Hegelian Geographical Sensibilities

Although rarely recognised, Hegelian philosophy also encompasses a rich geographical knowledge, which has great value for scholars working across multiple scales of socio-spatial interaction. The article offers an analysis of the geographical sensibilities of Hegel that are immanent in the main body of his philosophical system, particularly in the Phenomenology of Spirit, where it is possible to find a very original elaboration on the metabolism of reason, the articulation between the particular and the universal, and the function of otherness in socio-spatial interaction. The main argument here is the contrast between the more explicit references to nature and space, on the one hand, and the deeper and more immanent theorisation of world relations, on the other, which constitutes Hegel’s major geographical contribution. The discussion revolves around the key question of the totality of relations and how space encapsulates the unfinished struggles for change and for self-consciousness. The complex evolution of self-consciousness, via the experience of otherness and the insistence of moral duties, not only takes place in time and space but is also an expression of socially produced and perennially disputed spaces. Hegelian dialectic is ultimately an anticipated rendering of the contemporary understanding of socially produced and contested spaces. Geography, as interpretation and critique of lived realities, can be an important translation of philosophy into life, but because space is always lived space, geography becomes the actualisation of philosophy and also its complication.

Keywords:

Dialectic , Hegel , space production , Scale , Ontology , politics