The Universal-Particular-Individual Structure Properly Understood - Diversity Instead of Hierarchy
This text is a preview of History of the Reception of Hegel, volume II, to be published in 2026 by Reflexivity Press.
The Universal-Particular-Individual structure is a core element of Hegelian logic, but it is often misunderstood precisely in relation to cultures.[1] The universal (reason, humanity) is not something that exists above or outside the particulars (different cultures). It exists only in and through its particularizations.
Concretely, this means: universal human reason does not exist in the abstract, but only in its concrete cultural manifestations. Greek philosophy is one particularization of reason, Chinese philosophy another, African philosophy yet another. None is “closer” to the universal, none “further removed.” Each realizes universal human potentials in its own way.[2]
This reading is supported by Hegel’s own examples. In the Philosophy of Right, he shows how the universal principle of freedom realizes itself in different forms of the state - not as a sequence of stages from worse to better, but as different solutions to the problem of how freedom can be institutionally secured.[3] Each solution has its strengths and weaknesses; none is absolute.
For postcolonial philosophy this means: African philosophy (Ubuntu ethics, Akan metaphysics), Asian philosophy (Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism), indigenous American philosophy - all of these are not “preliminary stages” toward European philosophy, but independent and equally valid realizations of human reason.[4] They have their own concepts, methods, and problems. The task is not to force them into European categories, but to understand their particularity and to learn from them.
“Sublation” within a global philosophical discourse then does not mean that these traditions are to disappear. It means that they enter into a world discourse in which they mutually enrich, challenge, and develop one another. European philosophy is transformed through encounter with other traditions, just as these are transformed through encounter with European philosophy.[5]
This interpretation is not only textually attested in Hegel but is also systematically compelling. Dialectic itself shows that every one-sidedness (including Eurocentrism) leads into contradictions and must be overcome. A philosophy that excludes or devalues other traditions contradicts the universal claim of reason and must be dialectically criticized.[6]
Leonardo Boff: Eclesiogênese: As comunidades eclesiais de base reinventam a Igreja (1977); Igreja: Carisma e Poder (1981). ↩︎
Jon Sobrino: Jesus the Liberator (1993) systematically develops this Christology. ↩︎
Ignacio Ellacuría: Filosofía de la realidad histórica (1991, posthumous). On his thought: Kevin Burke & Robert Lassalle-Klein (eds.): Love That Produces Hope: The Thought of Ignacio Ellacuría (2006). ↩︎
On the role of the church in Nicaragua see Phillip Berryman: The Religious Roots of Rebellion (1984). ↩︎
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology of Liberation” (1984); Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation (1986). ↩︎
This thesis is developed by Enrique Dussel: “Theologie der Befreiung und Marxismus” in: Peter Rottländer (ed.): Theologie der Befreiung und Marxismus (1986). ↩︎