Geist (philosophy)
From Freepedia
Geist is German for mind, spirit or ghost. It is a central concept in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.
It is a component of several German loanwords such as zeitgeist, the spirit of the time or collective unconscious, and poltergeist, the mischievous ghosts that are believed to make noises.
Early Germanic tribes, like other pagan tribes around the world, had customs of consulting dead ancestors at feasts. The English words "ghost" and "guest" are said to have descended from the German Geist due to the Northern pagan custom in which the ancestral spirits were invited as honored guests.
Weltgeist, the world spirit concept designates an idealistic principle of world explanation, which can be found from the beginnings of philosophy up to more recent time. The concept of world spirit was already accepted by the idealistic schools of ancient Indian philosophy, whereby one explained objective reality as its product. (See metaphysical objectivism) In the early philosophy of Greek antiquity, Socrates, Aristoteles and Plato all paid homage, amongst other things, to the concept of world spirit. [1]
In German (Roman Catholic) theology, the term Heiliger Geist refers to the Holy Spirit. [2]
Geisteskrank is a German word literally meaning "sick mind" and is sometimes used to describe someone suffering from mental illness. [3]
Geistlos refers to being mindless or without spirit. (See consciousness, unconscious, psyche)
References
- Of Spirit: Heidegger and the Question, by Jacques Derrida. Translation by Geoffrey Bennington & Rachel Bowlby, Chicago University Press, 1989 (ISBN 0226143171) and 1991 (ISBN 0226143198)
- Faith and Folklore of the British Isles, by William Carew Hazlitt, Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0766148084
