Weltgeist Model
A Weltgeist Model is a Geist model that covers humanity.
References
2015
- (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/geist#Hegel Retrieved:2015-11-17.
- Geist is a central concept in Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit (Phänomenologie des Geistes). According to Hegel, the Weltgeist ("world spirit") is not an actual object or a transcendental, Godlike thing, but a means of philosophizing about history.Weltgeist is effected in history through the mediation of various Volksgeister ("national spirits"), the great men of history, such as Napoleon, are the “concrete universal”. This has led some to claim that Hegel favored the great man theory, although his philosophy of history, in particular concerning the role of the “universal state" (Universalstaat, which means a universal "order" or "statute" rather than “state"), and of an "End of History" is much more complex.
For Hegel, the great hero is unwittingly utilized by Geist or absolute spirit, by a "ruse of reason" as he puts it, and is irrelevant to history once his historic mission is accomplished; he is thus subjected to the teleological principle of history, a principle which allows Hegel to reread the history of philosophy as culminating in his philosophy of history.
Weltgeist, the world spirit concept, designates an idealistic principle of world explanation, which can be found from the beginnings of philosophy up to more recent time. The concept of world spirit was already accepted by the idealistic schools of ancient Indian philosophy, whereby one explained objective reality as its product. (See metaphysical objectivism) In the early philosophy of Greek antiquity, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle all paid homage, amongst other things, to the concept of world spirit. Hegel later based his philosophy of history on it.
- Geist is a central concept in Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit (Phänomenologie des Geistes). According to Hegel, the Weltgeist ("world spirit") is not an actual object or a transcendental, Godlike thing, but a means of philosophizing about history.Weltgeist is effected in history through the mediation of various Volksgeister ("national spirits"), the great men of history, such as Napoleon, are the “concrete universal”. This has led some to claim that Hegel favored the great man theory, although his philosophy of history, in particular concerning the role of the “universal state" (Universalstaat, which means a universal "order" or "statute" rather than “state"), and of an "End of History" is much more complex.