Stephen Houlgate

Opening of Hegel's Logic

Hegel is one of the most importantmodern philosophers, whose thought influenced the development ofexistentialism, Marxism, pragmatism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction. YetHegel's central text, the monumental Science of Logic, still remains formost philosophers (both figuratively and literally) a firmly closed book. Thepurpose of The Opening of Hegel's Logic is to dispel the myths thatsurround the Logic and to show that Hegel's unjustly neglected text is awork of extraordinary subtlety and insight. Part One of The Opening of Hegel's Logic argues that the Logicprovides a rigorous derivation of the fundamental categories of thought andcontrasts Hegel's approach to the categories with that of Kant. It goes on toexamine the historical and linguistic presuppositions of Hegel's self-critical,"presuppositionless" logic and, in the process, considers severalsignifi­cant criticisms of such logic advanced by Schelling, Feuerbach,Gadamer, and Kierkegaard. Separate chapters are devoted to the relation betweenlogic and ontology in Hegel's Logicand to the relation between the Logicitself and the Phenomenology. PartTwo contains the text – in German and English – of the firsttwo chapters of Hegel's Logic, whichcover such categories as being, becoming, something, limit, finitude, andinfinity. Part Three then provides a clear and accessible commentary on thesetwo chapters that both examines Hegel's arguments in detail and relates hisinsights to those of other philosophers, such as Descartes, Spinoza, Kant,Nietzsche, and Levinas. TheOpening of Hegel's Logic aims tohelp students and scholars read Hegel's often formidably difficult text forthemselves and discover the wealth of philosophical riches that it contains. Italso argues that Hegel's project of a presuppositionless science of logic isone that deserves serious consideration today.