Hegel and the Problem of the History of Philosophy: The Logical Structure of Exemplarity

Drawing on the work of major philosophers in 18th and 19th-century German idealism, Thomas Raysmith critically examines G. W. F. Hegel's justification for the claim that philosophy has a history. While Kant regarded philosophy as ahistorical, Hegel considered it to be a discipline that is necessarily historical, and elaborated a 'logical structure' that was supposed to allow it to have a history. Calling this structure, which Hegel took to be the fundamental structure of thought itself, 'the structure of exemplarity', Raysmith presents it as a dynamic reciprocity between universality, particularity and singularity. He provides a historical reconstruction of the shifting conceptions of philosophy from Kant, through J. G. Fichte and F. W. J. Schelling, to Hegel, and offers a systematic analysis of Hegel's Science of Logic based on a close, critical reading. Offering a compelling and novel reading of Hegel's thought, Hegel and the Problem of the History of Philosophy is a groundbreaking work for students and scholars of German idealism and the history of philosophy more broadly. Cover Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations and notes Introduction I Hegel and the problem of the history of philosophy II Hegel’s conception of philosophy III Hegel’s proposed solution to the problem of the history of philosophy IV Logic, metaphysics, history and the future V A criticism of Hegel’s solution to the problem of the history of philosophy VI Hegel’s history of philosophy VII The structure of this book 1 Kant’s ahistorical system of principles I Philosophy as ahistorical II The two sources of cognition III The TD’s central line of argument IV The first step of the proof V The second step of the proof VI The schemata of the categories and a criticism of Kant’s system 2 Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre I Introduction II What is philosophy? III Idealism and dogmatism IV The method of the Wissenschaftslehre V A history of philosophy VI The philosopher’s deduction: Beginnings VII A problem and an objection 3 Schelling’s Identitätsphilosophie I Introduction II Identitätsphilosophie III Schelling’s conception of the history of philosophy IV Reduplication and seeing as V The inadequacy of Schelling’s Identitätsphilosophie VI Concluding remarks: The logic of the unseen and unnamed 4 Hegel’s Logic: From beginning to actuality I Introduction II Beginning the science of logic: Issues III The beginning of the science of logic: From pure being to determinate being IV The movement from essence to its appearing V The essential relation and the absolute VI Actuality VII The philosophies of Spinoza and Schelling as essential and necessary 5 Hegel’s conception of the fundamental structure of everything: The Idea I The relation of reciprocity and the genesis of the Concept II The Concept and subjectivity III The original partition of judgement IV Samples and the structure of exemplarity V Syllogism VI Objectivity and the Idea as life VII The Idea of cognition to the absolute Idea VIII The absolute Idea and method IX Exit Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index