ABSTRACT

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s philosophy is so widely regarded as an extreme form of speculative, a priori—even mystical—metaphysics, that it may come as a surprise to find it praised for being scientific and realistic. When Hegel talks of the rationality of the actual, his first and most general purpose is to specify what he takes to be the scientific attitude, and this is a basic and important element of the rational kernel of his thought. In particular, philosophy, Hegel insists, should study actuality. The content of Hegel’s work is thoroughly realistic: to a remarkable and unique degree for a modern philosopher. Hegel extends the realistic and scientific approach to the study of society; and his work contains a notable defence of the idea of a social science. When Hegel talks of the unity of the actual and the rational, however, it is also vital to see that he is not merely reducing the actual to the rational or vice versa.