Abstract

The article has two main aims: 1) the discussion of some contemporary interpretations of the last chapter of the Phenomenology of Spirit and, more generally, of the whole Hegelian system, as an expression of a metaphysics of the absolute; 2) the analysis of the relationship between absolute knowing and finitude (considered primarily as a manifestation of the historical dimension of knowledge). With respect to the first point, the article discusses two theses about absolute knowing: the first considers Hegel's absolute as a 'metaphysical object', the second highlights the untenability of the Hegelian claim that philosophy is the absolute knowledge of the absolute. Against the first argument, it is shown that it is not possible to conceive of absolute knowing as an object, highlighting the negative function and the historical character of the process of manifestation of the spirit. With respect to the second point, the article considers the relationship between absolute knowing and the finite dimension of consciousness, arguing that absolute knowing is a form of knowledge of consciousness and that it is realized by the historical and finite process of the development of humanity