THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT AND THE UNITY OF HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY: A SYSTEMATIC REAPPRAISAL

The lecture will start by asking the question how to explain the surprising fact that from the 1930s up to the present, Hegel's book, written in 1807, has deeply influenced and indeed has fascinated a significant number of philosophers. A tentative answer to this question will be given at the end of the lecture. Important to the lecture is the fact that, within recent and contemporary philosophy, the term "systematic" has two different senses: the first is that of "non-historical" (= "systematic(1)"), the second, that of "holistic, comprehensive" (= "systematic(2)"). The expression "systematic" in the title of the lecture, is to be understood in both senses, but the two senses are combined in one way in Part 1 of the lecture, and in another way in Part 2. Part 1 contains a non-systematic(1) and systematic(2) reappraisal of the Phenomenology in the sense of a reinterpretation of its inner architectonic and of its systematic2 place within Hegel's mature system of philosophy. Part 2 presents some critical negative as well as positive considerations from a systematic(1+2) perspective. Negatively, Part 2 shows that given the aim[s] of the book, its phenomenological status is highly problematic in various respects, particularly concerning the conception of absolute knowing with which the book culminates and the logical dimension for which it is supposed to prepare the way. Part 2 also demonstrates, in opposition to positions held by many contemporary interpreters, that the work lacks inner coherence with respect both to method and to content. Positively, the lecture attempts to show that a certain phenomenological idea in a sense somewhat similar to Hegel's could be accepted and elaborated within the structural-systematic philosophy the author presents in his book Structure and Being. A Theoretical Framework for a Systematic Philosophy (the German original edition appeared in 2006, the English translation is forthcoming in 2008).