Teil 2 νόησις ἡ ἐνέργɛια
In: Denken und Wirklichkeit. Aristoteles und Hegel über das Wesen der Substanz
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Abstract
This section of my work analyzes Hegel’s conception of reality in his “Science of Logic,” with a focus on the etymological, metaphysical, and modal interpretation of Aristotle’s concept of energeia. The first part of my study established energeia as the fundamental principle of being, manifesting as pure thought (noēsis) in the highest cosmic being. In the current section, I shift to examining pure thought and how it progresses toward the principle of being. Through this exploration, I show how Hegel’s idea of absolute substance evolves through pure thought’s inner logic toward a reflexive, self-determined form of being.
I analyze how Hegel integrates Aristotle’s noēsis of the “unmoved mover” with a substance concept that reflects Aristotle’s influence. This reading interprets Hegel’s work as a “noetic path” through which absolute substance is understood not only as pure thought but as pure energeia, or active reflexive being. Hegel redefines the absolute not as a fixed entity but as a self-causal, self-effecting reality. His logic, therefore, characterizes the absolute in terms of metaphysical principles, a system of reflection and reason.
Furthermore, Hegel revisits Spinoza’s causa sui and seeks to transcend its static nature by emphasizing effectus sui, the self-effecting aspect of substance. In the essence logic, the absolute substance evolves through self-appearance and active causality, a view that challenges traditional metaphysics by focusing on process rather than stable entities. This “non-standard metaphysics,” influenced by Koch (2014), considers Hegel’s dialectic as a progressive resolution of contradictions without aiming for a final state, embracing a process-oriented understanding of absolute reality.
In later chapters, I examine differing interpretations, including Emundts’ semantic reading and Martin’s critical ontology, alongside a non-standard interpretation by Falk. These comparative analyses lay the foundation for my own approach to Hegel’s concept of reality, distinguishing it from traditional readings. By analyzing key terms from Hegel and Aristotle, my work aims to clarify Hegel’s unique conception of pure thought as a dynamic process culminating in self-reflective understanding.