The Greatest Mistake:

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The Greatest Mistake A Case for the Failure of
Hegels Idealism
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Four Questions - What is a great mistake? -
What is Absolute Idealism? - Why is Hegel an
Absolute Idealist? - Where does Hegel go
wrong?
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What is a great mistake? 1. It is an error from
which we can learn. 2. We gain understanding by
explaining why it is an error. 3. This means
either- i) It forces us to make explicit our
previously vague intuitions. ii) It forces us to
acknowledge genuinely counterintuitive
results.
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What is Absolute Idealism? We must distinguish
between Absolute Idealism and Subjective
Idealism. The Identity Thesis the subject and
the object are identical. Berkeleys Maxim esse
ist percipi to be is to be perceived or thought
about.
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Three Forms of Identity
Terms Role Unity
subject / object method Absolute Knowing
thought / Being system Absolute Idea
subject / substance reality Absolute Spirit
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Hegel and Heidegger Hegel is an
onto-theologian because he thinks what Heidegger
calls Being the unified structure of beings as
such and as a whole in terms of specific
beings. This explicitly violates the ontological
difference.
Unity Structure Role Content
Absolute Idea general beings as such subjects in general
Absolute Spirit singular beings as a whole highest subject
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Science as Method The identity thesis as method
Absolute Knowing Science Hegel claims that
the Science of Logic is presuppositionless. This
is true in a limited sense the identity thesis
does not function as a premise. The identity
thesis functions as a methodological
presupposition in two ways- i) It determines a
deductive procedure. ii) It provides the schema
for interpreting its results.
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The Structure of the Logic The Basic Dialectic
the linear progression of categories Being,
Nothing, Becoming, etc., ...Absolute Idea. The
Division of Books the threefold separation into
the Doctrine of Being, the Doctrine of Essence,
and the Doctrine of the Concept. The Division of
Volumes the twofold separation into the
Objective Logic, which includes both Being and
Essence, and the Subjective Logic, which includes
the Concept. The Overall Dialectic the complete
transition from Being to Absolute Idea.
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Science as Deductive Procedure Science as
deductive procedure is dialectic. It constitutes
a non-intentional form of thought in which we do
not use pre-individuated concepts to form fixed
propositions about particular objects. Instead,
we think the content of concepts directly,
allowing them to immanently transform themselves
into other concepts by way of what Hegel calls
speculative propositions. The logic explicates
the structure of thought by beginning with the
most minimal content that can be thought
immediate indeterminacy or what Hegel calls
Being.
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Science as Interpretational Schema Science as
interpretational schema determines the Logic as
both a logic and a metaphysics. Logical
Categories Metaphysical Categories It also
grounds the interpretation of the Logic as
theology.
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Why is Hegel an Absolute Idealist? The
Phenomenology is what justifies the standpoint of
the Logic. The Phenomenology is motivated by
responding to skepticism, and the transcendental
response to skepticism. The Problem of
Transcendental Method responding to skepticism
by analysing the structure of knowledge in terms
of its conditions of possibility presupposes the
possibility of knowledge about knowledge.
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Pyrrhonian Skepticism Pyrrhonianism is the most
extreme form of skepticism, and it can be
described in two equivalent ways. The Problem of
the Criterion how can we find a criterion for
choosing between a proposition and its negation
(P and not P) that does not itself require a
criterion to be justified? The Agrippan
Trilemma how is it possible to justify any
proposition (in contrast to its negation) without
either- a) merely asserting its truth (bare
assertion)? b) appealing to another proposition
that itself must be justified (regress)? c)
justifying it by appeal to itself
(circularity)?
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Leveraging Skepticism The Problem of
Transcendental Method (cont.) the transcendental
philosopher must presuppose that knowledge is
possible in order to describe its conditions of
possibility. Hegels Solution if we bracket
the possibility of knowledge we may describe
knowledge as it appears. This is precisely what
Hegel does with his concept of Natural
Consciousness.
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The Role of Natural Consciousness Natural
Consciousness the non-identity of subject and
object. The Phenomenology is the
self-contradiction of the concept of Natural
Consciousness, which thereby transforms itself
into its negation, the concept of Science.
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The Structure of Natural Consciousness 1)
Consciousness relates itself to its object, or
takes its object to be a certain way. What this
means, is that it expresses a proposition about
its object. 2) Consciousness distinguishes
between this proposition and the object as it is
in itself. In essence, consciousness allows for
the possibility that this proposition is
false. 3) Because consciousness itself makes the
distinction between its claim and the object it
is about, the object cannot be truly in-itself,
but must be for-consciousness. This means that
consciousness must have a concept of its object
in order to individuate it. 4) However,
consciousness cannot be aware that the object is
for-it without ceasing to be consciousness, and
thus must suppress this fact. This means that
consciousness cannot recognise that the concept
of the object is dependent upon it without
undermining the possibility of falsity.
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Natural Consciousness as Deductive
Procedure Natural Consciousness as deductive
procedure is ordinary discourse. This describes
the form of intentional thought, in which we
think about particular objects using fixed
propositions composed of pre-individuated
concepts. This is opposed to Science as the form
of non-intentional thought, in which we think the
content of concepts directly.
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The Method of the Phenomenology The
Phenomenology proceeds by a method of exhaustion.
It does this by showing that each possible form
of Natural Consciousness ultimately contradicts
itself, thereby transforming itself into another
possible form, until we have exhausted all
possible forms. It thus demonstrates that if
knowledge is conceived as Natural Consciousness,
then it is impossible.
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The Structure of the Phenomenology The Basic
Dialectic the progression of various things
consciousness purports to know about its object.
This is a series of propositions, beginning with
the sequence in Sense Certainty This is here
and now, This is here and now for me, etc.,
and ending in the identity thesis. The Division
of Forms the forms of consciousness, such as
Sense Certainty, Perception, Understanding,
Self-Consciousness, etc. and ending in Absolute
Knowing. The Division of Sections the more
general categories, such as Consciousness,
Self-Consciousness and Reason. The Overall
Dialectic This is the Phenomenology viewed as
the justification of the Logic, or the
transformation of the concept of Natural
Consciousness into the concept of Science.
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The Phenomenology as Dialectic The
Phenomenology is still a dialectic, albeit it one
that consists in propositions that are
purportedly absolute, rather than speculative
propositions that are explicitly
transitional. Each form of consciousness is a
concept whose content is thought immanently by
the method of exhaustion. These form a hierarchy
of genus and species that correspond to the
various higher level ways of dividing the
dialectic. The concept of Natural Consciousness
is the highest genus, with each level beneath is
divided into mutually exclusive species.
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The Hierarchy of Concepts of Consciousness
The dialectical movement at each level
constitutes the dialectical movement of the level
above.
Natural Consciousness
Consciousness
Self- Consciousness
Reason
Self- Consciousness
Absolute Knowing
Sense Certainty
Perception
Understanding