ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by briefly outlining the way in which the debate concerning the Doppelsatz has been conducted, and then contrast this with the neutral reading proposes and it defend that reading against possible objections. It looks at the Preface to the Philosophy of Right, and argues that it very much conforms to the pattern we have already identified concerning what Hegel sets out to establish in his prefaces and introductions. The Doppelsatz is a defense of philosophical rationalism, rather than a normative claim about was ist wirklich in either a conservative sense or a progressive sense. In Hegel's discussions of the nature of philosophy, he characteristically presents it as a discipline in crisis, held in deserved disrepute in many quarters, given the failure of contemporary philosophers to find a proper way of doing the subject. For generations of commentators, the Doppelsatz has acted as a focus for contrasting interpretations of Hegel's position on ethical and social issues.
