Presupposing
Hegel (core methodological concept)
Presupposing is positing as already-there. What is presupposed appears as found (not made). But: the presupposed is itself posited -- by the concept, which develops.
Origin
Hypothesis (Greek hypo-thesis, under-setting) as presupposition. Descartes: methodical doubt eliminates presuppositions. Kant: critique examines the conditions of possibility (presuppositions). Hegel: presupposition is sublated, not simply eliminated.
In Hegel
Enz. §1 (Remark); Science of Logic, Vol. 2, Essence
Cross-references
Positing · Positedness · Reflection · Ground · External Reflection · Determining Reflection · Mediation
Wesenslogischer aspekt (kap. 5.5)
In the logic of essence, "presupposing" is the basic operation of external reflection. Thought relates to something that it treats as already given -- it "presupposes" it, as if it had been there before thought began. The presupposed appears as mediated -- it comes from elsewhere.
Das paradox und seine auflösung
Whoever presupposes something thereby posits it -- but as something that is not posited. Determining reflection resolves this paradox: the presupposed is itself something posited, but something necessarily posited. What I presuppose, I have (implicitly) myself posited -- but I had to posit it thus.
Hegels pointe
What we presuppose is our own product, which we have forgotten. The sublation of the presupposition: recognizing that the presupposed is posited. Then: being with oneself in the other (freedom).
Beispiel
Being appears as immediately presupposed, but is actually a result (end = beginning).
Terminologische abgrenzung
Modern usage: "to presuppose" = to assume that something holds. Hegel's usage: "to presuppose" = to treat something as being-prior-to-positing, as already-there.