Abstract

This is a well-written book on a topic which has been central to Hegel studies for some time. But, in addition to the question of circularity in Hegel’s system in general—with attention focused on the circularity of knowledge in particular—there is a second theme which has recently received some needed attention. Professor Rockmore unravels for us the theme of circularity not in Hegel alone, but as it found its way through the history of philosophy to Kant, and then through several contemporaries of Kant to whom scant attention is paid generally in the literature. By focusing almost completely on the latter—in particular on Kant, and then on Bardili, Reinhold, Schulze, and Maimon, in addition to Fichte and Schelling—he explains, in a way which nicely complements the recent study and translations by Henry S. Harris and George di Giovanni, the evolution of philosophy from the critical position of Kant to the absolute idealist position of Hegel. So, in a more specific way than the title itself might suggest, we have here a fine historical study of evolution of the problem of the circularity of knowledge.