The Systematic Sense of Hegel’s Reading of Plotinus

Abstract

There is an affinity between Hegel’s philosophy and Neoplatonism that Hegel himself explicitly pointed out. We claim that this affinity is due to systematic reasons and involves theoretical and practical aspects of both philosophies. To argue in that direction, we address the thematization of Plotinus’s philosophy in the Hegelian Lessons on the history of philosophy. We seek to show that, according to Hegel, Plotinus elaborates in ancient times, for the first time, a complex synthesis of the philosophical principles that precede his own thought, and for this reason Hegel’s speculative exposition ascribes to Neoplatonism the logical category of totality. In this synthesis of finite principles —which we will seek to determine in this paper—, Hegel recognizes tasks and problems close to those of his own philosophy. However, can it be asserted that Hegel’s philosophy is for this reason a modern Neoplatonism, or is there a point at which both projects are revealed to have a fundamental incompatibility?