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Comment by mykowebhn | Hacker News Reader

Oh god, as someone who studies and admires Hegel, please change the name from Hegel.

Completely agree. It's absolutely awful having software projects squatting on the names of great philosophers and artists. I appreciate that perhaps the author wanted to show their appreciation, but there are plenty of other equally communicative options.

Yo what has been the coolest thing about Hegel's philosophy you learned?

(I can really only do your question a modicum of justice by answering metaphorically.) That Anglo-American analytic philosophy, which has dominated much of 20th century Western philosophy and Western thought, was doomed from the start. It treated ontological Being as fixed, as beings nailed to a wall, lifeless and immobile. Hegelian philosophy, more than anything, is about movement.

Wait I thought Heidegger claimed that title? Or is he the guy who shifted Being from a noun to a verb, and Hegel's still focusing on the noun (just that the noun itself is a moving concept)?

Also I thought that 20th century analytic thought dissolved metaphysics entirely and didn't want to talk about it. I mean sure then you can question, "why delete metaphysics" but then you can't say that the 20th century brought this kind of stuff

> It treated ontological Being as fixed, as beings nailed to a wall, lifeless and immobile.

This reads more as a response to Plato & Kant

"didn't want to talk about it", absolutely. "dissolved metaphysics entirely", absolutely not.

Look, I read Continental philosophers too and I think they're cool, my point is that that kind of statement isn't what an analytic philosopher would say

Why? It’s perfectly coherent with the group of libraries and what they do.

It isn't. See: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2708045

I’ve read primary text excerpts from Hegel and some secondary sources too, and already knew that he didn’t write in that style, but the general idea that many forces in life develop themselves dialectically (the antithesis sometimes being expressed as alienation) is very similar in concept.

That a myth has developed around the terminology and methodology is persuading, but also there’s nothing wrong with a programming library to call itself Hegel.

Interesting paper regardless thanks for sharing.

On the other hand, I have quite the visceral reaction to the name because of the influence Hegel had on Marx, and subsequent 20th century critical theorists.

120% agree. it is so, so tasteless

A Hegel just flew over your house.

does anyone actually say it like that

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