All of Hegel's philosophy followed from the dialectical method that he had created. This is tied largely with Hegel's theology which reinterprets Christianity in a way that allows for a God that develops and progresses (changes) and for an interpretation of the Bible that takes it as an allegory for the ongoing process of the human condition, both individual and social.
The Garden: Man began in the garden. Now the Garden of Eden is taken to be not a place but a condition of primitive humanity. In the garden, the human condition was simple as it was:.
1. Natural - they lived with and in according to nature.
2. Innocent - they did not have knowledge of right and wrong as social ethics.
3. Secure - there was a relatively easy life of hunting and gathering. The only problems were forces of nature.
Unfortunately, each of these positive conditions have negative counterparts. So the garden was also:.
1. Primitive - humans in this condition had existences little above that of animals.
2. Ignorant - innocence is also ignorance and knowledge that allows people to progress also allows them to do evil.
3. Static - life was fairly easy but did not change. There was not progress, little change. It must have been boring.
From life in the garden, humans evolved into life in the city. This is the antithesis of the garden. In the city, the human condition was complicated as it was:.
1. Artificial - The environment is constructed and formed by humans. It is unnatural, stifling.
2. Devious - Everyone is out to get all they can. No one can be trusted.
3. Threatening - because of the artificiality and deviousness, life is insecure, dangerous.
But the city, though in its initial state negative, has these positive aspects that are antitheses to the negative aspects. the human condition was also:.
1. Creative - since it is manmade, there is the ability to shape and reshape it.
2. Free - people are not bound by rules or so subject to natural conditions, so they have choice and can determine their own characters more readily in the social conditions of the city than in the natural environment of the garden.
