End of the Year Issue
By Francesca Di Muro
October 31, 2023
"I then thought that Hegel would have been very sensitive to this object which has two opposing functions: at the same time not to admit any water (repelling it) and to admit it (containing it). He would have been delighted, I think, or amused (as on vacation), and I call the painting Hegel's Holiday." - René Magritte
According to the erroneous idea we have of philosophy as a discipline totally detached from reality and concreteness, rooted in something metaphysical transcending the tangible world, Hegel should be considered an anti-philosopher.
However, there is nothing more embedded in reality than philosophy, and not a more perfect philosopher than Hegel. Careful in refulging any abstract reasoning, he brilliantly highlights reality’s shades and its dynamics. This article has no intention of being a description of Hegel’s philosophy. It has, rather, the mission of showing a Hegelian perspective on our reality, who we are, our lives and our beings.
Hegel’s fundamental philosophical trait is its dialectic, which configures itself firstly as a universal law of beings. Born from the refusal of rigid binary logic, it has a triadic configuration. Reality is made up of three different stages, which interact reciprocally, and are in movement and strict correlation. These movements are referred to as thesis, antithesis and synthesis. The thesis is the affirmation, while the antithesis is its negation and the synthesis is no more than the union of both thesis and antithesis; the combination of the negation of what used to be the thesis’ negation (antithesis) and its affirmation. The most important passage is the one from the antithesis to the synthesis; it is the main nucleus of the reflection that is collocated. The synthesis, which etymologically means union of two, is a combination of two paradoxes, holding together parts of the thesis and parts of the antithesis, according to the key concept we refer to as Aufhebung.
This German term has no perfect correspondent in other languages, and is often translated to the English term of ‘overpassing’ or ‘to surpass’, in order to convey the idea of overcoming certain parts of the thesis and antithesis; to give birth to a synthesis as union of both. The moment of synthesis, in fact, is also described as overpassing in the sense that it isn’t merely limited to the reaffirmation of the thesis, but to its integration with the negative parts of the antithesis.
This is the nucleus of the concept of Aufhebung: an ‘elimination that keeps traces of what is eliminating’, the eradication of the antithesis but the permanence of its experience. And this is where Hegel’s philosophy meets our beings, our lives and our own relations, with things, peoples and ourselves.
In what sense? By keeping us aware of the importance of the ‘negative’; of the ‘positivity’ of its role. By putting in contact and enhancing the dialogue between oppositions, the antithesis makes the differences edificant, telling us that the reality is in continuous movement, with encounters to different elements of tragedy, conflict, and defeat. However, it gives energy to them, hence encapsulating their dynamism. Defeat is essential and integral to our reality, through which we acquire knowledge and experience. In other words, defeat is something through which we grow; we develop the synthesis of who we are. The negative is seen as no more than the other side of positive. Through the moment of the synthesis, we can let all of our contradictions coexist, breathe and develop. After a tormented experience, the process of synthesis allows us to regain our identity, creating a certain unity from an initial fragmentation.
We, humans, comprehend beauty only after having faced its contrary painfully. And, perhaps, if we learn to see the negative this way, contradictions will find their place in and outside of ourselves, giving meaning to our sufferings and directions to our pains in a superior perspective of unity. In this sense, Magritte’s quote at the top acquires meaning, giving value to both the thesis and the antithesis in defining one’s identity and one’s perspective.