PLS3709
Assignment 2 Semester 2 2026
TOPIC 2
Due date: August 2026
HEGEL'S COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM, DIALECTICAL OPENNESS AND
THE CRITIQUE OF ONE-SIDEDNESS
1. Introduction
The question asks whether Hegel's philosophical system can be described as totally
open because its drive towards comprehensiveness makes it hostile to every one-
sided position (Fackenheim, 1967; University of South Africa, 2010). The issue is
important because Hegel presents philosophy as a systematic attempt to understand
reality, thought and history as internally connected rather than as separate fields,
while the same ambition can appear to create a closed totality that leaves little room
for alternatives (Beiser, 2005; Kreines, 2006). This essay defends a qualified
agreement with the assessment: Hegel's method is open in the sense that a finite
standpoint must expose its own limits, encounter what it excludes and be
, HEGEL'S COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM, DIALECTICAL OPENNESS AND THE
CRITIQUE OF ONE-SIDEDNESS
1. Introduction
The question asks whether Hegel's philosophical system can be described as totally
open because its drive towards comprehensiveness makes it hostile to every one-
sided position (Fackenheim, 1967; University of South Africa, 2010). The issue is
important because Hegel presents philosophy as a systematic attempt to understand
reality, thought and history as internally connected rather than as separate fields,
while the same ambition can appear to create a closed totality that leaves little room
for alternatives (Beiser, 2005; Kreines, 2006). This essay defends a qualified
agreement with the assessment: Hegel's method is open in the sense that a finite
standpoint must expose its own limits, encounter what it excludes and be
transformed into a richer position, but the claim that the system is totally open
becomes too strong when it is applied to Hegel's historical conclusions and claims to
systematic completeness (Moir, 2017; Lima, 2024).
2. Hegel's System and the Meaning of Comprehensiveness
2.1 The Truth as the Whole
Comprehensiveness in Hegel should not be understood as a simple collection of
every available opinion, because the system seeks an intelligible relation among
different forms of thought and experience (University of South Africa, 2010; McNeill
and Feldman, 1998). A one-sided position treats one determination as if it could
stand independently, whereas Hegel's idealism asks how that determination
depends upon relations that it initially ignores, which is why the whole is more than
an external sum of isolated parts (Beiser, 2005; Stern, 2016). This makes the claim
that truth belongs to the whole a methodological demand to connect partial truths
without merely erasing their differences, and it supports the idea that
comprehensiveness is directed against rigid one-sidedness (Fackenheim, 1967;
Schultz, 2015).
2.2 History and Social Consciousness
Assignment 2 Semester 2 2026
TOPIC 2
Due date: August 2026
HEGEL'S COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM, DIALECTICAL OPENNESS AND
THE CRITIQUE OF ONE-SIDEDNESS
1. Introduction
The question asks whether Hegel's philosophical system can be described as totally
open because its drive towards comprehensiveness makes it hostile to every one-
sided position (Fackenheim, 1967; University of South Africa, 2010). The issue is
important because Hegel presents philosophy as a systematic attempt to understand
reality, thought and history as internally connected rather than as separate fields,
while the same ambition can appear to create a closed totality that leaves little room
for alternatives (Beiser, 2005; Kreines, 2006). This essay defends a qualified
agreement with the assessment: Hegel's method is open in the sense that a finite
standpoint must expose its own limits, encounter what it excludes and be
, HEGEL'S COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM, DIALECTICAL OPENNESS AND THE
CRITIQUE OF ONE-SIDEDNESS
1. Introduction
The question asks whether Hegel's philosophical system can be described as totally
open because its drive towards comprehensiveness makes it hostile to every one-
sided position (Fackenheim, 1967; University of South Africa, 2010). The issue is
important because Hegel presents philosophy as a systematic attempt to understand
reality, thought and history as internally connected rather than as separate fields,
while the same ambition can appear to create a closed totality that leaves little room
for alternatives (Beiser, 2005; Kreines, 2006). This essay defends a qualified
agreement with the assessment: Hegel's method is open in the sense that a finite
standpoint must expose its own limits, encounter what it excludes and be
transformed into a richer position, but the claim that the system is totally open
becomes too strong when it is applied to Hegel's historical conclusions and claims to
systematic completeness (Moir, 2017; Lima, 2024).
2. Hegel's System and the Meaning of Comprehensiveness
2.1 The Truth as the Whole
Comprehensiveness in Hegel should not be understood as a simple collection of
every available opinion, because the system seeks an intelligible relation among
different forms of thought and experience (University of South Africa, 2010; McNeill
and Feldman, 1998). A one-sided position treats one determination as if it could
stand independently, whereas Hegel's idealism asks how that determination
depends upon relations that it initially ignores, which is why the whole is more than
an external sum of isolated parts (Beiser, 2005; Stern, 2016). This makes the claim
that truth belongs to the whole a methodological demand to connect partial truths
without merely erasing their differences, and it supports the idea that
comprehensiveness is directed against rigid one-sidedness (Fackenheim, 1967;
Schultz, 2015).
2.2 History and Social Consciousness
