Thoughts on Hegel

Hegel states that there is a progression of sophistication in all cultures, excluding the “prehistoric” African ones, that moves towards higher rationality and freedom. In class, Dr. J expressed agreement with this claim, and posed the legitimacy of the statement to us. Tim stated (if I am putting it correctly, if not, please correct in the comments) that our rationality has been developed and manifested through higher forms of technology and science, but that this has not had an effect on our freedom.

Purely in terms of racial equality, and the ability for each race of humans to live under similar rules and standards, i.e. without having their freedom imposed upon by others, it seems that the advancement of rationality has led to increased racial freedom.

Given what we know genetically about the different races of humans, that is, that we certainly cannot be divided (scientifically) into different species, it would seem to hold true that the more racially conscious and cultured one person is, the less likely they are to be prejudiced against another race of human beings. This is supported by what a few different students argued about in class: that humans are not necessarily going to make hierarchical discriminations, but perhaps just that the potential for those discriminations exists and can be brought forth by certain circumstances.

Throughout the history of man, from the point at which new races were introduced and began to procreate, through the evolution of racial philosophy (as Dr. J said, there is a marked difference between Hegel’s method and those “frothing rants” of a less complex bigot), there has been increased rationality and increased freedom. So, my thesis is: given the massive spread of ideas and facts throughout online media in our current age, humans have a wider access to the knowledge leading to the conclusion that different races are equal in rational capacity and human worth. Therefore, our striving for increased rationality has led to increased freedom among the different races.

One supporting the antithesis to my thesis might point towards racial profiling in the news and the wide reach of white-power websites, or perhaps to the negative stereotypes perpetuated in hip-hop culture and catalyzed through YouTube and other mass-distributing online sources. I’m not sure I have an answer to that, although I might point out that those problems seem quite less intense (freedom inhibiting) than those in years past. Obviously full racial equality and freedom has not been reached, but I think there is evidence to show that it is a goal and point that human culture is striving towards.