CONTRADICTION, CRITIQUE, AND DIALECTIC IN ADORNO A ...

negation. I conclude by analyzing the problem and laying out the framework under
which I will address it in the chapters that follow.
1.1 The Hegelian dialectic and determinate negation
In Hegel, dialectical reflection begins by considering the viewpoint of a particular
philosophical position, assuming nothing that is not presupposed by that position, and
then showing that the position is internally contradictory—that it contains knowledge
claims and standards for validity or truth that can be driven into contradiction with each
other. Hegel claims that it is possible to develop contradictions internal to all
philosophical positions other than his own. By thus showing that these positions fail by
their own lights, Hegel aims to prove the superiority of his own philosophy to all
alternative philosophical positions. 10
Moreover, Hegel seeks not only to convince alternative positions that make
positive claims to knowledge, but also the skeptic who would deny any first principle
merely posited as such. Hegel holds that, in order to meet the skeptic’s challenge,
philosophical thought cannot begin with an absolute principle, for such a principle would
be open to equipollence: it would be open to the skeptic’s assertion of the contradictory
principle on grounds of equal legitimacy (in this case, on grounds that are equally
dogmatic). The skeptical challenge is met by carefully avoiding making any assumptions
10 See Hegel, G.W.F., Wissenschaft der Logik, Vol. II, in Werke, Vol. 6 (Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp taschenbuch, 1986), 250: “Die wahrhafte Widerlegung muß in die Kraft des Gegners eingehen
und sich in den Umkreis seiner Stärke stellen; ihn außerhalb seiner selbst anzugreifen und da Recht zu
behalten, wo er nicht ist, fördert die Sache nicht.” English translation by A.V. Miller in Hegel’s Science of
Logic (Amherst: Prometheus books, 1989), 581: “The genuine refutation must penetrate the opponent’s
stronghold and meet him on his own ground; no advantage is gained by attacking him somewhere else and
defeating him where he is not.”
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