Philosophy and Its History
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Sebastian Rödl
Abstract
The paper is an idealist attempt at reconciling the tension between the historical, time-bound emergence of metaphysical truths and their timeless validity. Proceeding from the Aristotelian definition of metaphysics as a science which studies being insofar as it is being, and from Plato’s notion from the Theaetetus that the soul does not grasp being by way of an organ but only through itself, the paper defines knowledge of what is insofar as it is as the knowledge of the absolute, hence, an absolute knowledge. Nevertheless, metaphysics passes through a contingent process of being constituted by persons living in a certain society under certain material conditions; in short, metaphysics possesses a history. Thus, a judgment which apprehends itself through itself, hence, a judgment on being qua being, does not lie outside time, but performs a perpetual annihilation of time and its difference between this and that temporal existence thinking it.
Abstract
The paper is an idealist attempt at reconciling the tension between the historical, time-bound emergence of metaphysical truths and their timeless validity. Proceeding from the Aristotelian definition of metaphysics as a science which studies being insofar as it is being, and from Plato’s notion from the Theaetetus that the soul does not grasp being by way of an organ but only through itself, the paper defines knowledge of what is insofar as it is as the knowledge of the absolute, hence, an absolute knowledge. Nevertheless, metaphysics passes through a contingent process of being constituted by persons living in a certain society under certain material conditions; in short, metaphysics possesses a history. Thus, a judgment which apprehends itself through itself, hence, a judgment on being qua being, does not lie outside time, but performs a perpetual annihilation of time and its difference between this and that temporal existence thinking it.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction: Impulses for a New Idealism IX
-
Part I: The Neglected Impulses of Idealism in the History of Philosophy
- How Ideal Is the Ancient Self? 1
- De-Symbolization of the World and the Emergence of the Self: A Historically-Idealist Theory of the Subject 27
- Genesis, Structure, and Ideas: Genetic Epistemology in Early Modern Philosophy 69
- Diluvian Philosophy: Utilitarian Motifs in Moby-Dick 93
- Thinking Free Release in Hegel’s System 111
- Idealism and the Problem of Finitude: Heidegger and Hegel 127
- Hegel’s Metaphysical Alternative to the Choice between an Unrealistic Platonic Realism and an Opposing Skeptical Anti-realism 151
-
Part II: Contemporary Impulses for a New Idealism
- A Materialist Defense of an Idealist Subjectivity 171
- Philosophy and Its History 193
- Beyond Realism and Correlationism, the Idealist Path 209
- A Typology of Idealism 231
- Fiction: The Truth of Idealism and Realism 251
- Virus and Idea 269
- Index 283
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction: Impulses for a New Idealism IX
-
Part I: The Neglected Impulses of Idealism in the History of Philosophy
- How Ideal Is the Ancient Self? 1
- De-Symbolization of the World and the Emergence of the Self: A Historically-Idealist Theory of the Subject 27
- Genesis, Structure, and Ideas: Genetic Epistemology in Early Modern Philosophy 69
- Diluvian Philosophy: Utilitarian Motifs in Moby-Dick 93
- Thinking Free Release in Hegel’s System 111
- Idealism and the Problem of Finitude: Heidegger and Hegel 127
- Hegel’s Metaphysical Alternative to the Choice between an Unrealistic Platonic Realism and an Opposing Skeptical Anti-realism 151
-
Part II: Contemporary Impulses for a New Idealism
- A Materialist Defense of an Idealist Subjectivity 171
- Philosophy and Its History 193
- Beyond Realism and Correlationism, the Idealist Path 209
- A Typology of Idealism 231
- Fiction: The Truth of Idealism and Realism 251
- Virus and Idea 269
- Index 283
