Totality in the Science of Logic As An Indispensable Presupposition of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56550/d.2.1.1Keywords:
actual, category, meta-category, rational, totalityAbstract
In the opening pages of The Philosophy of Right, Hegel marks that what was previously expounded in The Science of Logic is presupposed in this book. This paper elaborates on what this presupposition entails. To explore this, it concentrates on one specific concept, namely, totality. It will be argued that the development in different moments of The Philosophy of Right, would not be possible without the anterior development of the metacategory of totality in The Science of Logic. Although a myriad of works has been published on each of these books, the scholarly works on Hegel misses an elaboration on this presupposition, more so on the role totality plays in the exposition of The Philosophy of Right in relationship with the exposition in The Science of Logic. After giving a general overview of each of these books, this paper traces such a relationship in five specific moments in The Philosophy of Right, namely, Will, Morality, Ethical Life, Civil Society, and State.
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