Anticipation (Vorgriff)

Methodological concept (our analysis of Hegel's procedure)

The use of concepts or categories before they have been systematically developed. Example: Hegel's use of chemical categories (neutrality, elective affinity, affinity) in the chapter on measure (Ch. 3), although their systematic place lies only in the chapter on chemism (Ch. 15).

Cross-references

Implizite Reflexion · Explicit Reflection · Spiral · Spiral staircase · Chemism · Measure · Method

Zwei deutungen

1. As an error (Ruschig 1997): proof that Hegel's claim of a "purely immanent deduction" fails - the material is constitutive, not merely illustrative 2. As method (our reading): proof of the spiral structure of thought - implicit reflection precedes explicit reflection

Systematische bedeutung

Anticipation shows that thought never begins at "zero." Even the most abstract analyses implicitly use structures that are only made explicit later. This is not a weakness, but the real order of thought: we perform before we comprehend.