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356

2. The Greek Realm

This realm has that substantial unity of the finite and the infinite, but only as a mysterious foundation, thrust back into dull remembrance, into caves, and into images of tradition — a foundation which, born forth out of a self-differentiating spirit into individual spirituality and into the daylight of knowing, is tempered and transfigured into beauty and into a free and serene ethical life. |353| In this determination, then, the principle of personal individuality arises, not yet caught up within itself, but still held within its ideal unity; hence the whole falls apart, in part, into a circle of particular national spirits, and in part, on the one hand, the ultimate decision of the will is not yet placed within the subjectivity of self-consciousness existing for itself, but in a power that is higher than and external to it (cf. § 279, Remark), while, on the other hand, the particularity that belongs to need has not yet been taken up into freedom, but is excluded and confined to a slave class.

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  1. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 356: The Greek realm

    Here too the unity of the divine and the human still exists. But it has withdrawn into dim memory, into mysteries and images of tradition.

    What is new?

    Spirit steps into the bright light of knowing. It becomes beauty and a free, serene ethical life. The individual unfolds as a person. But he is not yet closed up in himself. He stays held in the beautiful whole.

    The limits:

    The whole breaks into many separate cities and peoples. The final decision does not yet lie in man himself. People fetch it from a higher power, for example from the oracle. And the work for needs stays shut out of freedom. It falls to the slaves.

    Summary: In the Greek realm spirit becomes beauty and serene ethical life. But the final decision still lies outside man. And work remains the business of slaves.

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