Hegel and the dialectic

pp. 155-194

in: Paul Bishop, German political thought and the discourse of Platonism, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

Abstract

Moving from Kant to Hegel we find many of the central themes of Kantian thought enriched, enhanced, and developed in the work of this great philosopher. His reception has proved remarkably important in the genesis of existentialism, psychoanalysis, and post-structuralism, yet the discourse of Platonism continues to make its subterranean presence felt in Hegel's political philosophy. His thought has three guiding ideas: first, the principle that "what is rational, is real; and what is real, is rational"; second, the dialectic; and third, his relation to Kant and to Idealism. For Hegel, we must learn to see the world through the eye of reason and, if we do so, we shall see the world from "the sum total of all philosophical perspectives."