The Individual Being in Hegel's Philosophy

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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 Revolution and working towards the worker's paradise. Hegel's disregard for the individual is the source of Marx's and Kierkegaard's disenchantment with Hegel's philosophy.

Kierkegaard suggests that Hegel, at his core, does not understand that the nature of man, or at the very least the nature of faith, which is in a constant state of moral uncertainty. He illustrates the state of man with various analogies on Abraham's sacrifice of Issac in “Fear and Trembling,” suggesting that Abraham should either be considered a murder because he would have killed his son, or a man of faith because of he obeyed God unwaveringly. Kierkegaard wirtes, “I return, however, to Abraham. Before the result, either Abraham was every minute a murderer, or we are confronted by a paradox which is higher than all mediation” (Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 51). He makes the claim that while the ethical is universal, the individual who has a personal relationship with God takes on a higher importance than one would with Gies...

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...im, nor explain or rationalize God's will while in the faith. Whereas Marx finds Hegel's frustratingly apathetic towards the worker's struggle. Hegel's disregard for the physical being and objective nature is the cause of Marx's disenchantment with Hegel. Marx also recognizes the need for the individual as a utility to begin the Bloody Revolution. Without the individual, the secular Giest has no ground to stand upon.

Works Cited

Marx, Karl. "Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy in General." marxists.org. marxists.org, 19/10/2009. Web. 26 Mar 2010. .

Marx, Karl. "Manifesto of the Communist Party." marxists.org. marxists.org, 20/9/2009. Web. 26 Mar 2010. .

Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling . Denmark: 1863. 102. Print.

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