Abstract

Christensen, a founding member and the first president of the Hegel Society of America, offers a substantial analysis and critique of the two most formidable metaphysical thinkers in the late modern period. The task is enormous, and is divided by the author into two subvolumes: a “somewhat Whiteheadian perspective” on Hegel’s understanding of “the concrete,” and a “somewhat Hegelian perspective” on Whitehead’s search for concreteness. The adjective “somewhat” apparently signals that the author wishes not merely to expound on each of these two philosophers, but to read them in a critical, independent fashion in the larger task of constructing his own systematic metaphysical position, revolving around the notions of concreteness, “self-evidence,” and “critical method” in philosophy.