The past in the present: experience of structural-semantic analysis of the image of Lady Destiny in Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit"

Abstract

This article explores the Hegelian concept of cognition of the history of culture reflected in the “Phenomenology of the Spirit” in the image of Lady Destiny. Therefore, the author offers a new translation version of one of the fragments of Hegel's “Phenomenology of Spirit”, which is of fundamental importance for understanding the message of the work and its structure. Special attention is given to the Hegelian perspective on historical cognition, peculiarities of the language of “Phenomenology of Spirit”, and the role of imagery in describing the “experience of consciousness”. The author substantiates the statement that recognition of the universal correlations and integrity of history serves as the prerequisite for its comprehensibility. The article indicates the dependence of the developed by Hegel concept of nature and purpose of the philosophy on his doctrine of historical consciousness. A detailed analysis is conducted on the image of Lady Destiny and its role within the conceptual structure of the “Phenomenology of the Spirit”. The author describes the role of this image in the Hegelian concept of cognitions of the history of culture, analyzes the place of imagery means in describing the experience of consciousness, adjusts the traditional representations on the nature and peculiarities of the system of Hegel's philosophy. Emphasis is placed on the importance of personal aspect in the Hegelian concept of historical cognition and it correlation with the central for Hegel’s philosophy intuition of history as a complete whole. The research employs a set of historical-philosophical methods, as well as comparative analysis of the historical-cultural phenomena. In translation of the Hegelian text, the author resorts to etymology for clarification of the available Russian translations.