Re: BHA: what is the role of philosophy?

[Richard Moodey <moodey001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Phil,

My papers have come in, and in spite of the fact that I have hidden them in
a drawer, they are shouting for my scrutiny.  So I will , at least for now,
be able to reply only to the first paragraph of your Hegelian post.

> According to Hegel, the role of philosophy is to develop knowledge towards
> the Absolute.  The concept comes to know itself as the Absolute Idea.  (And
> before Dick tells me that "only people can come to know themselves" I will
> appeal to the dialectics of nature - something which had the stamp of
> approval of not only Hegel but also Marx and Engels).  Thus the point of
> philosophy is to facilitate the coming-to-know itself of the Absolute
> through the exercise of reason.  Nothing is unknowable - there are none of
> Kant's things-in-themselves - since the mere positing of a thing's
> unknowability means that it exists and is therefore knowable.  Scepticism is
> thus refuted by reason.

For me, an essential attribute of being a person is being a self-knowing
knower.  I have no problem with the notion of non-human persons (I never
met one I didn't like).  For me, then, the Absolute coming to know itself
is a process of the Absolute becoming a person.  I like the idea that
philosophy, and perhaps even other forms of human inquiry, might be a part
of this process.  Those of us who in our small ways struggle to know
participate in a much bigger process.

One of my problems with Hegel is that he puts too much weight upon the
concept -- this shows up in your assertion: "The concept comes to know
itself as the Absolute Idea."   I believe that concepts result from
insights into experience, and that concepts must be expressed in ways that
allow us to judge them as more-or-less true or false.   But Hegel's vision
is grand.

I also wonder if all concepts come to know themselves as the Absolute
Idea.  Do they all converge into one AI, or can each develop into a unique
AI.   The vision of multiple Absolute Ideas might not be
self-contradictory, perhaps we will just have to wait for better knowledge
of the meaning of "absolute."

Regards,

Dick





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