Hegel

Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher who lived from 1770-1831. Hegel believes that history is progressive, in the course of time human beings great a greater understanding of the world. History is a succession of understanding the divine, nature, society, and beauty. Hegel thinks that the struggle of human beings from the beginning of history to understand or figure out the entire history of humans understanding is driven by the desire to understand the divine. To Hegel, man is a self-representation being. It likes to show what it represents, writes, paints, sings, etc. we express our emotions, thoughts, and beliefs, and with this we leave records of our existence.

Hegel found that over time art has had a spiritual decline, art has lost its religious significance. Since the beginning of time humans have always wanted to understand the supernatural, and all civilizations have expressed their religious ideas through art.

English: The portrait of G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831);...

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

Hegel's tombstone in Berlin

They found art to be a significant median for them to express religious views, ideas, and beliefs. Now more then ever people do not use art to represent the divine. As society becomes more secular, art moves away from public and towards private.

People's relationship to God is not as strong as it used to be. Many people now do not feel the need to go to church, because they can practice their religion anywhere and confess their sins to themselves or friends. Hegel thinks that this is OK though because this is just Christianity developing and he believes in progression. Hegel sees nothing wrong with using art for reasons other then religion, he thinks it is good for people to use art to explore things people do or support. Hegel has the belief that spiritual life equals inner life. Hegel's God is a God of philosophy, this...