Sunday, August 9, 2009

What does "Science" refer to in Hegel's writing?


"Science" comes up frequently in the Introduction to the Phenomenology of Spirit (or PhS). It translates "Wissenschaft" and is not an incorrect translation. Still, it can be misleading. What Hegel means by "Wissenschaft" is more like what we call metaphysics than what we call natural science.

The PhS is a ladder to Wissenschaft (cf. 77) and the Wissenschaft der Logik (Science of Logic) is the book that the PhS is building up toward. The Science of Logic is neither about what we call science nor about what we call logic. It is pretty much a book of metaphysical inquiry [where Hegel takes the basic categories we use to think about the ultimate causes of things (Being, Essence, Idea) as a path to apprehending the nature of "ultimate reality" or truth.]

As you can glean from the Introduction to the PhS, Science is not phenomenal knowing. That is, it does not have to do with the appearances of things to the senses in space and time. Science has to do with the ultimate and abiding conceptual nature of things, what in studying Plato we call "Eide" or Forms.

That said, the PhS will deal precisely with this phenomenal knowing (to the senses, in space and time) NOT Wissenschaft. The PhS shows how phenomenal knowing leads us to the deeper truth of Wissenschaft by the unstable structure of appearance itself.

1 comment:

  1. Anyone notice how Hegel said that the PhS IS Science (paragraph 88)? And I said here that it wasn't? I must be wrong. But maybe you get what I was trying to say?

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