Geist
() is a German word that does not translate very well into English. It is usually translated as mind, spirit, or ghost but can also be associated with drive or motivation. Some English translators resort to using "spirit-mind" to help convey the meaning of the term. Closer approximations include the Greek word p?e?µa(pneuma), the Latin animus and anima, and the Chinese medical ? shen (all quite similar in meaning).
It is a central concept in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
(Phänomenologie des Geistes
).
According to Hegel, the Weltgeist
("World Spirit") is not an actual thing one might come upon or a God-like thing beyond, but a means of philosophising about history. Weltgeist
is effected in history through the mediation of various Volksgeist
("Folk Spirits"), the great men of history, such as Napoleon, are the "concrete universal".
This has led some to claim that Hegel favoured the great man theory, although his philosophy of history, in particular concerning the role of the "universal state" (Universal Stand
, which means as well "order" or "statute" than "state"), and of an "End of History" is much more complex.
For Hegel, the great hero is unwittingly utilised by Geist
or Absolute Spirit
, by a "ruse of Reason" as Hegel puts it, and is irrelevant to history once his historic mission is accomplished; he is thus submitted to the teleological principle of history, a principle which allows Hegel to re-read all the history of philosophy as culminating in his philosophy of history.
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GEIST TICKETS
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The Weltgeist
Weltgeist
, the
world spirit concept designates an
idealistic principle of world explanation, which can be found from the beginnings of philosophy up to more recent time. The concept of world spirit was already accepted by the idealistic schools of ancient Indian philosophy, whereby one explained
objective reality as its product. (See
metaphysical objectivism) In the early philosophy of Greek antiquity,
Socrates,
Plato and
Aristotle all paid homage, amongst other things, to the
concept of world spirit. Hegel later based his
philosophy of history on it.
Others
Geist
is a component of several German
loanwords such as
Zeitgeist
, the spirit of the time or
collective unconscious, and
poltergeist, the mischievous ghosts that are believed to make noises.
In German (Roman Catholic)
theology, the term
Heiliger Geist
refers to the
Holy Spirit.
Geisteskrank
is a German word literally meaning "of an ill mind" and is sometimes used to describe someone suffering from
mental illness. In professional psycho-scientific language, however, the term is obsolete nowadays.
Geistlos
refers to being mindless or without spirit.
In
Blizzard Entertainment's
World of Warcraft a type of creature is called "Geist". In the German version of the game, the creature's name is "Spuk", which is German for spook and also a synonym for ghost.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg features a roller coaster named "Alpengeist", meaning "Ghost of the Alps."
See also
- Consciousness
- Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
- Georg Lukacs' conception of class consciousness
- Psyche
- Volk-Geist
References