Online research in philosophy

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Here are my thoughts on your three questions:

1) What ideas of Hegel have been refuted? The notion of philosophical ideas being "refuted" is an odd one, to my mind. Certainly there are a great many specific arguments, and perhaps even specific positions that have been shown to be so untenable it is hard to imagine them being saved, but when it comes to foundational or fundamental philosophical ideas (which are the important ones), none are ever refuted. I'd say that they may or may not be in favor at a particular time, or have temporarily exhausted their usefulness as analytic tools. But discarded and tossed on the ash heap of intellectual history? I don't think so. Certainly you'll find many contemporary philosophers (particularly English-speaking philosophers) who consider Hegel a bunch of hokum, but that is hardly a refutation of his ideas.

2) What do I find most interesting in his philosophy? Generally, his Idealism, and specifically his interpretation of the nature of consciousness.

3) Is it a good idea to struggle with Hegel? Yes! If for no other reason than Hegel has a powerful and indeed perhaps the most powerful forced affecting all of 19th, 20th and now 21st century Continental philosophy. It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that all Continental philosophy after Hegel was a reaction to him.

Best,

Hegel had and has much influence on many philosophers until today. For that reason it is a good idea to read his books. On the other hand Hegels work is very complicated to read.
His triads in thesis, antithesis and sythesis is very popular, but also very often critizised, because this formal system tends to ignore the complexity of aspects and focuses on the main topics. In theory, You can reduce a topic to one point, develop the antithesis etc. Practically this excludes a lot of relevant aspects.
I read the "Elements of the Philosophy of Right", a very interesting book.
But his idea of a telos in history, the idea of a "Geist" in history and his opinion, that the society he lived in is the best society You can think of is surely wrong.
In my very personal opinion Hegel is overestimated, because of the philosophers who included some elements of Hegel in their works (like Marx).
But nevertheless he developed a very interesting philosophy which is worth to read and important because of its reception.

Good luck with Your paper

I find Hegel to be one of the most fascinating philosophers.

I agree with Wayne Buck that Hegel's Weltanschauung is far richer than the “cartoon” version one usually finds today-especially in Anglo-American philosophical culture. This is to be expected because Hegel existed in a world that is alien to our own.  Bertrand Russell is a perfect example of the Anglo-American pragmatist who simply could not fathom Hegel and was not afraid to reveal his disgust for Hegel. Hegel was part of a mystical tradition that was very much still alive in Germany and in Continental Europe in his day. It is a tradition that one-raised in the Anglo-American practical Weltanschauung-will find alien. Russell says (in his History of Western Philosophy) that Hegel was THE "most difficult philosopher to understand". This is not so if you have the right background/historcial context.

I think this is the most overlooked aspect of Hegel. One must approach Hegel for what he was: a mystic in the Hermetic Tradition. One must understand the intuitive illumination of the Platonic and Neo-Platonic mystics (theurgy), Meister Exkhart, Ramon Lull, Nicolas of Cusa and the Kabbalah (which was THE hot thing in Germany since the times of Leibniz and Mercurus van Helmot as the brilliant Allison Courdet has documented).

A good place to start is by googling “hegel hermetic”.  Magee and others have written great introductions to the subject.

“Mysticism” and “Hermeticism” have become bad words in philosophy and science (especially in Anglo-American circles) for 150 years. But this is what has obscured Hegel to us. My point is not that Hegel was right. My point is that it is so hard for us to understand Hegel unless we know the world he lived in-a world that has been meticulously eradicated by British Empiricists, American Pragamatists and Logical Positivists.

As far as what has been refuted, I cannot give you a solid answer, but his appeals to what B. Russell says "must have been mystical illuminatin" (History of Western Philosophy) is generally rejected today as "mere poetry" because it lacks the rigor that Husserl was attempting to apply to philosophy.  This is probably the central criticism you will come across...at least in spirit. But the fact that such mysticism and intuitionism has solidified its place in the history of philosophy is so fascinating in itself. Hegel and our current zeitgiest are so distant that bridging the gap will take you on an incredible journey through the history of ideas.

Hegel is a struggle unless you have the historical context and are well versed in the underground history of occultism that influenced his thought. WHen well versed, his systemization of many of those ideas is obvious.

People always associate Hegel with Marx, but without understanding Hegel, I don't think the works of Frege and Husserl (and even Heidegger to some extent) can be properly framed. I hope i answered all of your questions even if i did not number my responses.

Regards,
Gary

Bob Wallace, I am humbled by your analysis.

And I am glad that your bring up Hegel’s Lectures on the History of Philosophy.  It is this work which should, in my opinion, be the first work of Hegel that a student begins with.  My post was an attempt to highlight just how inaccessible Hegel’s world is.  Hegel was many things and a raving mystic is one of them.  Let’s just get that out of the way.  And reading through this work will not only make that clear based on the weight that Hegel gives Cusa, Boehme, Bruno and other mystics, but it will open up the world so foreign to the modern Anglophone of German mysticism for which idealism is its public face. The Hegel's Hist. of Philosophy will give the student an alternative perspective to the one most commonly taught:

I think Spengler summed it all up it best and put this all in context in a footnote on page 365 of The Decline of the West (The tan Knopf 2003 English Edition of Volume I) when he says: “Here we are only considering the scholastic side.  The mystic side, from which Pythagoras and Leibniz were not very far, reached its culminations in Plato and Goethe, and in our own case it has been extended beyond Goethe by the Romantics, Hegel and Nietzsche, where Scholasticism exhausted itself with Kant – and Aristotle – and degenerated thereafter into a routine profession.”  I could not agree with Spengler more…

-Gary Geck
www.garygeck.com