Place: The Refectory, Main Quad Date: Wed, March 2 Time: 3.30-5.30pm Title: ³Nature, Negation and Contradiction in Hegel¹s Philosophy² Paul Redding
Synopsis: Kant had infamously claimed that, from the time of Aristotle and up to his own present, the discipline of logic had been ³unable to take a single step forward, and therefore seems to all appearance to be finished and complete². In fact it has only been since the last century that the Stoics have been generally regarded as major innovators in logic because of their development of propositional logic in contrast to Aristotle¹s syllogistic. For the most part, 19th century historians of philosophy regarded Stoic logical innovations as minor or trivial. In contrast to such assessments, Hegel clearly regarded the Stoic development of formal logic as important, and was keenly aware of the significance for philosophy of the change from syllogistic to propositional logics. Indeed, the Stoics are clearly identified as originating a style of anti-Aristotelian philosophy that was to become dominant in the modern age and that was reflected in both the empiricists and Kant. In the paper I ask after the nature of Hegel¹s approach to negation and contradiction in light of the very different ways that these notions functioned for Aristotle on the one hand, and the Stoics on the other. I suggest that it is only in relation to a project that Hegel inherits from Leibniz and that attempts to reconcile Stoic directions in logic with the speculative thought of Plato and Aristotle, that can we understand his notorious doctrine that ³everything is inherently contradictory². There will be a Pre-Talk in the Philosophy Common Room for PG students starting at 2pm. Regards, David Dr. David Macarthur Senior Lecturer Philosophy Department University of Sydney, 2006, Australia Ph: +61-2-9351-3193 http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/philos/staff/profiles/dmacarthur.shtml
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