The Absolute as Subject? Towards Hegel’s Theory of Speculative Proposition Cover Image

Apsolut kao subjekat? Ka Hegelovoj teoriji spekulativnog stava
The Absolute as Subject? Towards Hegel’s Theory of Speculative Proposition

Author(s): Stanko Vlaški
Subject(s): Metaphysics, Logic, 19th Century Philosophy, German Idealism
Published by: Филозофски факултет, Универзитет у Новом Саду
Keywords: Hegel;logic;speculative proposition;the Absolute;subject;

Summary/Abstract: While the traditional logic reflected the structure of proposition assuming separation and persistence of concepts of subject and predicate, Hegel, by his conception of a speculative proposition, has allowed philosophy to grasp a dialectical nature of the relation of those concepts. The author considers the radical change that happens in the logical reflection of the essence of the proposition in the light of the crucial requirement of the whole Hegel’s philosophy to think and express the Absolute as the subject. After the introductory comments on the groundbreaking epochs in the history of philosophical thinking due to which the logical problem of proposition became one of the central ontological issues, the birthplace of Hegel’s theory of speculative proposition is found within his early critique of philosophies of the first principle such as Fichte’s. In the central part of the text, the theory of the speculative proposition is thematized considering Hegel’s insight into the difference between a philosophical proposition and propositions and knowledge that originate from the other spheres of spirituality. After that, the proposition that expresses the Absolute as the subject from the Preface of Phenomenology of Spirit is interpreted as the manifestation of the speculative nature of the philosophical proposition, because, from the other side, the speculative proposition could be interpreted as the expression and the way the Absolute exists, too. As the speculative proposition, however, the proposition “the Absolute is subject” reveals reasons why the philosophical system, not the isolated proposition, has to be understood as the true element of existence of truth in Hegel’s thought.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 34
  • Page Range: 103-129
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Serbian