Hegel and the Problem of Beginning - by Robb Dunphy (Paperback)

About the Book

This book provides a critical commentary on Hegel's introductory essay to the first book of his magnum opus, the Science of Logic. Robb Dunphy makes an extended case for the importance of the influence of Pyrrhonian Scepticism on the beginning of Hegel's Logic and provides a novel interpretation of the "problem of beginning".

Book Synopsis

This book provides a critical commentary on Hegel's introductory essay to the first book of his magnum opus, the Science of Logic. Robb Dunphy makes an extended case for the importance of the influence of Pyrrhonian Scepticism on the beginning of Hegel's Logic and provides a novel interpretation of the "problem of beginning".

Review Quotes

In this outstanding new monograph, Robb Dunphy explores one of the most important problematics of Hegel#39;s work, the question of how to begin the dialectical journey of the Science of Logic. Dunphy#39;s book offers a comprehensive textual guide to the complex insights of Hegel#39;s presuppositionless starting point, appropriate for new readers of Hegel as well as advanced scholars.

Robb Dunphy#39;s book presents a compelling account of the role that Pyrrhonian scepticism plays in Hegelrsquo;s philosophy and particularly in Hegelrsquo;s thinking at the beginning of Logic. Dunphy argues that the oppositional structure of thought emphasized by skepticism makes the problem of how to start thinking philosophy particularly pressing. Dunphy presents a compelling analysis of how Hegel addresses the problem both as it relates to the Phenomenology of Spirit and the Science of Logic.

Written with exemplary clarity, Robb Dunphy#39;s book provides a useful critical commentary on Hegel#39;s essay, "With what must the beginning of the science be made?", that opens the Science of Logic. It also contributes greatly to our understanding of Hegel#39;s engagement with Pyrrhonian scepticism.

About the Author

Robb Dunphy is an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. He has previously held research fellowships at the Goethe University Frankfurt, University College Dublin, and the University of Hamburg, and has taught philosophy at Northeastern University London, the University of Winchester, and the University of Sussex. His primary research interests are in the theoretical philosophy of Kant and the German Idealists and in the history of scepticism. He is the co-editor of Metaphysics as a Science in Classical German Philosophy and has published research articles in journals including Apeiron, The Review of Metaphysics, the Hegel Bulletin, and Logos and Episteme.