Hegel: Spirit (PHG), As Well As in All of The Mature Works He Published

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Hegel’s dialectics

refers to the particular dialectical method of argument employed by


the 19th Century German philosopher, G.W.F. Hegel (see entry
on Hegel), which, like other “dialectical” methods, relies on a
contradictory process between opposing sides. Whereas Plato’s
“opposing sides” were people (Socrates and his interlocutors),
however, what the “opposing sides” are in Hegel’s work depends on
the subject matter he discusses. In his work on logic, for instance, the
“opposing sides” are different definitions of logical concepts that are
opposed to one another. In the Phenomenology of Spirit, which
presents Hegel’s epistemology or philosophy of knowledge, the
“opposing sides” are different definitions of consciousness and of the
object that consciousness is aware of or claims to know. As in Plato’s
dialogues, a contradictory process between “opposing sides” in Hegel’s
dialectics leads to a linear evolution or development from less
sophisticated definitions or views to more sophisticated ones later. The
dialectical process thus constitutes Hegel’s method for arguing against
the earlier, less sophisticated definitions or views and for the more
sophisticated ones later. Hegel regarded this dialectical method or
“speculative mode of cognition” (PR §10) as the hallmark of his
philosophy, and used the same method in the Phenomenology of
Spirit [PhG], as well as in all of the mature works he published.

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