ABSTRACT
A concrete concept of a systematic totality would include the actual thought of all the descriptions, analyses, argumentations and subordinate syntheses by means of which that totality was progressively composed. The temporal structure of philosophical thought which thus has come to the fore rules not only the relations by which a systematic philosopher relies on predecessors and traditions, but also the philosophical production of every philosopher taken in isolation. The history of philosophy would consist in a progressive unfolding of the truth of systematic philosophy. The truth of philosophy and its history is a plurality of thinkers owing one another more than they can tell, but transforming everything they received into an original property not to be shared except by epigones and pupils who have not yet found their way. If the essence of philosophy is the ongoing debate among a plurality of living and dead individuals, dialogue is the hinge of systematic philosophy.
