Why do I read Hegel philosophy?

In the preface to Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel confidently declares the beginning of his new philosophy and speaks of a vision as grand as the world itself embarking on a new history. He explains that his philosophy transcends that of Kant, Fichte, and Schelling, who came before him. At its starting point, he could already see a philosophical system that would lead to absolute knowledge, where it would be said that no philosophy that would surpass him would ever appear. That would be the greatest drama in the field of philosophy. I felt a slight fever about one-thousandth of Hegel's fever, and felt that my own drama was about to begin.

It doesn't exist in the field of philosophy, let alone my drama. That is simply impossible. However, within the field of my own life, I'm free to engage in philosophical thinking. There is only one thing that Hegel and I have in common. I wonder if the readers of this note will realize that...that is self-awareness.

This is because every person has a sense of self. Hegel progresses on the journey of experience of consciousness from self-consciousness to nation and religion, but I will keep it within my own life for now. However, if today's real society and the world were to go to war, the nation would have no choice but to proceed with the journey of consciousness to the nation in advance. Regardless, even if you limit yourself to your peaceful surroundings, you should already have a sense of self as a citizen of civil society. My current situation is that this sense of self-consciousness as a citizen is somewhat vague, so for now my drama is a journey through the experience of self-consciousness as a citizen.

I would like to think about my existence philosophically. I think that my current knowledge is limited in quantity and quality, that I am immature, and that I am far from the truth. That's why I think we are unconsciously caught up in the world and laws that we cannot see. I think there are a lot of things that we are missing out on because we don't know about them. Noriyuki Makino has explained that Hegel's spirit refers to social consciousness, but I feel that there is quite a bit lacking in this social consciousness as a person. Society is a melting pot of other people, and I am aware that I have lived my life avoiding others. I am analyzing myself and think that this is the reason why I have now become interested in Hegel's philosophy.

I previously wrote that self-consciousness is the key word that connects Hegel and myself. I think this way of thinking, where I rely on my own sense of self and go outside for a while, but then come back to myself based on what I experienced outside, suits my nature. If I had to force myself to name it, Hegel's philosophy is that for a person of social withdrawal. Although he is a recluse, he manages to maintain objectivity and incorporates the essence of society and the nation into himself.

For me, my immediate goal is to use this method to incorporate society, or the ``spirit of the law.'' The term ``law'' is difficult to translate here, but according to Hiroshi Hasegawa, it means ``true righteousness and justice that are realized in real society.'' It's still a bit hard to understand, but if you think of it as rules that everyone can agree on, you can see the difference from the image of the law. When I look back on my life up until now, I feel that I have somehow managed to distance myself from society to protect my inner self, but that is because I wanted to minimize my interactions with society. But I think that's because society didn't understand. If you can grasp the essence of society, there is no need to avoid it and you can live without pressure. I read Hegel with this in mind.