Realphilosophie

Realphilosophie [philosophy of the real] is the retrospective term for Hegel's philosophy of nature and philosophy of spirit, as distinguished from the logic. The term does not come from Hegel himself. The problem: the label suggests that the logic is not "real" --- which contradicts Hegel's intention. For Hegel, "real" means concrete, actualized (not empirical). The logic, for Hegel, is indeed real: it displays the real structures of thought. A better term would be applied logic, or concretization. The Realphilosophie develops the logical categories within nature (space, time, matter) and within spirit (subject, intersubjectivity, institutions). Criticism: the term "Realphilosophie" is incompatible with Hegel's own use of real/reell and wrongly implies an opposition to the logic. We nonetheless use the expression, with this reservation, since it has become established in the Hegel literature, without the misleading implication it carries.