Abstract

GUZMAN, Luis. THE CONTINGENT CHARACTER OF NECESSITY . Ideas y Valores [online]. 2006, vol.55, n.131, pp.03-32. ISSN 0120-0062.

One of the most frequent criticisms raised against Hegel has to do with the totalizing aspect of his system, which determines what is as absolutely necessary. The Science of Logic, being the conceptual edifice upon which his whole system is built, is the appropriate place to determine the specific meaning of the Hegelian concepts. The following paper offers a detailed analysis on the chapter on Actuality (Wirklichkeit) in the Science of Logic, in order to show how the concept of absolute necessity not only includes within it, but also contains as a structural element, the concept of contingency. In this manner a deflationary interpretation is generated in which the absolutely necessary character of actuality should not be understood as grounded on a pre-established end that inexorably determines actuality, but rather as an interpretive movement, in recollection, of its process.

Keywords : Hegel; German Idealism; Transcendental Philosophy; Modality; Epistemology.