Chapter 27, Hegel Summary

Hilde is still reading the book her father sends her. She is provoked and wants to somehow aid and act for Sophie and Alberto in their "romantic" rebellion. Then she decides to read the next chapter about the philosopher Hegel. In the book, Alberto and Sophie are continuing the philosophy course. The next subject is the work of Hegel, who recasts the romantic idea of a world spirit in terms of the human spirit of historical eras. In German this is known as the "Zeitgeist." While Kant believes in a distant, absolute truth that humans are incapable of knowing, Hegel says that everything is subjective. Hegel's work is an attack on the notion of a timeless universal ideal or system. He introduces the notion that every era has its own laws and spirit. Slavery, for example, is considered wrong now, but...