Hegel's Therapeutic Conception of Philosophy

Giladi, Paul

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to argue that Hegel has a therapeutic conception of philosophy, and also to argue that in significant respects this anticipates the classical pragmatist position, which is also interpreted as offering a therapeutic approach. In the first section, I introduce Hegel’s views on how theoretical reasoning has an important connection with practical life. I argue that this important connect ion between theoretical reason and the practical establishes Hegel as a member of the therapeutic tradition — broadly conceived. My focus in section II of the paper is on the relation between Hegelian therapy and Wittgenstein’s quietistic approach. I conclude my discussion of Hegel’s therapeutic conception of philosophy in section III, by arguing that Hegelian therapy has much in common with classical pragmatist metaphilosophy, which I also take to involve a therapeutic approach.

Citation

Giladi, P. (2015). Hegel's Therapeutic Conception of Philosophy. Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, 36(2), 248-267. https://doi.org/10.1017/hgl.2015.20

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 4, 2015
• Publication Date: Oct 4, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 9, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 9, 2023
• Journal: Hegel Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0263-5232
• Electronic ISSN: 2396-8176
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 248-267
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/hgl.2015.20