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Love, Logic, Self-consciousness, and the continuity of mind and life: This episode is with Karen Ng, author of Hegel's Concept of Life, and an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Andrea and Karen discuss Hegel's concept of life, self-consciousness, and the problem of contradiction, emphasizing how life and love are fundamental to understanding his ideas. The episode moves through Kant's influence on Hegel, internal and external purposiveness, and how these philosophical concepts relate to our modern understanding of the mind, nature, and meaning. Karen shares her journey and insights on making Hegel’s complex ideas accessible and relevant to contemporary issues.

Philosopher Karen Ng
Hegel's Concept of Life

00:00 Hegel's Contradictory Philosophy

00:31 The Concept of Life and Self-Consciousness

02:48 Karen Ng's Insights on Hegel

09:48 Understanding Hegel's Rationalism

17:57 Kant's Influence and the Copernican Turn

25:11 Mechanism vs. Teleology in Philosophy

29:57 Internal vs. External Purposiveness

37:08 Life as Process and Meaning

40:34 Hegel's Radical Thought on Intelligibility and Life

41:44 The Connection Between Life and Meaning

42:25 Hegel's Perspective on Self-Consciousness and Life

44:14 The Role of Logic and Life in Hegel's Philosophy

49:46 Hegel's Critique of Cartesian Dualism

51:31 The Speculative Identity Thesis and Cognition

53:36 Modern Philosophical Challenges and Hegel's Relevance

54:26 Hegel's Influence and Contemporary Philosophers

01:01:28 The Journey of Writing a Book on Hegel

01:09:05 Hegel's Concept of Love and Life

01:14:46 Concluding Thoughts on Hegel's Philosophy

Karen Ng at Vanderbilt University

“True union, or love proper, exists only between living beings who are alike in power and thus in one another’s eyes living beings from every point of view; in no respect is either dead for the other.”

“… love is a sensing of something living …”

These Hegel quotes that Karen mentions are from the fragment on love, published in Early Theological Writings, trans. T.M. Knox, UPenn Press, 1975. The passages are on pages 304 and 305. And the German can be found in volume 1 of the Suhrkamp edition of Hegel’s Werke.

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