The Spirit as the Subject Carrying out the Sublation of Nature

We know that for Hegel the notion of spirit takes so many shapes that their unity is difficult to find. For instance, what does the soul in the subjective spirit, the property in the objective spirit and the cult of the Greek gods in the absolute spirit have in common? Furthermore, when we consider property, for example, the problem is knowing if the spirit is here constituted by the owner, by the deeds of ownership or by the living relationship between the owner and the possessed goods. Moreover, the Hegelian spirit is a philosophical descendant of several different traditions. The question is, therefore, to know how these traditions are linked in the Hegelian notion. I will present these briefly before stating my general hypothesis about the definition of the spirit. First, the Hegelian spirit is connected to the noûs of the Greek philosophers (the Latin spiritus, intellectus). The noûs — on the one hand, an immaterial entity leading the universe, and, on the other, a faculty of the soul — is most often distinguished by its separate and rational nature. For Hegel too, the spirit, as a non-perceptible entity, constitutes the freest and most rational stage in the development of the Idea. Second, the spirit is linked with the ancient philosophers' pneûma (the Latin spiritus), the breath of life. A material principle governing the universe for the Stoics, the term became highly theologically charged within the Hebrew and Christian traditions. It translates the Hebrew term 'ruah': the breath of Yahweh. The pneûma is also considered by the Christians as God establishing Himself in the world and in men. Similarly, for Hegel, the spirit includes a theological element and most notably constitutes itself as the soul of the Christian community, that is, as Holy Spirit. Third, for the moderns, the notion of the spirit is linked to the problem of the relation between soul and body. The spirit (mens, animus) taken by Descartes as equivalent to the rational soul (anima), is so to speak the body's and matter's counterpart. According to Descartes, the spirit is indivisible and non-spatial, playing no role in the organic functions of human life, but is fundamentally characterised by the understanding and the will. For Hegel too, as an entity opposed to the natural body and nature in general, as a unifying agent or subject, the spirit is characterised by its ability to know itself and to …