A short, CRITICAL History of Philosophy (Chapter 17)
Hegel, Schopenhauer And The Rise of Nihilistic German Philosophy
The philosophical tradition that Kant inaugurated reached its summit in the writings of G. W. F. Hegel. Hegel did incorporate observations and facts from many fields into his philosophical writings. But the underlying approach had not altered much. It was still “idealism.” Within it there continued to be a faith that anything and everything could be demonstrated by “pure” reason. The resultant writings are a vast ocean of inapplicable ideas, inscrutable assertions and vague notions. Many are bizarre. For example, in 1801 Hegel claimed through “pure reason” and with reference to certain ideas presented in the Socratic dialogue Timaeus that it could be shown that there were seven planets in the solar system. Just months later astronomical observation revealed that this was not so. Thus, in 1802 Hegel demurely commented that “What I have tried to do [prove] in an earlier dissertation is no longer satisfactory.” However, this did not prompt Hegel to give up his methodology – far from it.
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