Hegel and Aristotle

by Alfredo Ferrarin

• ISBN13: 9780521783149
• ISBN10: 0521783143
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-01-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Hegel is, arguably, the most difficult of all philosophers. To find a way into his thought interpreters have usually approached him as though he were developing Kantian and Fichtean themes. This book is the first to demonstrate in a systematic way that it makes much more sense to view Hegel's idealism in relation to the metaphysical and epistemological tradition stemming from Aristotle. The book offers an account of Hegel's idealism in light of his interpretation, discussion, assimilation, and critique of Aristotle's philosophy. There are explorations of Hegelian and Aristotelian views of system and history; being, metaphysics, logic, and truth; nature and subjectivity; spirit, knowledge, and self-knowledge; ethics and politics. No serious student of Hegel can afford to ignore this major new interpretation. It will also be of interest in such fields as political science and the history of ideas.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
List of Abbreviations	xv
Introduction	1	(1)
Preliminary Notes	1	(6)
On the Object and Method of This Book	7	(8)
Can Energeia Be Understood as Subjectivity?	15	(16)
PART I THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY AND ITS PLACE WITHIN THE SYSTEM
The Idea of a History of Philosophy	31	(24)
The Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Editions and Sources	31	(3)
Hegel's Idea of a History of Philosophy: An Antinomic Side and a Misleading, Unproven Assumption	34	(5)
A Critique	39	(8)
Hegel and Aristotle: The Constraint of the Thing Itself	47	(8)
The Arrangement of the Lectures on Aristotle: Architectonic and Systematic Presuppositions of Hegel's Interpretation	55	(50)
The Purpose of This Chapter	55	(1)
Logic and System	56	(26)
The Introduction to the Encyclopaedia and the System of Philosophy	56	(9)
Logic and Realphilosophie	65	(4)
What Does Hegel Mean by Thinking?	69	(8)
Preliminary Conception and Metaphysics	77	(5)
Systematicity in Aristotle	82	(9)
Aristotle and the Idea of a System	82	(7)
Aristotle's Tripartition of Sciences, Necessity and Contingency	89	(2)
The Unity of Philosophy: The Assumptions of Hegel's Interpretation of Aristotle's Philosophy	91	(14)
PART II LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS
The Lectures on the Metaphysics	105	(24)
Being and Becoming	105	(10)
From Sensible Substances to Thought Thinking Itself	115	(14)
The Aristotelian Heritage in the Science of Logic	129	(20)
Being and Essence	129	(11)
The Subjective Logic	140	(9)
Aristotelian Questions	149	(32)
Substance and Activity	149	(3)
Mathematical, Artificial and Natural Forms	152	(9)
Essence and Predication: Definition and Truth	161	(11)
Definition and Demonstration: Unity and Plurality	172	(4)
Matter: Contingency and Individuation	176	(5)
Essence and Concept	181	(20)
Singularity and Opinion	181	(4)
Essence and Matter: The Lectures on the Organon	185	(4)
Aristotle and the Logic of Essence	189	(6)
Conclusion to Part II and Introduction to Part III	195	(6)
PART III ARISTOTLE AND THE REALPHILOSOPHIE
Aristotelian and Newtonian Models in Hegel's Philosophy of Nature	201	(33)
The Philosophy of Nature, Introduction	201	(2)
Hegel's Criticism of Newton	203	(6)
The Idea of a Philosophy of Nature and the Aristotelian Heritage	209	(12)
Hegel's Modernity	221	(8)
Natural Time and Eternity: From Life to Spirit	229	(5)
Aristotle's De anima and Hegel's Philosophy of Subjective Spirit	234	(114)
A. Aristotelian Soul and Hegelian Spirit
The Systematic Place of the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit in the Encyclopaedia	234	(10)
Hegel's Appraisal of the De anima	244	(9)
A Critical Evaluation of Hegel's Endorsement	253	(9)
The Hierarchy of Souls	256	(1)
Know Thyself	257	(2)
Theoretical Spirit and Kant	259	(3)
B. Anthropology and Phenomenology
The Anthropology and Hegel's Treatment of Aristotelian Sleep, Sensation, and Habit	262	(22)
Introduction	262	(3)
Sleep	265	(3)
Sensation	268	(10)
Habit	278	(6)
The Phenomenology Within the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit	284	(3)
C. The Psychology (I). Theoretical Spirit and the Nous
Thinking in Images and Thinking in Names	287	(21)
General Remarks	287	(2)
Inwardization	289	(4)
Universality	293	(5)
Externalization	298	(3)
Differences between Hegel and Aristotle	301	(5)
Conclusion	306	(2)
Hegel's Interpretation of the Aristotelian Nous	308	(17)
D. The Psychology (II). Practical Spirit
Practical Reason, Desire, and Will	325	(23)
Hegel on the Will	326	(2)
Hegel on Aristotle's Ethics	328	(5)
Ends in Aristotle	333	(7)
Practical Spirit	340	(5)
Reason and Desire	345	(3)
The Political Realization of Ethics	348	(25)
Ancient and Modern States	348	(8)
Constitutions, the Naturalness of Politics, and Ethical Life	356	(8)
Ethics, Politics, and Right	364	(9)
PART IV. CONCLUSIONS
Truth, Holism, and Judgment	373	(21)
The Finitude of Thinking	373	(11)
Truth and Holism	384	(10)
The Pictures of Aristotle in Hegel's Formative Years	394	(19)
Two Historical Questions	394	(2)
Pictures of Aristotle's Philosophy in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries	396	(9)
When Did Aristotle Begin Exercising an Influence on Hegel?	405	(8)
Bibliography	413	(16)
Index	429