Evaluating an Evolution

      Reviewing the evolution of the philosophies that influenced Phaedrus was helpful in clarifying some of Phaedrus's ideas. The foundation of his entire philosophy is based on the two main ideas of Kant; the world is controlled by causes and rational acts are the basis for freedom. He believed that only rational people can be free because they can choose, based on right and wrong, how they want to react to a situation, what they should say, etc. Fichte was next in this evolution and, straying from Kant's view that the world is both objective and subjective, physics and reason, he stated that it has to be one or the other. You can either explain humans in terms of physics, with psychology or sociology, or you can explain them based on reason. After Fichte came Schelling, who had the idea of an absolute. He still believed in the division between subjectivity and objectivity, but he believed they were not incompatible with each other because they both were a part of the same greater idea, the absolute. This comes before subjectivity and objectivity; it cannot be explained and is beyond reason. Hegel feeds off of Schelling's ideas. He believes that the absolute is not where the start, which was what Schelling thought, but where you end. It is not beyond reason, but included within reason; the absolute is a product of reason. There is no division between subjectivity and objectivity because it is where the rational world aligns with the physical world. It is clear to see now that Phaedrus has been evaluating this evolution in order to make the next advancements in this philosophy.