Setzen / Voraussetzen (Positing / Presupposing, Hegel)

The paired terms Setzen (positing) and Voraussetzen (presupposing) are the engine of Reflexion in the Doctrine of Essence (GW 11 raw 4400–4516). Hegel's cardinal claim: "die setzende Reflexion ist von Anfang an auch voraussetzend" — the positing reflection is from the start also presupposing. The two are not successive movements but one absoluter Gegenstoß in sich selbst (raw 4432) — absolute counter-thrust in itself.

The Wesen-section's slogan: "Das Daseyn ist nur Gesetzseyn" (raw 4502) — Daseyn is only posited-being. What had appeared in Sein-stage as immediate is revealed in Wesen-stage as posited. But this very positing immediately reveals itself as presupposing: there is no first immediate that does not turn out to be already mediated; there is no positing-act that is not always-already preceded by what it posits.

This is not Fichte's Selbstsetzung (which is monolaterally productive — the I posits itself and then everything else). Hegel's setzende Reflexion is constitutively also voraussetzende — every positing act presupposes what it posits.

Key Points

  • "Die setzende Reflexion ist von Anfang an auch voraussetzend." Positing and presupposing are not successive but the one movement of Reflexion.
  • Absoluter Gegenstoß in sich selbst (raw 4432). The Reflexionsmovement is counter-thrust in itself — going-out into otherness is coming-back.
  • Das Daseyn ist nur Gesetzseyn (raw 4502). The slogan of the Wesen-section: what appears as immediate is posited-being, the result of a reflective positing-presupposing.
  • Anti-Fichtean. Fichte's Selbstsetzung is monolaterally productive; Hegel's setzende Reflexion is constitutively voraussetzende. The asymmetry between Fichte and Hegel on the positing-doctrine is structural, not incidental.
  • Operative in Grund. "Grund ist setzende und voraussetzende Reflexion" (raw 5072, 5108) — Grund is the Reflexionsbestimmung that enacts the positing-presupposing double-structure.
  • Operative in Substanz. Substanz manifests by setzen / aufheben of accidents (raw 6195) — Substantialität-Verhältniß is the categorial relation where substance is the persistent through the changing of accidents.
  • Operative in Wechselwirkung. Wechselwirkung as substance setzt sich vorausgesetzt (raw 6385) — substance posits itself as already presupposed, the closing categorial structure that dissolves into the Begriff.
  • Silent partner: Voraussetzen. Hegel never thematizes Voraussetzen as such — only its presence within setzende Reflexion. The asymmetry (setzen explicit, voraussetzen silent) is the engine of Reflexion; Voraussetzen is the silent partner that does most of the work.

What the Concept Does

  1. It articulates the inner structure of Reflexion. Setzen and voraussetzen are not successive but one absoluter Gegenstoß.
  2. It dissolves the immediate / mediated dichotomy. Daseyn is Gesetzseyn; immediacy is posited-immediacy.
  3. It separates Hegelian from Fichtean positing-doctrine. Hegel's setzende Reflexion is constitutively voraussetzende; Fichte's Selbstsetzung is monolaterally productive.
  4. It operates across the Wesen-section's major moments. Reflexion proper, Grund, Substanz, Wechselwirkung all turn on the setzen-voraussetzen structure.
  5. It anchors the Voraussetzung-critique that the practical Idea (GW 12 pp. 240–243) operationalizes: the practical Idea's deficiency is that the Good remains a Sollen against the world's Voraussetzung of recalcitrance; the absolute Idea resolves this by recognizing the Voraussetzung as itself gesetzt.

What It Rejects

  • Fichte's Selbstsetzung as monolaterally productive — the I posits itself and then everything else.
  • The picture of immediacy as primitive — Daseyn is Gesetzseyn, posited-immediacy.
  • The successive picture of positing-then-presupposing — they are one absoluter Gegenstoß.
  • The two-act model of Reflexion (act-of-positing + act-of-recognizing-what-was-posited) — Reflexion is one movement.

Connections

  • is the inner structure of Reflexion (three moments: setzende / äußere / bestimmende)
  • is operative in Grund (raw 5072, 5108) — Grund is setzende and voraussetzende Reflexion
  • is operative in Substanz (raw 6195) — substance manifests by setzen/aufheben of accidents
  • is operative in Wechselwirkung (raw 6385) — substance setzt sich vorausgesetzt; the closing structure that dissolves into the Begriff
  • contrasts with Fichte's Selbstsetzung — Hegel's setzende Reflexion is constitutively voraussetzende
  • is operative in Schein — Schein is essence's eigene Setzen (raw 4308)
  • is the silent partner Voraussetzen of GW 12's practical Idea deficiency (pp. 240–243) — Voraussetzung as the world's recalcitrance, resolved in absolute Idea by recognizing Voraussetzung as itself gesetzt

Open Questions

  • Does the structural asymmetry between Hegel and Fichte on positing-doctrine survive the post-1804 Fichte revisions? Late Fichte (1804, 1810, 1813) develops a much more dialectical positing-doctrine that may close the gap Hegel saw in 1813.
  • Is Voraussetzen genuinely the silent partner Hegel never thematizes, or is the silence itself thematic (the engine of Reflexion is necessarily silent about its own engine-structure)? Speculative-rereading of Hegel (Houlgate, Pippin) sometimes presses this point.
  • What is the relation between Hegelian setzen / voraussetzen and Husserlian Setzung / Voraussetzung? Husserl's Setzungscharakter of intentional acts is structurally proximate but with phenomenological-not-dialectical commitments.

Sources

  • hegel-1813-wdl-objektive-logik — primary locus: GW 11 Reflexion-development, raw 4400–4516. Absoluter Gegenstoß in sich selbst at raw 4432. Das Daseyn ist nur Gesetzseyn at raw 4502. Operative in Grund at raw 5072, 5108. Operative in Substanz at raw 6195. Operative in Wechselwirkung at raw 6385.