Hegel’s Logic as a theory of meaning: material-conceptual and structural aspects

The paper analyzes main logical categories in Hegel’s Logic from the standpoint of contemporary formal logic and analytic philosophy of language. Hegel is taken as a radical critical philosopher in Kantian sense, who develops Kantian critical philosophy. Hegel’s Logic is portrayed as metaphysics and semantics, for it provides a profound analysis of logical form of main categories and the logical structure of local speech domains. The author considers subjectivity of judgements, constitution of sortal domains and an inferentialist account of predicates within logical universe of discourse. Speech acts are always singular acts that are performed and articulated by speakers. The content of a judgement is constituted due to the intricate genus-species difference system, which is expressed by the concepts of infinite negation and determinate negation. Some speech acts require knowledge not only of generic properties that are inherent to genus of a subject matter, but also contentful determination of difference of the particular individuals in question. Sense of predicates is determined within an inferential system of sentences and their relations of inference and contradiction. The form of inference is defined solely syntactically or logically, however for any particular case is required contentful knowledge, which is based on pre-knowledge and power of judgement. The system of science is a network of material-conceptual truths taken as synthetic judgements a priori. Hegelian concept of “idea” signifies adequate theoretical and shared practical forms that include the ways of evaluation of generic judgements as correct or true ones, which should serve to our orientation in the world. Hence the idea is essentially the same as the personal form of human life.