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Geist




Geist is German for Mind , Spirit or Ghost . It is a central concept in Hegel 's '' Phenomenology Of Spirit ''. According to Hegel, the ''Weltgeist'' ("World Spirit") makes history through the Mediation of various ''Volkgeist'' ("Folk Spirits"), of which Great Men , such as Napoleon , are the Incarnation (or " Concrete Universal ").


THE ''WELTGEIST''


'''', the World Spirit concept designates an Idealistic principle of world explanation, which can be found from the beginnings of philosophy up to more recent time. The concept of world spirit was already accepted by the idealistic schools of ancient Indian philosophy, whereby one explained Objective Reality as its product. (See Metaphysical Objectivism ) In the early philosophy of Greek antiquity, Socrates , Aristoteles and Plato all paid homage, amongst other things, to the Concept of world spirit. Hegel later based his Philosophy Of History on it.


OTHERS


''Geist'' is a component of several German Loanword s such as '' Zeitgeist '', the spirit of the time or Collective Unconscious , and Poltergeist , the mischievous ghosts that are believed to make noises.

Early Germanic tribes, like other pagan tribes around the world, had customs of consulting dead ancestors at feasts. The English words "ghost" and "guest" are said to have descended from the German ''Geist'' due to the Northern pagan custom in which the ancestral spirits were invited as honored guests.

In German (Roman Catholic) '' refers to the Holy Spirit .

'''' is a German word literally meaning "of an ill mind" and is sometimes used to describe someone suffering from Mental Illness .

''Geistlos'' refers to being mindless or without spirit.


SEE ALSO




REFERENCES


  • ''Of Spirit: Heidegger and the Question'', by Jacques Derrida . Translation by Geoffrey Bennington & Rachel Bowlby, Chicago University Press, 1989 (ISBN 0226143171) and 1991 (ISBN 0226143198)

  • ''Faith and Folklore of the British Isles'', by William Carew Hazlitt, Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0766148084