Echi romantici nel saggio Sull’essenza della critica filosofica di Hegel

Abstract

In this paper, I will reconstruct Hegel’s concept of criticism as presented in his 1802 essay Introduction on the Essence of Philosophical Criticism Generally and its Relationship to the Present State of Philosophy in Particular, published in The Critical Journal of Philosophy. My aim is to demonstrate the presence of certain motifs characteristic of early Romanticism in this Hegelian essay. Despite adopting diverse and largely incompatible theoretical solutions, Hegel in Jena appears to share with the Romantics the view that criticism should not be considered in purely instrumental terms as an extrinsic addition to the work. Rather, it should be regarded as an immanent process of self-knowledge that enables the work’s potential to unfold.