The Hegelian project

Stephen Bungay

pp. 19-42

in: Tristram Engelhardt, Terry Pinkard (eds), Hegel reconsidered, Berlin, Springer, 1994

Abstract

Nobody knows for sure what Hegel's project was, but nobody can discuss him without having an opinion on the matter. The purpose of this essay is to form one. No attempt will be made to say whether his execution of the project is successful, and to that extent it will be uncritical. It assumes that Hegel's thought was coherent, and tries to find a way in which it makes sense, for the simple reason that finding a way in which it makes nonsense will always succeed, and is therefore pointless. This essay will entertain Hegel's conception of philosophy. To entertain a person is to invite him into one's own home, offer him some nourishment and engage him in polite conversation. To entertain a thought is to invite it into one's own conceptual world by explaining its terms, to nourish it with the willingness to find the strongest possible reading, and to ask it questions it recognizes to be genuine. The best point to take in order to break into the circle of circles is probably Hegel's own final exposition of the matter, the introduction to the third edition of the Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften of 1830.

Cited authors

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich