105HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICHis non-specific in early writings: there are
references to earthly punishment for
being disobedient to God and a place of
the dead, sheol, are referenced. There are
two main Indian conceptions of heaven: a
permanent bliss and happiness, and a
temporary state where samsara consumes
karma. It is also seen as infinite, endless,
indefinable, complete, and full of plea-
sures. Some sects of Indian philosophy
believe that heaven is a home of the gods
and family members who have died. The
Buddhist heaven is thought to have sen-
sual pleasures where a person can continue
his or her spiritual work. The Chinese phi-
losophies (such as Daoism and Buddhist
sects) believe in two heavens: a pre-natal
heaven and a later heaven. The pre-natal
heaven is the bliss before people are born
into the world while the later heaven is
the bliss after death. Daoists strive to
reverse the birth process so the pre-natal
heaven can be achieved again. The two
heavens are visible in the yin-yang.
HEDONISM. The belief that pleasure or
happiness is the only basic good: all other
goods derive their goodness directly or
indirectly because of pleasure or happi-
ness. Hedonism can allow that there are
a host of different levels of pleasure,
including refined intellectual and aes-
thetic pleasures. A hedonist may even
defend altruism as a preeminent pleasure.
As a theory of the good, hedonists need
not see goodness as only a human matter;
assuming at least some nonhuman animals
experience pleasure or happiness, their
well-being should also be considered as
being good. See also ETHICS.HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM
FRIEDRICH (1770–1831). A philoso-
pher of great significance, Hegel defended
a metaphysics and a philosophy of history
that sought to render all of reality
rational. Two major schools of thought
emerged, often called Left wing and Right
wing Hegelianism. The latter construes
Hegel as a Christian theist, while the for-
mer sees Hegel in non-theistic terms and
as a heterodox Christian.
Hegel believed that history and
thought itself should be seen as a dynamic
dialectic. One may represent this in three
stages at the outset. Assume the concept
of the changeless, as in Parmenides’ thesis
that there is only being. This thesis invites
the anti-thesis associated with Heraclitus
that everything changes. This in turn
invites a synthesis: some things remain
the same, some things change. Hegel’s
analysis of the master-slave relationship
in The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807)
has been highly influential. By Hegel’s
lights, the master is dependent upon
the slave for his identity and vice versa.
According to Hegel, religion is one way
that a society becomes self-conscious of
its values. Religion is not fully rational,
but neither faith nor revelation could be
contrary to reason. He also thought
religions could only be understood in
the context of their concrete practices.