Positing

Hegel (core methodological concept)

Positing is the fundamental operation of the concept: to posit something as determinate. What is posited is position (the posited). Positing is active activity --- the subject posits, the concept posits itself. Distinction from presupposing: positing makes explicit what was previously implicit.

Origin

Fichte: "The I posits itself" --- the fundamental operation of the *Wissenschaftslehre*. Hegel takes this over, but expands it: it is not only the I that posits, but the logical categories articulate themselves (objective logic). Whether this "positing" is merely a form of thought or also a structure of being remains an open question.

In Hegel

Enc. §112 (Remark); *Science of Logic*, Vol. 2, Essence

Cross-references

Presupposing · Positedness · Position · Concept · Reflection · Positing Reflection · Unmittelbar

Wesenslogischer aspekt (kap. 5.5)

In the logic of essence, "positing" is the fundamental operation of *positing reflection*. Thought brings forth its determinations through its own act --- it "posits" them. What is posited is "positedness": it has its being only through the act of positing, not independently of it. What is posited initially appears as *immediate* --- it is simply there, without its mediation becoming visible.

Begriffslogischer aspekt (kap. 9ff)

The concept posits itself, its moments, its differences. What is posited is not arbitrary, but necessary from the matter itself. Positing reflection (logic of essence) is the ground for the concept's self-positing (logic of the concept).

Terminologische abgrenzung

Modern usage: "to posit" = to place, to fix, to establish. Hegel's usage: "to posit" = to constitute, to bring forth through the act of thinking.

Beispiele

Positing a judgment (asserting), positing a determination (defining), positing oneself (Fichte: I=I).