Implicit Reflection (also: reflexio concomitans)
Our methodology (terminology from Heinrichs)
The enactment of structures of thought in practice, without explicitly seeing through or conceptually grasping these structures. We apply logical categories, but do not consciously reflect on how we think. We judge, infer, distinguish --- but the structures we use in doing so remain in the background of our consciousness. Not a retrospective reflection on something already present, but the accompanying structure of every enactment itself.
Origin
Thomas Aquinas coined the term reflexio concomitans (accompanying reflection) for the co-awareness of the understanding in every act of cognition. Heinrichs made this in 1976 (Reflexion als soziales System) into the basic concept of his logic of reflection: implicit reflection is non-circular, because it is not discursive.
In Hegel
Hegel himself does not explicitly use this terminology, but the matter is central to his method: the Logic of Being works largely in implicit reflection --- we discover immediate determinations (quality, quantity, measure) without seeing through the mediations that constitute them. The transition to the Logic of Essence is the transition to explicit reflection on these mediations.
Cross-references
Explicit Reflection · Reflection · Reflective Determinations · Performativ/Performativität · Self-Application · Spiral · Spiral staircase · Being · Unmittelbar/Vermittelt · Self-Application
Beispiele
- A chemist observes neutralization reactions and recognizes patterns --- he already enacts the logic of affinity without systematically penetrating it - A child learns to speak and correctly applies grammatical rules --- but it cannot yet explicitly formulate these rules - You check automatically for truth while reading --- you enact the question of truth without reflecting on its logical structure
Systematische bedeutung
Implicit reflection is the starting point of every philosophical analysis. We never begin at "zero" --- we always already begin in the middle of the enactment of structures of thought. The task of philosophy is to bring these implicitly enacted structures to explicit reflection.
In der logik-struktur (sein-wesen-begriff)
- Being: implicit reflection dominates --- we enact without seeing through - Essence: transition --- reflection becomes aware of itself - Concept: explicit reflection --- systematic comprehension of the structures
Praktische relevanz
When you think through a problem, you already use more complex structures than you are aware of. The art consists in catching up with these implicit reflections --- making them explicit retrospectively, thereby sharpening your thinking.
Der vorgriff-fall
The chapter on measure (Ch. 3) uses chemical categories in implicit reflection --- Hegel enacts the logic of affinity without systematically developing it. Only in the chapter on chemism (Ch. 15) is this logic brought to explicit reflection. That is not an error, but shows the real order of thought: implicit reflection precedes explicit reflection.