Dialectics

Hegel’s approach to tragedy is innovative and impressive, putting such a tremendous impact on the ethical canons that has been unprecedented since Aristotle. Hegel studies both the modern and the Greek classic tragedies, concluding that the Greek tragedy, in particular, Sophocles’ Antigone is superior to all the masterpieces of the classical and modern world… the most magnificent and satisfying (Aesthetics II 1218). Resorting to his dialectics, he declares that Antigone is a brilliant demonstration of what he names the ethical substances, the universal pathos or divine wills of the Greek mythological gods incarnated in the particulars, that’s is, the human beings that consciously choose to actualize them. Hegel thus illustrates that in Antigone the characters’ wills and actions are counterpoised by the unseen and intangible ethical substances just to confirm the triad of the Dialectal method where the thesis and anti-thesis’s dispute will subside down at the reconciling synthesis. Jacques Lacan, despite the incontrovertible impacts he takes from Hegel, argues that the essence of tragedy has to be sought in the very private world the subject internalizes in itself in interaction with the object-cause of its desire. Lacan adds that the object-cause of desire, unlike Hegel’s dynamic and lively external stimuli, is a common object that the subject elevates to the level of sublimity. Lacan also proposes that the very incomprehensibility of the Thing causes the subject to encounter the blinding Real, as an essentially-internal part of the subject’s symbolic world.

This paper bridges contemporary neuroscience theories and Hegelian philosophy, centering on Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle (FEP). Neuroscience models like the Bayesian brain hypothesis and predictive coding depict the brain as a predictive machine, echoing Hermann von Helmholtz’s concept of unconscious inference, where perception is shaped by prior knowledge. The FEP, rooted in information theory and statistical physics, suggests organisms minimize sensory surprise through unconscious and active inference, providing a model for behavior and explaining the purposiveness of biological systems. Some scholars assert that Georg W. F. Hegel’s view of living beings in his Philosophy of Nature aligns with the FEP, portraying them as purposive and enactive systems. This paper extends this idea, proposing that Hegel’s 'System of Science' in the Phenomenology of Spirit functions as a free energy-minimizing system. It discusses predictive coding and the FEP, establishing criteria for a system that minimizes free energy, and applies these criteria to Hegel’s work. The paper argues that the dialectical narrative in the Phenomenology operates as a reflective system driven to minimize logical or conceptual free energy, ultimately advancing the spirit towards absolute spirit. This Hegelian predictive model generates expectations essential for dialectical progression.