2. Philosophy - Stefano Franchi

P HILOSOPHY’ S ENDS
to philosophy we can apply the words of the Apostle Paul to Ananias: ‘See
the feet of those who will carry thee out are already at the door.’ (61/143)
However, it should now be clearer, after the previous discussion of science and religion,
why this refrain to which Hegel is constantly coming to is no idle talk. The depiction of
philosophy as a succession of opinions can in fact be used, in the present context of the dis-
cussion of science and religion, as a very effective weapon toward its dismissal in favor of
theology or (nowadays) science. Hegel thinks that philosophy’s chances of survival are in-
trinsically related to its ability to take up the challenge represented by the paradox of the
end. The problem the latter presents can therefore be restated as follows: how and where
can philosophy find a limit—in a positive sense of a totally intrinsic (internal) constraint—
that would rein in its course and keep it from going astray into a sea of conflicting opinions?
Hegel's answer is that a solution to the problem can only be found by accepting the
contradiction between one truth and many philosophies and by showing its necessity. What
this means, simply stated, is that philosophy's inner limit cannot be anything else than phi-
losophy's development itself, its past history. This entails that we—that is, us philosophers
who have appreciated and felt the power of the contradiction—we have to shift to a higher
level of understanding and reconsider our naive view of philosophy and philosophies.
Since the existence of conflicting philosophies is a contradiction, we have to abandon the
idea that any single philosophical “system” can really be considered Philosophy in the
proper sense of the word. Instead, we must broaden our view of what a concrete philosophy
is, and a real philosophical system consists of. It cannot be an intellectual construction built
“on a one-sided principle” but a “true totality” that, as such, encompasses all philosophy. 24
A totality within which the different competing (and improperly called) “systems” can be
recomposed as parts of a higher and harmonious whole. In other words, philosophy has to
be considered as a whole system that encompasses its whole history and strives to close up
upon its own end as telos.
We better pause for a second on this conclusion, in order to appreciate its magnitude.
Hegel is saying that there is no essential difference between (a) philosophy as a science,
24. Knox 87.
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