The Problem of the Criterion and a Hegelian Model for Epistemic Infinitism (original) (raw)

“Hegel’s” Epistemology? Reflections on Some Recent Expositions

Clio 28.3 (1999):303–323., 1999

Hegel, in a well-known passage, wrote that “the investigation of knowledge can only happen as a knowing; in the case of this so-called instrument, to investigate it is the same as to know it. Wanting to know before one knows, however, is just as absurd as the wise resolution of Scholasticus, to learn to swim before he ventures into the water.” Most of Hegel’s expositors have taken these remarks to indicate that Hegel dismissed epistemology altogether. The notion that Hegel repudiated epistemology has had dire consequences for our understanding of Hegel. By disregarding epistemology, Hegel’s expositors also disregarded the general issue central to epistemology as to how one can justify a philosophical view. If Hegel did, after all, address epistemological issues and if he tried to justify (not simply expound) “absolute knowledge,” then that tendency would ineluctably produce skewed interpretations of Hegel. The time is opportune to re-examine Hegel with open epistemological minds. (Open access via ProQuest; search item title.)

‘Hegel’s Solution to the Dilemma of the Criterion’.

I argue that the central methodological problem Hegel addresses in the Introduction to the Phenomenology of Spirit is Sextus Empiricus’s “Dilemma of the Criterion,” a dilemma purporting to show that no criterion for distinguishing truth from falsehood can be established. I show that the Dilemma is especially pressing for any epistemology that, like Hegel’s, rejects ‘knowledge by acquaintance,’ aims to avoid dogmatism, and retains a realist, correspondence conception of truth. Hegel’s response to the dilemma appears to beg the question. I argue that a careful disambiguation of some of Hegel’s key phrases shows that he developed a sophisticated response to this dilemma that does not beg the question. On Hegel’s view, the internal coherence of a ‘form of consciousness’ (explained herein) entails that the principle conceptions of knowledge and of the objects of knowledge comprised by that ‘form of consciousness’ are true of actual knowledge and of the actual objects of knowledge. I indicate why this criterion can be made to work at the broad categorial level of Hegel’s inquiry although it does not apply to problems of theory selection faced in philosophy of science. I begin by showing that Sextus’ Dilemma has not been adequately resolved by Chisholm, Alston, Moser, or Fogelin, although their efforts are instructive about the genuine difficulties involved in the Dilemma of the Criterion.

Hegel's Epistemological Realism

1989

Philosophical Studies Series is primarily devoted to books within the tradition of contemporary analytic philosophy. Books in the series, whether written by a single author or as a collective work, are intended to manifest the highest levels of clarity and precision. They are intended to have the purpose of communicating important results to members of the profession and to be written in such a way as to be intelligible to philosophers whose specialty differs from the subject of the book. Some books are written on a specific problem, others on the work of one philosopher, and still other volumes are unified by method and style rather than subject matter. What is characteristic of the series is the editorial insistence on the combination of rigorous exposition with general comprehension. It is the intention of the editors that the books in the series shall present the issues that are of the greatest current interest.

Is Hegel's Phenomenology Relevant to Contemporary Epistemology?

Hegel Bulletin 21.1–2 (2000):43–85., 2000

Reputation not withstanding, Hegel was a sophisticated epistemologist, whose views have great contemporary importance. I summarize main features of his epistemology (§2), elaborate some thematic connections between Hegel's views and contemporary problems (§3), and consider Hegel's epistemology in relation to 20 th-century empiricism (§4), Dretske's information theory (§5), and the debate between realists and historicist relativists (§6). § §2-4 are summary; § §5, 6 consider closely some important social aspects of Hegel's epistemology. Two themes are that Hegel anticipated the recent rejections in epistemology of concept-empiricism and of individualism; by rejecting mental content "internalism," Hegel showed how rejecting those positions does not forego realism about the objects of empirical knowledge.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: A Critical Rethinking in Seventeen Lectures

2013

A Critical Rethinking in Seventeen Lectures provides a clear and philosophically engaging investigation of Hegel's first masterpiece, perhaps the most revolutionary work of modern philosophy. The book guides the reader on an intellectual adventure that takes up Hegel's revolutionary strategy of paving the way for doing philosophy without presuppositions by first engaging in a phenomenological investigation of knowing as it appears. That preliminary investigation observes how the prevailing view of knowing that condemns cognition to operating with presuppositions proves unable to justify its own knowledge claims and ends up undermining the distinction between knowing and its object on which that view depends. Unlike other studies of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, the work rethinks the entire argument with sustained attention to the project that gives the work its revolutionary significance. Free of unnecessary jargon and always focusing on clearly unraveling the argument in its entirety, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: A Critical Rethinking in Seventeen Lectures, will be indispensable to undergraduate and graduate students of philosophy, Hegel scholars, and anyone interested in tackling the radical project of doing philosophy without foundations.

G. W. F. Hegel: Adventures of Spirit “Doubt as the beginning of thought leads to the quest for certainty.” D.P. Verene

The Evolution of Consciousness and the Hegelian Dialectic in "Phenomenology of Spirit" G.W.F. Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" is a seminal work in Western philosophy, exploring the evolution of consciousness and self-consciousness through various stages, culminating in the realization of absolute knowing. This text is crucial for understanding Hegel's philosophical system and his concept of the dialectic. In this essay, we will examine key ideas from the books of author D.P. Verene, as well as look at the main concepts surrounding Hegelian philosophy, including the notion of Geist, the master-slave dialectic, the Hegelian dialectic, and the transition to Absolute Spirit, demonstrating how these concepts contribute to a comprehensive understanding of human consciousness and historical development, leading finally to the development of self-consciousness and the realization of the Absolute.