@Fil Albuquerque,
Fil Albuquerque wrote:
...How to beat Hegel in five minutes...
I don't know if you ever saw the picture I posted on the philforum showing what my dog did to my copy of Phenomenology. I imagine it took about five minutes. E-books are definitely the way to go if you have philosophy carnivores roaming your halls.... as I do.
Fil Albuquerque wrote:
Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis
The yin/yang symbol pictures how thesis and antithesis are related. Each hides the other within it.
Like freedom versus determined. Neither makes sense without the other. So just realizing that they're two sides of the same coin... (a single concept) could be thought of as having arrived at synthesis.
What's likely to be the case though, is that I'm firm on one side of the coin... but weak on the other. That's generally because of emotional anchoring. Call it cultural (I'm an American... so take a wild guess which side of the freedom/determined coin I would be firm and clear on) but really... culture is only a language for it. It's just as likely to be some personal crapola that leaves me stuck so I can say all day long that I know the other side is undeniable, but it's really just a funny game to me to consider this.
I still think that if A is true... then negative-A can't be. Whatever side I'm strong on is going to squash the other side and leave me with only one truth. Synthesis only exists as an intellectual thing... it hasn't really come home to me yet that both sides are undeniable. I may remain this way until I die. Or the emotional anchoring could become unwound. Does it make any difference which? You and I both know that what is to come... has, in a sense, already happened.
Bottom line is: there's a path in front of you... put foot to path and walk.
Main thing I wanted to tell you is: Cogito Ergo Sum.