Hegel is best known for his use of thesis-antithesis-synthesis dialectics. His thought includes 28 dialectics in Phenomenology of Spirit and 10 in The Philosophy of History, not counting many variants of these 38 dialectics.[44] The chief purpose of these dialectics, which are well hidden and only recently came to light, was to conceal Hegel’s atheism. Hegel needed to conceal his atheism in order to remain employable in his chosen profession. Solomon explains: “[Hegel’s] ‘Christianity’ is nothing but nominal, an elaborate subterfuge to protect his professional ambitions in the most religiously conservative country in northern Europe.”[45] To conceal his hidden message of atheism (essentially the message that God is humanity), Hegel used cleverly hidden dialectics. Hegel hid -– but hinted at -– his dialectics by using inconspicuous substitute terms. “Thesis,” for example, became “primitive stage,” “first stage,” “first moment,” “first realization,” “the positive element,” and many other terms -– most commonly just plain “moment” (meaning “stage” of a three-stage dialectic).[46]
In Phenomenology, the basic overarching dialectic describes the three-stage “life” of an ersatz God Hegel usually calls Spirit but sometimes (to mislead) calls “God.” Spirit, defined by Hegel as “all reality,” has a physical side and a mental side. The physical side is every object in the universe, including both natural objects (stars, flowers, rivers, mice, humans) and artificial objects (fences, barns, teacups, doorknobs, shirts). The mental side is the collective mind of man, for which reason Spirit is essentially humanity.
Spirit’s life begins in a prehuman state of nature. Here Spirit has no mind, hence no consciousness, because man (the source of Spirit’s mind) is not yet present on earth. Pinkard writes, "God, as spirit, is already metaphorically asleep [unconscious] in nature, and the divine principle of 'spirit' comes to fruition only as humans appear on the planet and create religions." When humans arrive, "spirit . . . wakes up from its natural slumber and becomes conscious of itself."[52] Without a mind, Spirit is not conscious of the many seemingly separate “objects” that constitute reality, so Spirit is unconsciously united as one entity. This is the thesis stage: unconscious unity. When man arrives on the planet, Spirit acquires its mind and becomes conscious. Each person or “subject” perceives a multitude of seemingly alien “objects” that subject (Spirit’s mind) does not recognize as essentially itself, Spirit. This is the antithesis stage: conscious separation. Finally, Hegel arrives and becomes part of Spirit’s mind. In Spirit’s act of “self-realization,” Hegel realizes that all the “alien” objects are essentially himself, Spirit, because the inner reality of everything is Spirit. This is the synthesis stage of Spirit’s life: conscious unity. The dialectic:
Thesis: unconscious + unity
Antithesis: conscious + separation
Synthesis: conscious + unity[47]
This dialectic illustrates Hegel’s usual (but not sole) dialectical format. That format has four characteristics: (1) Each stage features two simple concepts that usually consist of just one or two words. (2) Each antithesis concept is the opposite of, not just different from, its thesis counterpart (conscious is the opposite of unconscious, separation the opposite of unity). (3) The synthesis truly synthesizes (combines), borrowing one concept from the thesis (“unity”) and one from the antithesis (“conscious”). (4) The dialectic embodies the Bible’s Johannine concept of “separation and return,” separating from and returning to something in the thesis.[48] (Paul Tillich, himself a dialectician, wrote: “Obviously -– and it was so intended by Hegel –- his dialectics are the religious symbols of estrangement [separation] and reconciliation [return] reduced to empirical descriptions.”.[49])
The above dialectic leads to a closely related one. In the closing pages of ‘’Phenomenology’‘, Hegel three times characterizes self-realization (the synthesis) as achieving “freedom.” Freedom is a concept that, according to almost all interpreters who have discussed Hegel’s concept of freedom, involves reaching a proper balance between the rights of the state and the rights of the individual. But that balance hasn’t been discussed in Phenomenology. Hegel is instead treating freedom as the opposite of bondage, or slavery. In its initial unconscious state (stage 1: thesis), Spirit has no mind, hence hasn’t created gods and can’t be in bondage to them. So Spirit is potentially free – but can’t be actually free until it has a mind. Recall Pinkard’s statement that, when Spirit achieves consciousness (stage 2: antithesis), the humans who give Spirit its mind and its consciousness “create religions.” Man thus enters into bondage to –- becomes a slave of -– God and religious superstition. The bondage entails worship, prayer, monetary support, obedience to arbitrary rules (e.g., kill every witch), embarrassing confessions and penance (in Catholicism), self-flagellation (in Islam), inquisitions, and the gnawing fear of burning in hell for all eternity for such petty offenses as saying “you fool,” premarital sex, or being rich. Self-realization (stage 3: synthesis) destroys God and religion by elevating man to godhood, or “infinity”; the supernatural God vanishes
In Phenomenology, the basic overarching dialectic describes the three-stage “life” of an ersatz God Hegel usually calls Spirit but sometimes (to mislead) calls “God.” Spirit, defined by Hegel as “all reality,” has a physical side and a mental side. The physical side is every object in the universe, including both natural objects (stars, flowers, rivers, mice, humans) and artificial objects (fences, barns, teacups, doorknobs, shirts). The mental side is the collective mind of man, for which reason Spirit is essentially humanity.
Spirit’s life begins in a prehuman state of nature. Here Spirit has no mind, hence no consciousness, because man (the source of Spirit’s mind) is not yet present on earth. Pinkard writes, "God, as spirit, is already metaphorically asleep [unconscious] in nature, and the divine principle of 'spirit' comes to fruition only as humans appear on the planet and create religions." When humans arrive, "spirit . . . wakes up from its natural slumber and becomes conscious of itself."[52] Without a mind, Spirit is not conscious of the many seemingly separate “objects” that constitute reality, so Spirit is unconsciously united as one entity. This is the thesis stage: unconscious unity. When man arrives on the planet, Spirit acquires its mind and becomes conscious. Each person or “subject” perceives a multitude of seemingly alien “objects” that subject (Spirit’s mind) does not recognize as essentially itself, Spirit. This is the antithesis stage: conscious separation. Finally, Hegel arrives and becomes part of Spirit’s mind. In Spirit’s act of “self-realization,” Hegel realizes that all the “alien” objects are essentially himself, Spirit, because the inner reality of everything is Spirit. This is the synthesis stage of Spirit’s life: conscious unity. The dialectic:
Thesis: unconscious + unity
Antithesis: conscious + separation
Synthesis: conscious + unity[47]
This dialectic illustrates Hegel’s usual (but not sole) dialectical format. That format has four characteristics: (1) Each stage features two simple concepts that usually consist of just one or two words. (2) Each antithesis concept is the opposite of, not just different from, its thesis counterpart (conscious is the opposite of unconscious, separation the opposite of unity). (3) The synthesis truly synthesizes (combines), borrowing one concept from the thesis (“unity”) and one from the antithesis (“conscious”). (4) The dialectic embodies the Bible’s Johannine concept of “separation and return,” separating from and returning to something in the thesis.[48] (Paul Tillich, himself a dialectician, wrote: “Obviously -– and it was so intended by Hegel –- his dialectics are the religious symbols of estrangement [separation] and reconciliation [return] reduced to empirical descriptions.”.[49])
The above dialectic leads to a closely related one. In the closing pages of ‘’Phenomenology’‘, Hegel three times characterizes self-realization (the synthesis) as achieving “freedom.” Freedom is a concept that, according to almost all interpreters who have discussed Hegel’s concept of freedom, involves reaching a proper balance between the rights of the state and the rights of the individual. But that balance hasn’t been discussed in Phenomenology. Hegel is instead treating freedom as the opposite of bondage, or slavery. In its initial unconscious state (stage 1: thesis), Spirit has no mind, hence hasn’t created gods and can’t be in bondage to them. So Spirit is potentially free – but can’t be actually free until it has a mind. Recall Pinkard’s statement that, when Spirit achieves consciousness (stage 2: antithesis), the humans who give Spirit its mind and its consciousness “create religions.” Man thus enters into bondage to –- becomes a slave of -– God and religious superstition. The bondage entails worship, prayer, monetary support, obedience to arbitrary rules (e.g., kill every witch), embarrassing confessions and penance (in Catholicism), self-flagellation (in Islam), inquisitions, and the gnawing fear of burning in hell for all eternity for such petty offenses as saying “you fool,” premarital sex, or being rich. Self-realization (stage 3: synthesis) destroys God and religion by elevating man to godhood, or “infinity”; the supernatural God vanishes