Great Authors - Neoclassical and Romantic Literature - Goethe, Faust

R.i.P.
Legend of Legends.

".. salvation is possible only through inspired labor not through guilt and remorse .. "

This is one of my favorite lecture so far. I should and i will buy this book definitely. The story inspires me a lot. Haven't heard of Goethe before, but the themes here covers my entire life experiences. As a person who's made a lot of mistakes in life and is unable to bear the weight of guilt. Perhaps in a way, it's not that grave for some, but I'm not in the position to view it as that. To move forward with faith, ( in opinion is a primitive virtue for human survival) is what helps me to be still each day. Almost done with all the lectures here and I'm so thankful that I've come to encounter this channel. I've taken my interest in particular on those who have a sort of archaic minds like easthern philosophers, pre-socratics, plato, stoics. Seeing some few resemblances in their analogous views of nature in its general and broader picture in application to ethics. I think it's a great start for me in philosophy. Prof. Sugrue is the greatest teacher of philosophy i know so far. We owe you Professor! Thank you❤

Red mouse. Red necktie. Coincidence?

Just finished it and it was so good!!! Gretchen got saved in my version but the notes said she went to hell one but at the end she was one of the ones tossing roses I think.

It was a bit above my head but I really really enjoyed it

And how do you say goethe I think it was “goth”

He seems like a fancy schmancy intellectual except for the way he repeatedly slurps his coffee like a barbarian.

Do not play a drinking game where you take a shot every time Sugrue says "now".

Without having read Faust, I feel I must bring to your attention something that has been on my mind lately concerning philosophical ideas related to this subject and about which I am considering writing a book. Maybe someone can help me with it.

I know this video concerns Goethe. However, my most recent and intense studies have been in regards to Hegel. I have often heard declarations that, in one way or another, Hegel held Logos responsible for the development of reality. I still believe this to be partially true, but I also realize that it is an oversimplification. Having studied Hegel relatively intently lately–as well as many other doctrines from other philosophers–my conceptions and conclusions have undergone a few peculiar and definite refinements. So please tell me what you think about the following idea:

Everytime I sense Hegel talking about his idea of selfsame opposites maintaining unity, my mind always drifts into the analogous concept in the computing world of sequential versus parallel processing. And from there my thoughts associate to other analogues like space versus time and, finally, masculinity versus femininity.

I have this idea concerning the way in which the historicity of Hegel comes alive for me. Although Hegel managed to generate an entirely unique conception of what is meant by the notion of logic, he also did not deny the merits of traditional Aristotelian logic, i.e., the formal elimination of contradictions. On the other hand, Hegel obviously also revived the significance of contradiction, elevating it to a prominent and indispensably vital role: the driving force behind the development of all human history. Meanwhile, following on the heels of Kant, Hegel further endorsed the claim that our entire experience as conscious beings is organized around space and time. But space and time each themselves carry certain connotations or associations: space has a sense of stability and fixity, more or less sturdy and static, whereas time is all about change and mutability. (I note in passing that the zeitgeist of Kant and Hegel's day strictly compartmentalized space and time as wholly separate, in contrast to our modern conception of the space-time continuum whereby these two are basically the mathematical inverse of each other).

Now, coming back to Hegel's acceptance of formal logic, the word 'logic' itself derives etymologically, as I'm sure everyone knows, from the word Logos. That word has also, since ancient times, been associated with masculinity and consciousness. Interestingly enough, doesn't masculinity also connote a sense of stoic, immutable and geometric permanence, much in the way of space? Thus we might arguably tie notions of masculinity to our spatial conceptions, and, by further extension, to our stubborn fixation on the elimination of contradiction.

But where, then, does that leave femininity?

Let's consider an old metaphor I've always used for helping friends to understand their opposite sex relationships. I always explain it simply by relating men to a large rock up against which the constant churning of ocean waves crash, again and again. I always tell my male friends that they should think of themselves as a Rock–strong and immutable–and their women as the Ocean–deep, mysterious, constantly and internally in motion, given to occasional upheavals of fierce and explosive power, always crashing against their Rock, always seeking to dislodge their Rock at his weakest points. Moreover, I also frequently quip (in a less than facetious mood) that women possess an entirely different "logic" than men; it would not be a stretch to say that very embodiment of femininity–i.e., women–sometimes seem to be the very embodiment of contradiction itself! I've had countless experiences in which women have stared me dead in the face, perfectly serious, and asked me to do--simultaneously--two things that were completely contradictory and illogical. (I have developed a rather cynical view of this behavior, since I believe women have been designed by God to weaken men by confusing our desire to eliminate contradiction). It's as though what seems like a clear contradiction to a man is perfectly sensible and rational to a woman.

Anyway, my point is that if we can in this way associate Logos with our fixed sensibilities pertaining to spatial conceptions, then, by comparison, (as an antinomy, I suppose) we might similarly associate feminine Eros to our common sense of change–the key feature in our concept of time. For if by Logos we mean the eradication of contradictions, then plainly by Eros we mean the retention and deployment of contradictions for the purpose of change and development. Indeed, could it be that Hegel was trying through his philosophy to demote Logos to a place of at least equal significance to that of Eros by demonstrating how the latter is the prime mover behind spatial reconfiguration and thus the source of History? Could it be that he was doing so without being all too explicit about it? Could this be why so many after him, including Freud–perhaps via unconscious osmosis of a zeitgeist generated by Hegel–saw sexual potencies as the structure of history, i.e., of space (being) and time (change)? Indeed, is space the Logos, and time, Eros? I often wonder at whether this is what he meant when he said something enigmatic, along the lines of "Lacking strength, Beauty hates the Understanding for asking of her what it cannot do"! (See Para. 32, Pg. 19, Phenomenology of Spirit, A.V. Miller)

At any rate, were this so, then it leaves me struggling to designate which would be the analogue to sequential processing and which to parallel processing. I suppose sequential processing would be akin to time and thus feminine, whereas parallel processing is by contrast akin to space and thus masculinity. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Can someone please help??

Something tells me that Goethe is giving voice to the masculine and feminine forces behind history, with an emphasis on the alchemical transmutation between these two forces as what we call "history" proceeds to unfold and develop.

Holy kamoly ... citing a poem by name in a comment just got me busted by the YT police. Hmmm ... sounds so PC I wonder what a Romantic like Goethe would think (or, for that matter, a professor of philosophy). Shame on you all!

I'm not even 4 minutes in and i feel like i'm at a rock concert. This man gives off so much energy. Grateful for people like this. Can't wait to hear more.

Is the theatrical diversion just an attempt to delay Faust from getting to Gretchen?

Thanks!

Where can I find a pdf annotated edition of Goethe's Faust online?

I find myself coming back to this lecture time and again. Thank you.

Love his Mr.Bean outfit

Helpful analysis, however, are you aware that you use the terminology if moral value to condemn the propagation of moral values?

"Red mouse from her mouth.... she had committed infanticide"
Wow yeah that is genuinely an amazing symbolism.

Anyone have a good translation of Faust they can recommend? 🌞

exceptional

Professor, have you ever seen the German film, "Mephisto"? Picture Goethe's "Faust" in the context of Nazi Germany. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the film and its interpretation.

Interestingly, the one thing that's never explained by people analyzing Faust is why is Mephistopheles wrong. It's always assumed, but never clarified.

"I am the spirit that negates.
And rightly so, for all that comes to be
Deserves to perish wretchedly;
'Twere better nothing would begin."

I have listened to these lectures many times now thanks to your channel. Excellent stuff.

NOW....we must think differently about boring intellectual lectures. NOW... they are not boring anymore. NOW... thanks to Michael Sugrue putting them online.

These lectures are great, but I hate that you can hear him gulping so loudly 😂

Thank you Dr. Sugrue. This was one of the most instructive and inspirational lectures I've listened to. Great lessons to learn here from Goethe's Faust. Much appreciate your dedication to this line of work.

Cup the Mic, Don't Mic the Cup

While cognizant of insights sharp and clear
my Gretchen couldn't bear the raft of sips
that lapped like Faust's black dog atop a pier
of loosened planks. Less quaffes! More arid quips!

You often use the word "Ore-shtuf" (I have no idea how to spell it). You've roughly referred to it as the "Substratum" of the universe within German idealism... How do you spell this (German) word? Aurshtuf? Orshtuf? Plz help and thank you for your work.. thank u very much.

Pretty cool!

Profoundly illuminating.

This probably my favourite michael sugrue lecture!

So, Goethes' version of Divine Comedy. But why does sugrue use Being topic from Being & Time book at times! I think I am missing something 😅

Outstanding lecture on an outstanding literary work, Dr. @Michael Sugrue.

"Maybe something like film could handle Faust."

laughs in Best of the Worst

this guy is all too enthusiastic for everything Everything and every philosophy is 'wow, amazing' A poem that changes our understanding of poetry BS

Uh...the female "leads us aloft?" My first thought wZ ahem something south going North ;) Boiiiing Get it?

My favourite book and version of this German legend. This dramatic poem perfectly highlights how the search for happiness is so problematic.

Thanks

This series of philosophical lectures definitively changed the way I see the world and my purpose here. Thanks, Professor Sugrue.

Good reading like good sex is a commitment of time and effort.

It's a conflation and conflagration.

better than the movie adaptations!

Thank you!

What is that word he is saying. Quarry? (Being is becomming when "quarry" Is the chase.)

An artistic creation like no other? Faust has no genre?.....uhhmmm....its most obviously just a modernized retelling of the book of Job....i mean, really....its not that original of an idea. All he did was modernize and elaborate a story from the bible. I kno u can say nooo noo its different...yeah sure it is....but at its core...where it comes from....we know the inspiration...we get it. Its really not that original. Its like if someone wrote, today, his own version of king arthur or something.

To think that this leadership and grasp of thought and the history of this high thought, has been available? for decades is so heart wrenching. I would have been an avid listener from the beginning. Life saving and life enlarging lectures like this are purest gold. The in-depth language, so linked to this treasure of acquired thought is unquenchingly satisfying !! We thirst for more !! Thank you Dr Sugrue !!

Is the older man slumped in the chair in some videos...this man when younger??? Anyone KNOW?