Hegel’s Concrete Universal as a Logical Framework for Articulating Universalization Processes, Their Critique, and Transformation

Abstract

This contribution aims to problematize the critical-transformative potential of Hegel’s notion of the concrete universal analyzed from a logical perspective. I examine how this notion can help rearticulate the contemporary perspectives on universality in feminist philosophies and metaphilosophy. The first section (§§ 2-2.1) explores the metaphilosophical positions about philosophy’s relationship to the universal as both an object and an epistemic activity. The second part (§§ 3-3.1) complexifies this investigation through feminist critique of historically produced forms of the universal. Despite their essential deconstructive work, I argue that feminist positions cannot renounce the dimension of the universal as a logical and practical condition for their transformative anti-oppressive projects. I also try to specify the salient aspects of a feminist theory of the universal. In the third section (§§ 4-6), I propose a logical reading of Hegel’s notion of the concrete universal that can provide a fruitful epistemic framework for feminist readings as well as an internal critique of the universalist intentions of philosophy.