Objectivität (Objectivity, Hegel)

Objectivität — objectivity — is the second moment of the Doctrine of the Concept (GW 12 pp. 127–172), positioned between Subjectivität (Begriff / Urtheil / Schluß) and die Idee. Objectivität is "the Concept fallen into objectivity" — and its three sub-moments (Mechanism, Chemism, Teleology) are not alternative pictures of nature whose objective applicability is to be empirically settled but three logical determinations of objectivity, each higher than its predecessor, each immanently dialectical.

Mechanism shows determinacy as external to the object; Chemism shows determinacy as constitutive but still presupposed and external; Teleology is the Concept's free objective existence, with the means as its self-realized mediation.

Key Points

  • Three sub-moments / dialectical ladder. Mechanism → Chemism → Teleology, each higher than its predecessor.
  • Mechanism. Determinacy is external to the object — relations of objects are not internal to what the objects are.
  • Chemism. Determinacy is constitutive but still presupposed and external — chemical objects relate through their specific determinacy, but the determinacy is given, not self-generated.
  • Teleology. The Concept's free objective existence — the end is internal to the object; the means is the Concept's self-realized mediation. See teleology-hegel.
  • Against the empirical-alternatives reading. Mechanism / Chemism / Teleology are not alternative pictures of nature (to be empirically adjudicated) but logical determinations of objectivity — each immanently dialectical.
  • Against Kantian regulative teleology. Kant restricts teleology to a regulative maxim of reflective judgment ("als ob"). Hegel: teleology is the truth of mechanism, not a heuristic projection.
  • The cunning of reason (list-der-vernunft) is housed here — the cardinal teleological figure (pp. 172–173).
  • Against the pious-supernaturalist reading of teleology. The "cork tree exists so men have corks for bottles" reading is dismissed as the failed external-purposiveness reading of Aristotelian telos.
  • The political-mechanism analogy (p. 152) is housed in the Mechanism sub-section — government / citizens / needs as syllogistic mechanism. See centralitaet.
  • Transition to die Idee. Teleology's realized end is the categorial bridge to die Idee — the Concept adequate to itself.

What the Concept Does

  1. It articulates the categorial second moment of GW 12. The Concept fallen into objectivity, with three sub-moments.
  2. It supplies the dialectical ladder Mechanism → Chemism → Teleology. Not alternative pictures but graded logical determinations.
  3. It restores teleology against Kant's regulative restriction. Teleology is the truth of mechanism, not "als ob."
  4. It refutes the empirical-alternatives reading of mechanism/teleology. They are logical determinations, not contested empirical pictures.
  5. It transitions into die Idee. Teleology's realized end is the bridge to the adequate Concept.

What It Rejects

  • The empirical-alternatives reading of mechanism / chemism / teleology — they are logical determinations, not contested pictures of nature.
  • Kant's regulative teleology in the Critique of Judgment — teleology is the truth of mechanism, not heuristic projection.
  • The pious-supernaturalist external-purposiveness reading — the "cork tree for corks" picture.
  • The dogmatic tradition that picked one (mechanism or teleology) as the metaphysical foundation.

Connections

  • is the second moment of the Doctrine of the Concept (between Subjectivität and die Idee)
  • contains three sub-moments: Mechanism / Chemism / Teleology
  • contains the absolute-mechanism schema with the political analogy (p. 152)
  • contains the cunning of reason in the Teleology sub-section (pp. 172–173)
  • transitions into die Idee — teleology's realized end is the bridge
  • engages and supersedes Kant's third antinomy of speculative reason and KdU antinomy of judgment
  • is operated by the Schluß — the disjunctive syllogism transitions into Objectivität
  • re-grounds Aristotelian teleology against Kant's regulative restriction — see aristotle and teleology-hegel

Open Questions

  • Does Hegel's logical determinations reading survive contemporary philosophy of biology (functionalism, autopoiesis, organizational closure)? The "truth of mechanism is teleology" doctrine has been variously appropriated and rejected.
  • Is the political-mechanism analogy (p. 152) genuine categorial content or compressed rhetorical move? The whole architectonic of the Philosophy of Right will later articulate what the Mechanism sub-section here only suggests.
  • What is the relation between Hegelian Objectivität and the contemporary metaphysics of objects (Schaffer's monism, Heil's ontology)? The categorial reading and the analytic-metaphysical reading have not been put into productive comparison.

Sources

  • hegel-1816-wdl-begriff — primary locus: GW 12 pp. 127–172. Mechanism: pp. 140–155, with the political analogy at p. 152 and Centralität / Gesetz / Übergang triad. Chemismus: pp. 148–155. Teleology: pp. 154–172, with cunning of reason at pp. 172–173. Engagement with Kant's third antinomy and KdU at pp. 162–166.