Alexander Timofeev. The problem of “nothing” in Kant’s and Hegel’s doctrines. Vol. 2. No. 1/2. 2017

Publication Details

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the role of the category of “nothing” in classical German philosophy, especially in conceptions of Kant and Hegel. To fulfill it, the comparative and historical, as well as textual methods of analysis were applied. The research result substantiates a suggestion on that Kant analyzed this category from the point of view of consciousness, whereas Hegel mostly examined its role in the development of self-consciousness. In the conclusion, it is stated that Kant’s and Hegel’s analysis of the concept of nothing has made it available not only as an abstract representation, but also as a deep understanding of both the fundamental contradictions of the individual self-consciousness and reflection of the manifesting spirit. While itemizing the relationship between the being and the nothing, Hegel emphasizes three levels of griping the distinction in the subject’s self-consciousness. These are difference, opposition and contradiction. The mode of griping the distinction specifies also the development level of self-consciousness. This level is determined not so much through the liberty of a person, i. e. capability of abstracting one’s self from circumstances, as through his self-sufficiency, i. e. capability to master the distinction in the course of activity. The nothing, by Hegel, as a certain inner receptacle of self-consciousness, immediately transitioning into the being as an external receptacle of consciousness, allows not only to contemplate or represent the contradiction, but comprehend it as well. Thereby the mode becomes clear to the subject whereby the contraposed general definitions actualize in him as in a subject. The problem of the nothing in the classic German philosophy has been solved by disclosing the role this concept plays in the interconnection of individual’s activity and the procedures of reproduction of spirituality as a form of interindividual self-consciousness.

Keywords

Kant, Hegel, nothing, being, consciousness, self-consciousness, contradiction, human being, spirit.

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© Alexander Timofeev, 2017