BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//Grails iCalendar plugin//NONSGML Grails iCalendar plugin//EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260525T152556Z DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251107T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251107T153000 SUMMARY:Nature with and against spirit: the absolute idealist view UID:20260527T001906Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq TZID:Australia/Melbourne LOCATION:Monash Clayton Campus\, Melbourne\, Australia DESCRIPTION:

NB This talk is an additional out-of-semester session. The official seminar series finished at the end of the semester.

\n

Join Zoom meeting:

\n

https://monash.zoom.us/j/86351045263?pwd=1gHMLhmDnXiFJIV0Jl8s6GxhgBgylb.1 \;

\n

Meeting ID: 863 5104 5263 // Passcode: 184791

\n

Abstract: \;Recent (logico-)naturalist\, neo-Marxist and Neo-Aristotelian readings of Hegel&rsquo\;s absolute idealism suggest that he either argues that nature grounds spirit or that spirit is a &sbquo\;second nature&lsquo\; in the sense that spiritual beings are natural beings with the added feature of (self-)consciousness.

\n

Against these interpretations\, it will be argued that Hegel relies on three connected syllogisms to describe the relationship between nature and spirit. According to the first syllogism\, nature&rsquo\;s particularity forms part of spirit&rsquo\;s individuality so that nature truly is spirit. This entails the problem that spirit&rsquo\;s individuality requires a contrast with nature&rsquo\;s particularity that cannot be realised if sprit&rsquo\;s individuality is all there is. To avoid this\, the second syllogism contrasts the first syllogism&rsquo\;s nature-containing spirit with spirit-independent &sbquo\;nature as such&lsquo\;. This raises the question why nature and spirit are compatible in the first place. This motivates the third syllogism according to which both nature-containing spirit&rsquo\;s individuality and the particularity of non-spiritual &sbquo\;nature as such&lsquo\; are forms of the metaphysical truth&rsquo\;s concrete universality that Hegel calls &sbquo\;the absolute idea&lsquo\;. Since the third syllogism conceptually contains the first two\, Hegel&rsquo\;s final word on the relationship between spirit and nature is speculative: while spirit contains nature\, nature also differs from spirit while both the identity of spirit and nature and their difference are rooted in their shared status of being non-reductive forms of metaphysical truth&rsquo\;s concrete universality. This entails that 1. natural beings are spiritual 2. natural beings are not just spiritual and 3. nature and spirit are how the idea&rsquo\;s ontological truth freely manifest itself. The talk ends with a discussion of whether this interpretation entails an idealist reduction of nature to spirit or a metaphysical reduction of nature to &sbquo\;truth as such&rsquo\;.

ORGANIZER;CN=Sandra Leonie Field: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR