Hegel's Critique of Essence: A Reading of the Wesenslogik (Studies in Philosophy)

This volume shows how The Doctrine of Essence intersects with perennial philosophical questions including above all, the relationship between freedom and determinism. The Doctrine of Essence is of central importance, since it is a critical description of traditional categories which also functions as the justification of Hegel's speculative understanding of essence. This study takes an historical approach to build upon Hegel's abstract argument, viewing it as a confrontation with his predecessors, inparticular - Fichte and Schelling. Contents 8 List of Abbreviations 10 Preface 14 Chapter 1. Sein and Reflexion: The Historical Antecedents of the Logic 16 Chapter 2. The Critique of Subjective Idealism 50 Chapter 3. Ground and its “going to the ground”: The Attack on Substratum-Metaphysics 88 Chapter 4. The Critique of the Scientific World- Picture 116 Chapter 5. A Newton of a Blade of Grass (From Substance to Subject) 142 Chapter 6. Conclusion 158 Notes 164 Bibliography 178 Index 180 Back cover 184 Shows how ''The Doctrine of Essence'' intersects with perennial philosophical questions including above all, the relationship between freedom and determinism. This study takes an historical approach to build upon Hegel's abstract argument, viewing it as a confrontation with his predecessors, in particular - Fichte and Schelling