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166

The one is, accordingly, the spiritual [element] as that which divides itself into personal self-subsistence that is for itself, and into the knowing and willing of free universality — the self-consciousness of comprehending thought and the willing of the objective final purpose; the other is the spiritual [element] preserving itself in unity, as the knowing and willing of the substantial in the form of concrete singularity and feeling — the former, in its relation outward, the powerful and active [element], the latter the passive and subjective [element]. The man therefore has his actual substantial life in the state, in science, and the like, and otherwise in struggle and labour with the external world and with himself, so that it is only out of his division that he fights his way to self-subsistent unity with himself; he has its calm intuition, and feeling, subjective ethical life, in the family, in which the woman has her substantial determination, and, in this piety, her ethical disposition.

|174| Piety is therefore expressed, in one of its most sublime presentations, the Sophoclean Antigone, preeminently as the law of woman, and is presented as the law of feeling, subjective substantiality, of inwardness, which has not yet attained its complete actualization — as the law of the ancient gods, of the underworld, as an eternal law of which no one knows whence it appeared, and in opposition to the manifest law, the law of the state — an opposition that is the highest ethical, and therefore the highest tragic, opposition, and one individualized there in femininity and masculinity; compare Phenomenology of Spirit, pp. 383 ff., 417 ff.

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3 responses to “166”

  1. Hegel (Notes) Avatar
    Hegel (Notes)

    Plant, animal –
    Undivided individuality.
    Within itself the difference, division, and universality.
    Science, art, poetry.
    Where women and youth rule in the state, the state is corrupted. They go by subjectivity – these persons –
    Opinion about the universal – not the objective.
    Enthusiasm – ideals, Schiller.

  2. Eduard Gans (Additions) Avatar
    Eduard Gans (Additions)

    Women can indeed be educated, but they are not made for the higher sciences, for philosophy, or for certain productions of art that require something universal. Women can have flashes of wit, taste, and delicacy, but they do not possess the ideal. The difference between man and woman is that between animal and plant: the animal corresponds more to the character of the man, the plant more to that of the woman, for the plant is more a quiet unfolding that takes as its principle the more indeterminate unity of feeling. If women stand at the head of government, the state is in danger, for they act not according to the demands of universality but according to contingent inclination and opinion. The education of women takes place, one knows not how, as it were through the atmosphere of representation, more through living than through the acquisition of knowledge, whereas the man attains his position only through the achievement of thought and through many technical exertions.

  3. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 166: Man and woman

    Man and woman are the two sides into which the ethical life of the family divides. How do they differ?

    The man:

    The man is the side that divides itself. He stands on his own. He thinks the universal and wills the objective purpose. Toward the outside he is active and powerful. So his actual life lies in the state, in science, in struggle and in labor with the world. He must first fight his way to unity with himself. In the family he finds calm and feeling for this.

    The woman:

    The woman is the side that stays in unity. She knows and wills the ethical in the form of feeling and of the single case. She is rather quiet and receptive. Her vocation lies in the family. Her ethical attitude is piety, a devout loyalty to the family.

    And further:

    Women can have a good education. But the higher sciences, philosophy and some kinds of art are not for them. The man is more like an animal. The woman is more like a plant that unfolds quietly. When women stand at the head of a state, the state is in danger. For they act on inclination and opinion, not on the universal.

    Antigone:

    In the tragedy “Antigone”, Sophocles presents piety as the law of woman. It is the old law of the gods of the underworld. Against it stands the open law of the state. This opposition is the highest ethical one, and so the highest tragic one.

    Summary: The man has his essential life in the state, in science and in labor with the world. The woman has her vocation in the family and her ethical attitude in piety.

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