Abstract

The author, referring in particular to Jonas Cohn’s Theorie der Dialektik, interprets Hegel’s dialectic in the light of the Aristotelian principle of the priority of actuality over potentiality. The principle finds application especially in the field of the Hegelian conception of the history of philosophy, which is thought from the point of view of Absolute Knowledge as actuality of the Spirit. In this regard the main issue is to understand the nature of the limitations that Spirit encounters on the way of the actualization of its potentialities. The most extreme form of limitation is contradiction, which historically is given in the form of conflict between philosophical doctrines. Some philosophers, like Kant, sees limitation as intrinsic to cognitive activity. According to Hegel, the thought of limitation is contradictory, since it presupposes the thought of what lies beyond the limit.