Moral And Ethical Conflicts And Resolve

Hegel’s practical philosophy is remarkable for its character of setting difference between morality and ethical life, and this difference also provides the key clue to understand the basic tension of his practical thought. To reanimate the classical principle of ethical life on a new basis of modern time, one should first go into depth of the possible contradiction between the two. Only in this way can the essential points of the task of sublation and reconciliation be acquired. The contradiction is most completely displayed and analyzed by Hegel in his interpretation of the image of Socrates. This paper intends to start from this interpretation so that the whole picture of the contradiction can first be outlined. Then it will reexamine Hegel’s ethical thought from the aspect of reconciling this conflict, so that a further understanding of this most important project of his practical philosophy can possibly be reached.The paper is divided into two main parts. The first part, which is consisted of chapter one and chapter two, examines Hegel’s interpretation of Socrates’life and philosophy, in order that the conflict can be showed in all its dimensions. The first chapter paraphrases Hegel’s general view on Greek ethical life which founds itself on the principle of’beauty’so that an ideal form of political life can be realized in the identity of finiteness and infinity. The second chapter points out two kinds of negative influence exerted on the Greek organic world by Socrates through his principle of morality. They are the philosophical result which includes the departure of the idea of good from the city-state and the emergence of reflective individuality deprived of all empirical contents; and the practical result of leading subjective freedom into political life with its alienated form. By following this discussion, the reason why simple ethical life should be destroyed by morality can be given and all problems related to the incompatibility can be revealed.The second part offers three plans, each tending to appease all the conflicts in a particular way. The first two represents significant standpoints in the history of philosophy which are discussed and sublated by Hegel, and the last one is Hegel’s own way of solving the problem. In the first plan, a community constructed right through Socrates’principle is observed. Here the utopian form of consciousness and transcendental morality are objected by Hegel.In the second plan, a community which denies Socrates’principle internally with the strengthening of the principle of ethical life is observed. Here the main theme is Hegel’s critique of Plato’s Politeia, by criticizing its suppressing subjective freedom unjustly and by absorbing its main idea of establishing the rule of philosophy.In the third plan, Hegel’s own solution will be investigated as the final say in which both previous plans can find their truth and all difficulties on the way of reconciliation can be overcome. Through the reasonable placement of subjective freedom in the realm of public life and the operation of training which serves as a path to liberation, both the right of the ethical substance and the right of individuals can be realized. The philosophical self-awareness of this reasonable state is then the real morality.