Arts, History, Philosophy

(Philosophy): Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

1770–1831

GEORG HEGEL was born on 27 August 1770, in Stuttgart, Germany. He studied philosophy and classics at Tübingen, and, after graduation, he became a tutor and explored theology. Hegel taught at Heidelberg and Berlin, where he wrote and explored philosophical and theological concepts.

Hegel was a major figure in German idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality was revolutionary at the time and a major factor in the development of some radical threads of left-wing political thought. His major work, The Phenomenology of Spirit (or mind), was published in 1807. Many of his ideas were developed in other deeply complex works until his death, from cholera, in 1831.

Almost everything that Hegel was to develop over the rest of his life is prefigured in the Phenomenology. The book and text is far from systematic and is generally accepted as difficult to read. The Phenomenology attempts to present human history, with all its revolutions, wars, and scientific discoveries, as an objective and idealistic self-developing Spirit or Mind.  

Hegel is a notoriously difficult philosopher to understand. For a beginner with next to no grounding in the Greek logic of Aristotle and the later works of Descartes, Hume and Locke it is probably a forlorn task best left until the fundamentals of philosophy are mastered. Being able to comprehend what he writes requires a grasp of at least the basics. Hegel still causes frustration among academics and one of the philosophers that give the discipline its forbidding reputation.

For example, in his book Hegel, Edward Caird writes: “But the height of audacity in serving up pure nonsense, in stringing together senseless and extravagant mazes of words, such as had previously been known only in madhouses, was finally reached in Hegel… and became the instrument of the most bare-faced general mystification that has ever taken place, with a result which will appear fabulous to posterity, and will remain as a monument to German stupidity.”

To have any chance of understanding Hegel one must first come to terms with the principle of the dialectic method. This is a type of argument or discussion between two or more opposing viewpoints whereupon the outcome or truth can be distilled. As the mechanism for this process Hegel proposed variations on the three “classical laws of thought” – that is, the law of identity (essentially “truths” that are taken to be self-evident), and the laws of [non]contradiction and the law of the excluded middle. Paraphrasing these last two suggests respectively that contradictory statements cannot both be true but that either proposition must be true. This is the kind of difficulty that any student of philosophy will be faced with.

Hegelian dialectics is based upon four concepts:

. Everything is transient and finite, existing in the medium of time.

. Everything is composed of contradictions (opposing forces).

. Gradual changes lead to crisis or turning points when one force overcomes its opposing force (quantitative change leads to qualitative change).

. Change is helical (spiral), not circular.

In summary, Hegel believed that when our minds become fully conscious, awakened, or enlightened, we will have a perfect understanding of reality. In short, our thoughts about reality, and reality itself, will be the same. He argues this by showing that the mind goes through an evolution on its way to what he calls “absolute spirit”.

Because Hegel’s philosophy requires a journey it can be seen that it is the process and not just the result that is important. A struggle exists between one viewpoint (or thesis) to which there might exist one or more opposing viewpoints (or antithesis). A process of debate or connected dispute such as revolution or war might lead to a higher level of understanding (or synthesis) to which another antithesis might emerge and thus the process towards truth will continue. This is a Hegelian description of all history as an inevitable progression towards truth. It is complex and a difficult area of study.

Hegel’s mark on history has been profound, in that his influence has spread throughout both left- and right-wing political thought. Marx drew influence from Hegel by developing the idea that history and reality should be viewed dialectically and that the process of change – the struggle – should be seen as a transition from the fragmentary towards the complete. Yet, this is a skewed development of what Hegel tried to suggest in Phenomenology. However, in practical terms it is likely that Hegel may have approved of Marx’s revolutionary interpretation, as he was witness at close hand to revolutionary Europe towards the end of the eighteenth century.

. Hegel on Reason and Experience

“Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond.

Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.”

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Government, Policing, Scotland, Society

View of policing is ‘old-fashioned’

POLICE SCOTLAND

A POLICE watchdog has said the idea that policing is solely about law enforcement is “old-fashioned”.

HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland Gill Imery said maintaining the view that the job of police officers was confined to catching criminals was a “stunted” belief.

She has spoken out amid concern over the expanding range of duties officers have beyond enforcing the law, such as administering naloxone to save overdosing drug addicts.

However, the comments come following an explosion in rape cases and an increase in violent offending, with prosecutors admitting there is “absolutely no sign” of a sustained fall in serious crime.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), Mrs Imery said: “It’s an old-fashioned and a stunted view of policing to think that it is limited to law enforcement.

“Police Scotland have done a huge amount to demonstrate a much wider responsibility of policing – a much wider desire to impact in a positive way on people’s life chances and life choices.”

Backing the use of naloxone by officers to treat overdosing addicts, Mrs Imery said: “I think it is hugely positive on the part of Police Scotland to take that step to prevent harm and ultimately loss of life, which I think is absolutely integral to the purpose of police constables.”

In July it emerged that police administered an anti-overdose treatment to one person a week on average during the first three months of carrying the therapy. Officers in Falkirk, Dundee and Glasgow East had been equipped with naloxone since March 1 as part of a six-month pilot project.

The move came amid a rise in drug deaths to record levels, with Scotland having the worst drug-related facilities in the EU.

Police Scotland said earlier this year that drug related crime is to be considered a public health problem as the force vowed to “drive national improvements in health and wellbeing”.

It announced a partnership with government health quango Public Health Scotland (PHS) in a bid to prevent offending by working with the NHS and others to tackle poor health, “health inequality” and other issues.

Police in Scotland are also keen to adopt a “trauma-informed” approach – taking into account the welfare of suspects and criminals.

Some police officers have criticised this approach, with one officer saying the “hypothesis that reducing trauma prevents crime isn’t backed up by credible evidence” – and condemned the strategy as “motherhood and apple pie”.

Last month, figures showed the number of rapes reported to police had risen by nearly 35 per cent in a year, as sex crime soared to the highest level for six years.

Violent offending overall shot up by nearly 13 per cent in the past year, according to Police Scotland.

Prosecutors have admitted there is “absolutely no sign” of a sustained fall in serious crime. The Scottish Government claims Scotland is becoming safer.

David Hamilton, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, representing rank and file officers, said: “I don’t think anyone disagrees with Gill Imery that policing is and should be about more than just law enforcement, but it remains our primary function.

“As the service of last resort, we are increasingly having to pick up where others have failed, and the danger is that we commit or overstretch ourselves filling those gaps.

“Officers are concerned that we are already having to fulfil additional roles such as educators, paramedics, social workers and mental health nurses.”

TWO

. Half of police officers in Scotland want to be issued with a firearm whilst on duty

MORE than half of Scotland’s police officers want to be issued with a handgun as part of their safety equipment, a survey has indicated.

In the past three months, 22 per cent of officers have been the victim of assault while on duty, prompting calls for extra measures to ensure their protection.

A survey carried out by the Scottish Police Federation has found that 53 per cent of Police Scotland rank and file would like access to a handgun.

A further 7 per cent of officers said they would like to be trained to use the weapon in case it was necessary.

Of the nearly 1,700 questioned, 47 per cent said they did not want to carry handguns and 37 per cent indicated they would not like to be trained in their use.

However, 84 per cent said they would be happy to carry Tasers.

Scottish Police Federation chairman David Hamilton said: “This demonstrates not just the frequency of attacks but the gravity of them, too.

“Officers consider knives to be the greatest risk to them and firearms are the appropriate last defence to being attacked by such lethal weapons.”

A spokesperson for Gun Control Network said that unless there was a change in (policing) culture society would become too much like America where guns are drawn for any reason – and that is not the way policing has been conducted in the UK. Insisting that it certainly wouldn’t protect the public any more, the Network says that the implications are much wider than what it means to an individual officer on duty.

In 2018, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) condemned an action by Police Scotland which saw officers point guns at 11 people during an “unwarranted” operation.

The force later apologised to eight people – including two women who were strip-searched. In 2016, shoppers in Dingwall, Ross-shire, spoke of their shock when they saw four officers armed with handguns sitting down to breakfast in a café.

The force’s Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said: “There are no plans to move away from being an unarmed service which has an armed capability.

“Being assaulted should never be part of the job and tackling the concerning trend of increasing assaults on officers and staff is a priority. The Chief Constable has underlined his commitment to achieving this goal by providing people with the tools they need to do their jobs.

“Recently, we have improved our infrastructure to support an enhanced roll-out of Taser and work is under way to uplift the number of Taser-trained officers by 1,500 over the next three years.”

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Arts, Books, Psychology

Book Review: ‘The Truth About Lies’

LITERARY REVIEW

“Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies,” are lyrics sang by Fleetwood Mac in 1987. And my, have people delivered. Donald Trump is said to have told a staggering 30,573 lies while in office. Boris Johnson, as we know, can be wholly economical with the truth. Being serially lied to can seriously damage relationships and friendships are often irreparable when the truth emerges.

Aja Raden, an American writer, however, sees lies as a completely normal part of life, something to be understood rather than condemned.

She says that human beings have evolved to tell lies, and that our children only start operating in the real world when they have mastered the ability to tell untruths. There’s no one who doesn’t lie occasionally.

The nub of her argument is that for someone to lie successfully, there needs to be someone else who swallows that lie hook, line and sinker. Think of the last piece of really juicy gossip you were told. It is unlikely you checked whether it was true or not before you started disseminating it yourself. You’ll understand the ripple effect this has and the damage that untruths can leave in its wake.

Over nine hugely entertaining chapters, Raden describes in detail outrageous stories of several classic cons, illustrating the mechanisms by which they all work. She uses both contemporary and historical examples.

At its core, is the question, ‘Why do people believe what they believe?’

We blindly trust certain facts: things we’re taught, things we can observe, and those things which we can work out for ourselves. Once we “know” these things, we never really question them again. It’s called an honesty bias.

Raden writes: “Without this tendency to trust, to assume, to simply believe, every human on earth would be born starting from scratch, unable to benefit from the knowledge of the collective.”

Yet it’s the “honesty bias” that allows us to be fooled by conmen, serially lying friends and unscrupulous U.S. presidents. Our strength, as so often is written, is also our weakness.

The author begins with what she calls the Big Lie, in which the untruth is so enormous that to disbelieve it actually threatens our sense of collective reality.

She cites the example of Gregor MacGregor, a broke Scottish aristocrat of the early 19th century who joined the Royal Navy in search of fame and fortune.

He became a mercenary in central America, where he claimed to have chanced upon the magical kingdom of Poyais, a land of plenty brimming with untapped natural resources.

Returning to London he sold shares in Poyais to the great and good, and persuaded seven boatloads of men, women and children to relocate there to make their fortunes.

When they arrived, they soon discovered Poyais did not exist, that there was just the Mosquito Coast of central America, short on untapped resources but swarming with mosquitoes.

Most of them perished through disease, but when a few survivors of the trip returned to tell their stories, MacGregor absconded to Paris, where he told the same Big Lie again – and sold more shares in something that did not exist.

Next up in the narration is the Shell Game, the street hustle whereby you must guess which of three shells on a table has a ball underneath it.

The ball has meanwhile been removed by sleight of hand so the answer is “none of them”, but by then you have already lost your stake you put down on the one you thought it might be. Raden explains that we don’t “see” everything we think we see; our brains will fill in the gaps.

This is how so much stage magic works, persuading you that you are seeing what you haven’t seen, and that you haven’t seen what you might well have seen but not processed.

In later chapters, she looks at the Guru Con, at the way Rasputin befuddled the House of Romanov in pre-revolutionary Russia, the pyramid schemes of Bernie Madoff and bitcoin; and the selling of snake oil as a patent medicine in the Wild West (which went on long after supplies of genuine snake oil had run out).

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