. Understating of this inner unity then makes it distinct from us and therefore follows its own reason and laws in life. Our understanding of this subject is not only our consciousness of objects but also our self-consciousness, because we can understand the qualities of an object that makes it itself.

6.     -As conscious individuals we enjoy ourselves through other objects that have their own separate consciousness but enjoy themselves through us.

7.     -Humans are able to enjoy themselves because of each of our self-conscious, and we can reach self-satisfaction when other is able to recognize our selves.

8.     -Hegel states that conflict will not arise in the dependency of our self-consciousness, however because we rely on others to achieve our recognition it should create conflicts.

9.     -Intersubjectivity is not a realistic idea HOWEVER it must take place for social interaction to happen.

10.  -For humans to be able to recognize their being others must be able to consciously recognizes others separate beings therefore solidifies our own existence. 

Who can claim Antigone?

Antigone dies a martyr, one who was ready and willing to die standing up to what she saw as not only an unjust law in the city but a violation of one the her faiths rituals. Because of her love for her family Antigone wanted to give her brother a proper burial, he respected him. She believed that the dead were in a state of equality. She is able to stay true to her beliefs, while Creon is forced to change based on pressure from external forces. Creon is dedicated to his duty as king, while Antigone makes decisions based on human values and faith, regardless of all other factors.  

The primal will, is fundamental to a human being, because it is the will of choice. Antigone assesses her situation and then makes a choice based on her beliefs and morality . Her faith allows her to tress-pass t a child's will, this is the will to survive, she wants to live however realizes that there is something bigger than her, she commits the crime because she has the need to carry out her faith and bury her brother. The final is the will to power. Now here is where we have to be clear. Nietzsche argues that this will is the essential driving force behind our existence. That this is literally why we live, rather than my the previously mentioned wills which give us the motives to survive and the ability to reason R. The will to power is the will to embrace our to further elevate us in this world. To accept our passions and desires and to go above the law like Antigone did in order to please our own values and beliefs. Everyone is seeking elevation. Antigone did it not through her death or her faith but because of because of her ability to trespass societies rules and expectations and follow her own passions and urges  to her as and individual it was her faith and duty not to anyone else but toward her own ideals.  she gave her life for her ideals but in doing so followed her own ethics.

Hume vs. Descartes

Descartes, a rationalist, said that each person can look for  truth .   Finding truth and knowledge comes from the individual themselves, not necessarily from God.  Reason is the same for every single person.  He also stated that the idea of “perfect” originated from God , God himself was perfect and therefore couldn’t deceive.   Descartes also applied doubt to his ideas before he granted complete certainty to them.   

However it can be argued that  our ideas are not innate but derived from experience of perceptions.  Humans learned through impressions and if there are no impressions then there are no ideas. Every individuals perceptions are his alone. Therefore truth is what one perceives it to be.  Reason is important but it derives from our senses, the sun will rise tomorrow. Our senses and experience tell us this and although its not certain that it ll rise tomorrow it is true today. One can only reason what one knows.
As for God, if we cant see him or feel him if we have no indication of his existence can never be a “truth”. AS for God being no deceiver. Who created us and gave us reason showing  that my ideas come from external things.
And that the idea of a perfect entity must have come from the perfect entity itself. Is nothing but a circular argument, that rejects both senses and reason.
With out our sences reason could not exist, how couldn't we ever “doubt” our surrounding if we couldn't perceive them. For reason to start we must have our senses.

Heraclitus vs. Parmenides

Parmenides stated that sense perception alone could reveal the truth about things? The mind could never reconstruct the truth out of the sensory data. There is no one way our senses can be manipulated to achieve a coherent truth. A distinction between appearance and reality must be made to find truth. Our perceptions are the effects of causes that we cant directly perceive and which we can know only by inference. 
Inference can’t be called “truth”.

Truth must consist just of information which can be acquired by mind alone, and ONLY THE MIND, uncontaminated by sensory information. Pure reasoning, allows one to gain knowledge. A truth is a proposal to which our reasoning allows us to conclude. Beliefs cannot constitute knowledge because it can compete with other beliefs, and not all those beliefs can be false. Perception and senses are also unique to individuals. We will never know how other perceive the world and therefore what is true for us can be different from their “truth”. However every human has the ability to reason and therefore to reason we can all reach a consensus.