Dialectic of light and method in Hegel's Physics

Approach to Hegelian optics

Abstract

It is typical of postmetaphysical Hegelianism to grant the category of reflection a methodical scope in Logic. This interpretation overlooks the fact that reflection does not appear in it as a logical concept, but specifically as an optical one, and that its dialectic is developed by Hegel in the Physics of the Encyclopedia, where it appears related to the optics of opaque and transparent bodies. Reflection appears there related to the optics of opaque and transparent bodies, with their limitations to allow the full manifestation of light. This has important implications that have gone unnoticed by interpreters: a) The first concerning the meaning of logical reflection in the “Doctrine of Essence”, which cannot be simply assimilated to that of return to oneself or self-reference. b) The second is connected with the sense of its overcoming in the sphere of the Concept, less related to the self-illumination of the modern Subject than to the “transparency” (Dursichtigkeit) of the Idea. c) The third implication is related to the methodical scope of reflection and its fit into the architecture of the system, which must be displaced from Logic (where interpreters usually place it) to the Philosophy of nature.