Drawing on the work of major philosophers in 18th and 19th-century German idealism, Thomas Raysmith critically examines G. W. F. Hegel’s justification that philosophy has a history. Contrary to Kant’s claims, Hegel not only considered philosophy as a discipline with its own history, but also elaborated a ‘logical structure’ associated with the fundamental nature of thought itself, permitting a history of philosophy. Calling this structure ‘the structure of exemplarity’, Raysmith presents it as a dynamic reciprocity between universality, particularity and singularity. He provides a historical reconstruction of the shifting understanding of the fundamental nature of human thought from Kant, through J. G. Fichte and F. W. J. Schelling, to Hegel’s mature logic. He offers a systematic analysis based on close, critical readings of Hegel’s work, specifically his Science of Logic. Offering a compelling and novel reading of Hegel’s thought, Hegel and the Problem of the History of Philosophy is a groundbreaking work for students and scholars of German idealism and the history of philosophy more broadly.

Book Information
ISBN 9781350423763
Author Thomas Raysmith
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC