Practical and pragmatic aspects of the identity of philosophy(ies) as a system through systematizing concepts

Abstract

Is it possible to view and constitute philosophy today as a unique system, as proposed and demanded by Hegel? The existence of a plurality of opinions, worldviews and kinds of knowledge seems to challenge it, especially today when one talks of many kinds of philosophies. In an attempt to answer that question positively, this paper outlines a possible solution by introducing a set of general concepts, herein referred to as Systematizing Concepts. Particularly, practical, and pragmatic aspects of the set of systematizing concepts and their uses are discussed, especially regarding the concepts spirit and Absolute Spirit. Their context of discovery and development was the culmination of studies and research performed over more than 30 years in the areas of science and philosophy. The inspiration for elaborating and proposing them came from Hegelian philosophy, mainly from the Hegelian demand onto Philosophy: to be seen as a System. Although coming from those studies and research, the set of Systematizing Concepts is synthetically introduced here, without quoting those works, because the intention is to show that they, as concepts, may be autonomously understood generally through the explanation of them, their interrelationships and the experiential organization they provide, their context of justification. They establish a general understanding herein, pointing out a possibility of how to deal systematically in a practical and pragmatic way with the various opinions, worldviews and kinds of knowledge and philosophies in a unit. In this sense, they would allow us to view and handle Philosophy as a System, even today.