Abstract

The work presents a new interpretation of Hegel's use of ancient Greek philosophy, specifically his use of Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy. The method employed here is unusual in that it allows one to read Hegel with great precision, without retreating into his own dialectical theory. This method has two elements: First, use is made of Platonic philosophy, especially the Platonic "image of understanding," the Divided-Line, to analyze Kant's critical project in the Critique of Pure Reason in relation to Hegel's understanding and critique of both that work and Kantian reflective philosophy as a whole in the Science of Logic. This same kind of use of ancient sources is then turned on Hegel's own project in the Science of Logic, in that it is shown that Hegel uses Aristotle's reductive argument, concerning being as substratum and substratum as matter, in Metaphysics, VII, 3, to construct his own line of argument against Kant's metaphysical dualism. Secondly, use is made of Hegel's own theory of the social formation of knowledge, thus his view of the relation between "Anerkennen" and "Erkennen" , to deliver an insight into the flaw in Hegel's own theory of historical necessity. This flaw involves a failure to note the temporal priority of Greek political existence to the appearance of natural theory. This problem is then used to show how Hegel misinterpreted the radicality of the "political cause" and how he failed as well to make a proper assessment of Platonic theory, within its own context. ;This work also functions as support material for a more extensive treatise on "The Political Origins of Theory and Moral-Ethical Idealism."