Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 11:38:25 -0400
From: Richard Moodey <moodey001-AT-mail1.gannon.edu>
Subject: Re: BHA: what is the role of philosophy?


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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