By: Hegel (Simple)

Hegel (Simple) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:56:20 +0000

§ 195: Luxury and distress

This liberation is only formal. For the content remains one’s own wishes.

What happens when needs keep multiplying?

Luxury arises. And with luxury, dependence grows. The more someone needs, the more he depends on others. For the things he needs belong to others. This is a hard limit.

Two sides:

Where great luxury reigns on one side, great distress reigns on the other.

An example from Athens:

Diogenes wanted to live entirely without needs. The story goes that he lived in a barrel. But he too was a child of his city. He lived against luxury, and so luxury was his measure. He himself was a crude product of luxury.

Summary: The endless growth of needs leads to luxury. With luxury, dependence grows. Where there is great luxury, there is also great distress.

By: Eduard Gans (Additions)

Eduard Gans (Additions) — Wed, 29 May 1833 13:56:09 +0000

Diogenes in his whole cynical shape is really only a product of Athenian social life, and what determined him was the very opinion against which his manner altogether acted. It is therefore not independent, but arose only through this social element, and is itself an unruly product of luxury. Where, on the one side, the latter stands at its height, there, on the other side, need and degradation are just as great, and cynicism is then produced through the opposition of refinement.

Comments on: 195

By: Hegel (Simple)

By: Eduard Gans (Additions)