>- and then concludes that the truth in the hands of these methods of
>formal logic can capture the truth only for moments. In this way, Hegel
>points to the larger task of applying much more than just formal logic to
>understanding the truth.
>Am I heading in the right direction?
Yes. The problem with formal logic is that it only works with very barren,
abstract notions or categories. For example, if I say "Communists are
against democracy" we can see the truth of the proposition lies mostly in
the barrenness of the conceptions of "communist" and "democracy" rather
than in dodgey deductive logic implicit in this observation.
But always remember that Hegel is not just talking about "logic", he is
talking about the logic of human social relations. So for example, the
western method of electing politicians from large geographical electorates
is an exemplification of formal logic based on abstract general
conceptions. Ask the question "Who do you want in government, this one or
that one?" and throw the this votes and the that votes into two different
boxes and count them. A whole politics of "getting the numbers" then flows
from this which is not only based on a conception of human society as
little coloured dots in a Venn Diagram, but actually creates such a type of
society. Likewise broadcasting delivers one of a series of fixed messages
into the various "audiences" who are made up of people who "choose" whether
to watch channel one or channel two etc. In other words, we live in a
society which is actually structured as a formal logical conception. The
critique of formal logic contains in the Subjective Logic in the Doctrine
of the Notion is a critique of this way of organising life, at the level of
abstract concepts.
Andy
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