Research On Hegel's Conception Of Truth

This dissertation, Research on Hegel's Conception of Truth, attempts toinvestigate five aspects of Hegel's conception of truth. The five aspects are"what isthe truth","how is Hegel's truth proved","what is the method of Hegel's truthproving","what is the relationship between the truth and freedom"and"what is therelationship between the truth and beauty". In accordance with these five aspects, thedissertation is divided into five chapters, in addition to an Introduction and aconclusion.Introduction primarily concerns two questions. The first is the significance ofHegel's conception of truth, i.e., Why is it necessary to study this theory. Hegel'stheory of truth, remarkably different from other truth, is of profound insight. Theseinsights, as we shall see, are into the nature of truth, its arguments, the method of thesearguments, and the relationship between the truth and freedom and the relationshipbetween the truth and beauty, etc. The second question is related to the framework ofthis dissertation.Chapter 1 provides an answer to the question of what is Hegel's theory of truth. Itincludes two sections. Section one suggests that Hegel's truth is a system. Hegel's truthis the absolute, is God, and is the pure idea; for the pure idea is of the nature ofspeculation, Hegel's truth is a system. Section two discusses the scope of Hegel'ssystem of truth. Given that the truth finds its systematic expression in Hegel's overallphilosophical system, it can be said that the scope of his truth system coincides withthat of his philosophical system. Through text analysis, this chapter concludes thatHegel's philosophical system should includes"Science of Logic"("greater logic"and"shorter logic",) Philosophy of Nature, Philosophy of Mind and its extension,Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Philosophy of History, Aesthetics, Philosophy ofReligion and Lectures on the Philosophy of History.Chapter 2 deals with the question as to how is Hegel's truth proved. The firstsection of the chapter maintains that the truth is self-proved by a"circle"inevitablygenerated in Hegel's logic. This section begins with a question about the starting point of the science of logic. As a starting point of logic,"Pure Being"has no premise priorto its own existence and contains absolute dynamics. Then (as a second step) itelaborates on how the starting point develops itself. The final step this section takes isto explicate when the starting point reaches the ending point, the latter returns back tothe former. With these three steps of argument in place, a "circle" is thus formed. It isthrough this logical circle that truth proves itself. The second section of this chapterdiscusses"objectivity of argument"in order to show that the formation of"logiccircle"is not from just Hegel's subjective contemplation but are actually of objectivenature.Chapter 3 elucidates the method of Hegel's truth proving, from twoperspectives:"what is characteristic of method"and"what is method". Hegel's methodof proving truth is at the same time a method of forming truth; this method is notpre-existent but presents itself only at the ending point of truth formation. Thus interms of characteristic , the method of Hegel's truth proving is identity with Hegel'struth. In this identity the method is a method without method or form of form that isthe highest. Then what is method? The method is unity of synthesis and analysis fromthe view of formal or is negation of dialectic from the view of content .Chapter 4 is devoted to the relationship between truth and freedom in Hegel'sphilosophy. This chapter has two sections. To begin with, this chapter expounds theidentity of freedom and necessity in order to demonstrate that freedom has till nowbeen vindicated in Hegel. Then the chapter elucidates the procedure in which freedomrealizes itself in Spirit. The freedom is not realized in"subjective spirit"and"objectivespirit"for the two kinds of spirit are limited. The freedom is thoroughly realized in"subjective spirit".Chapter 5 reckons with the relationship between truth and beauty in Hegel'sphilosophy. The first section of this chapter attempts to show that in Hegel'sphilosophy truth is a procedure in which truth manifest itself. Truth, when manifestedin logic, is the thing-in-itself, but when manifested in nature is the thing-for-itself.Only in Spirit, the manifestation of truth is both the thing-in-itself and thething-for-itself and real. Insofar as the subjective spirit and objective spirit are bothfinite, truth found in them are not yet the highest. The highest truth can only be foundin the absolute Spirit. Only in the absolute Spirit, to be more precise, only on theHegel's philosophy which is the highest phase of development of philosophy, does truth come to reveal its highest form. The second section aims to make explicit thatthis revealing is also the procedure in which beauty expresses itself. There are twoconditions of beauty in Hegel's philosophy: first, the content of beauty must expresstruth (ideal), and second, the form of beauty must be sensuous. To be sure, Hegel'struth meets the content condition, what's more is needed is to assess whether this truthis expressed in the form of the sensuous. Since the highest truth is achieved in Hegel'sphilosophy, all we need to do is to judge whether Hegel's philosophy contains somesensuous elements, or whether Hegel's "philosophy beauty"really exists. So, in thesecond section of chapter 5 we prove the existence of "philosophy beauty," and thiscan be proved in Hegel's intellectual development, in some of his works and in hisdefinition of beauty. This in turn proves that the manifestation of Hegel's truth is aprocedure in which beauty expresses itself.A brief conclusion summarizes the dissertation and points out the significance ofthe work, justifies my way of selecting texts and lays the goals this dissertation intendsto achieve.