Idealism Without Limits : Hegel and the Problem of Objectivity

In this study of Hegels philosophy, Brinkmann undertakes to defend Hegels claim to objective knowledge by bringing out the transcendental strategy underlying Hegels argument in the <em>Phenomenology of Spirit</em> and the Logic. Hegels metaphysical commitments are shown to become moot through this transcendental reading. Starting with a survey of current debates about the possibility of objective knowledge, the book next turns to the original formulation of the transcendental argument in favor of <em>a priori</em> knowledge in Kants First Critique. Through a close reading of Kants Transcendental Deduction and Hegels critique of it, Brinkmann tries to show that Hegel develops an immanent critique of Kants position that informs his reformulation of the transcendental project in the Introduction to the <em>Phenomenology of Spirit</em> and the formulation of the position of objective thought in the <em>Science of Logic </em>and <em>the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences</em>. Brinkmann takes the reader through the strategic junctures of the argument of the <em>Phenomenology</em> that establishes the position of objective thinking with which the Logic begins. A critical examination of the Introduction to the Lectures on the History of Philosophy shows that Hegels metaphysical doctrine of the self-externalization of spirit need not compromise the transcendental project of the Logic and thus does not burden the position of objective thought with pre-critical metaphysical claims.